Permitting

Permits granted by MRC Brome-Missisquoi

The MRC is responsible for granting permits for projects that require work on a watercourse and for granting certificates of approval for commercial tree cutting only.

Before filling out a tree cutting request, be sure to check your municipality’s bylaws on zoning, permits and certificates. View your municipality’s profile for contact information (scroll down to Bylaws on tree cutting).

Also, please note that the forest service is mandated to grant certificates of approval for commercial tree cutting under an intermunicipal agreement. We currently serve eight municipal members: Bolton-Ouest, Brigham, Cowansville, Dunham, Frelighsburg, Brome Lake, Saint-Armand and Sutton.

If your municipality is not part of the intermunicipal agreement or if your request is for tree cutting in urban or residential areas, please reach out to your municipality directly.

Your municipality is responsible for granting permits for urban planning projects (residential, commercial and industrial). Please contact your municipality if you’d like a permit for:

Construction
Renovation and expansion
Sheds, garages or other additional buildings
Swimming pools
Septic systems
Wells and geothermal systems
Demolition
Filling, excavation, retaining walls and drainage

Please select your permit request

If your request concerns:

A request for building/installing/improving a bridge or culvert
A project that could increase peak flow

Please login to the Client space to complete your request.

Otherwise, please select one of the permits below.

Select a permit

Statement of watercourse clean-up or clearing efforts Request for watercourse improvement work Request for regulated watercourse maintenance works Request a certificate of approval for tree cutting

Request for watercourse improvement work

Fill out this request if the work will improve a watercourse that has never been subject to regulation or if the proposed improvements will not return the watercourse to its initial conditions as per regulation, even if said regulation has since been repealed.

Watercourse improvement work includes:

Widening, altering, diverting, building, creating, repairing or mechanically stabilizing a watercourse
Carrying out any intervention that affects or alters the geometry, bed or banks of a watercourse that has not been subject to regulation
Carrying out any intervention that further deepens the watercourse bed, alters its course, canalizes it, constructs a weir (dam), mechanically stabilizes the banks for the use of several property owners or installs a flow control structure
Filling in all or part of a watercourse

Process

The request for watercourse improvement work must be filled out by one or more taxpayers or by a locally appointed representative. If work is required on a watercourse that spans multiple municipalities, all locally appointed representatives must fill out a request form for their portion of the watercourse.
The locally appointed representative must present their request to the local municipal council. The proposed request must be approved in a council resolution. This resolution is proof of the municipal council’s financial commitment to undertaking the improvement work.
Provide the MRC’s watercourse coordinator with a $2,000 deposit, the completed request form and the council resolution. Please note that the coordinator may request additional information about the watercourse in question.

The MRC’s watercourse coordinator will review your request upon receipt of all documents. An inspection of the watercourse may be required and will be conducted in the presence of the locally appointed representative, if necessary.

What municipality is this request for?

Watercourse name

1. Applicant or municipal appointee identification

Name

First name

Last name

Address

Number, street, apartment or P.O. box

City

Postal code

Province

Phone

2. Location of work

Lot(s)

7-digit number, available on your certificate of location

3. Type of work

Type of work

Construction, rehabilitation, relocation

Maintenance of an unregulated watercourse

Filling in and/or canalizing a watercourse

4. Work description

Description of the work

Approximate length of watercourse to be worked on (in metres)

5. Agreement and signature of applicant (or proxy)

Estimated cost of work

Optional, indicate only if known

Estimated cost of the preliminary request for obtaining certificates of authorization

Optional, indicate only if known. For any increase to the estimated cost of work or studies, the applicant will be required to sign a new agreement to continue the work or permit review.

Consent

I agree to pay all costs incurred by MRC Brome-Missisquoi. For any increase to the estimated cost of work or studies, I agree to sign a new agreement to continue the work or permit review.

Declaration

I agree to obtain any permits or certificates needed to carry out the work from the appropriate authorities (departments, municipalities, etc.). I will ensure that the standards and provisions of the laws and bylaws in effect are met. I agree to perform the work in a proper, professional manner in compliance with regulations. I accept responsibility for any violations of the standards and provisions in force. I will notify the municipality and/or the MRC upon completion of the work. In addition, when the property owner is required to pay the actual cost of expenses incurred for the studies required for the permit request, I will include all supporting documentation of the actual cost in the final payment request.

Applicant name

Date

Documents required for the request

Summary location map

Municipal council resolution requesting the work from the MRC

Copy of drawings and specifications

FAQ

Thirty days once the employee handling the request has all the necessary information. If additional documents are requested, that 30-day period starts over once those documents are received.

Watercourse operations	Fees (not taxable)	Renewal fees
Temporary or permanent culvert installation	$100	$50
Underground or surface structures that cross a watercourse, requiring machinery to pass over the watercourse or improvements to temporary or permanent structures on the banks of or in the watercourse	$350	$175
Project implementation that impacts a watercourse’s peak flow	$1,000	$500
Fords	$150	$75
Bank or shore stabilization	$2,000 reimbursable deposit $500 fee Plus actual cost of studying the request⁽¹⁾	$250 fee Plus actual cost of studying the request⁽¹⁾

(1) When the property owner is required to pay the actual cost of expenses incurred for the studies required for the permit request, the final payment request should include all supporting documentation of this actual cost.

Type of work	Fees (not taxable)⁽²⁾	Reimbursable deposit
Watercourse maintenance	$500, plus 5% of work costs and professional fees Plus actual costs incurred and interest on cash advance	$2,000
Watercourse improvement⁽²⁾	$500, plus 5% of work costs and professional fees paid by the MRC Plus actual costs incurred and interest on cash advance	$2,000

Fees include the MRC’s management fees and cost of work, site supervision and studies for the request.

(2) For improvements benefitting an individual, requests must include a written statement from the individual agreeing to pay all fees, including the certificate of approval request, regulations, work, supervision and any other related expenses.

The MRC issues permits for culverts with openings less than 120 cm in diameter. Contact your municipality for a permit if the opening of your culvert is greater than or equal to 120 cm or less than 450 cm in diameter.

You can submit a clean-up request to the MRC when a watercourse poses a safety problem to people or property.

Call your municipal government. The municipal inspector will conduct a site visit. If the beaver dam poses a safety problem to people or property, it may be removed. Be sure to obtain all the necessary permitting (SEM licence from the MFFP).

Bylaws on watercourses

Before filling out a permit request for a project requiring work on a watercourse, please review Règlement 04-0416 relatif à l’écoulement des eaux des cours d’eau situés sur le territoire de la MRC Brome-Missisquoi [Bylaw 04-0416 on watercourse drainage in the MRC Brome-Missisquoi region] (BYLAW 04-0416 – Appendices E and F).

View

Bylaws on tree cutting

Before filling out a permit request for tree cutting, please review your municipality’s bylaws on zoning, permits and certificates. View your municipality’s profile to find their contact information.

View

Permits granted by MRC Brome-Missisquoi

Tree cutting – Important

Other requests

Please select your permit request

Select a permit

Request for watercourse improvement work

Process

FAQ

How long does it take to process a permit request for a watercourse?

What fees apply to a permit request for work on a watercourse?

Who is responsible for issuing a permit for improvements to my culvert: my municipality or the MRC?

When can I get my watercourse cleaned up?

There are beavers on my property. What do I do?

Bylaws on watercourses

Bylaws on tree cutting