Fill, ponds, and soil in Kawartha Lakes

Who it's for

Kawartha Lakes is one city. The work on this page is for people on land in that city: a farm, a rural lot, a build, or a house.

• Lindsay
• Bobcaygeon
• Fenelon Falls
• Omemee
• Woodville
• Little Britain
• Coboconk
• rural Kawartha Lakes

Landowners and farmers are the usual receiving sites. Builders are usually the ones with soil, granular, or other material to move, or with a project that needs clean fill. Homeowners call about a driveway, a garden, a small grade change, or a pond. If the ground cannot take the job, we say so.

Other areas we cover: Centre Wellington, North Dumfries, and Springwater.

What applies here

These are the same offers as the rest of Soil Swap, named for this place. Each one links to the page that explains it.

• Clay, gravel, and sand

  Free fill pickup in Lindsay, or elsewhere in the city, means this: when clean clay, gravel, or sand is a good fit, we assess it, dig it, and haul it away at no cost to you. Contaminated soil, waste, and mixed debris are not a pickup.

• Pond digs

  Pond digging in Kawartha Lakes, when the soil is good: a farm or recreational pond for the cost of the work. Nothing is priced on this page.

• Soil you need

  Clean fill in Bobcaygeon, Fenelon Falls, Lindsay, or on a farm lot, for a lane, a pad, or a build. What a load costs is said on the call.

• Soil that needs a home

  Builders with soil to move can match it to a local site that can take it, instead of treating disposal as the only option.

• Soil management

  We coordinate sampling and help with the O. Reg. 406/19 paperwork when that rule applies. A qualified person still signs what the regulation assigns to a qualified person.

• Firewood, brush, mulch, gravel, and grindings

  The same match covers organics, granular, and grindings. Say whether you have the material or need it.

• Income from permitted fill

  A site alteration permit in Kawartha Lakes is the City's decision. On a job we take, landowners can be paid for clean fill placed under that permit. The amount is in a written agreement. No rate is posted here.

• Land that can take fill

  Open farm and rural land is the usual receiving site. Permit before loads. The City still decides.

A pond may still need a municipality or a conservation authority to say yes. We do not promise that permit. Questions already answered site-wide are on the FAQ.

Fill rules in Kawartha Lakes

The City's By-law 2019-105 is the Site Alteration By-law. It repealed By-law 2018-214. Council passed it on 16 July 2019. The text linked here is the City's office consolidation of 22 October 2024, which includes By-law 2024-202. The notes below follow that consolidation. They are not a permit, and they are not every section. Confirm the current rules and fees with the City before you move soil.

When a permit is needed

Soil, fill, or a grade change

Except where the by-law says otherwise, no one may remove soil, place fill, or alter the grade without a site alteration permit (section 2.2). The owner has to consent in writing (section 2.3). A small fill operation is up to 1,000 cubic metres. A large fill operation is more than 1,000 cubic metres.

Dirty fill stays out

Contaminated fill is still prohibited on land that would otherwise be exempt (section 3.2). Fill may not include demolition debris, glass, raw sewage, or contaminated fill (section 2.6), or putrescible material, termites, or invasive species, including eggs and seeds, except as the Nutrient Management Act allows (section 2.7).

Small jobs, and the Municipal Act exemptions

Schedule A is where the by-law lists work it does not apply to. Lawn dressing, landscaping, flower beds, and vegetable gardens on residential land are in that list only when every one of these is true:

• The elevation is not changed within 60 centimetres of the property line.
• The location, direction, and elevation of any natural or artificial watercourse, open channel, swale, or ditch used to drain the land do not change.
• Drainage infrastructure still works.
• On a lot of 0.1 hectares or less, the soil or topsoil does not exceed 100 cubic metres in any consecutive 12 months.
• On a larger lot, it does not exceed 200 cubic metres in any consecutive 12 months.

Non-residential site alteration of less than 200 cubic metres on a lot in any one-year period is also listed, if drainage to neighbouring properties does not change in a significant way, the work stays at least 60 centimetres from a property line, and the site does not include or sit beside a body of water.

On agricultural land, placing up to 500 cubic metres in a calendar year as an incidental part of a normal farm practice is outside the by-law, except the natural-environment sections still apply. A farmer placing from 500 to 1,000 cubic metres in a calendar year, as that same kind of farm practice, is exempt from the permit sections only after filing the City's Agricultural Soil Placement Declaration Statement and staying in compliance with the by-law.

Municipal Act, 2001, section 142, subsections 142(5) and 142(6), limit what a site-alteration by-law can cover. Schedule A of By-law 2019-105 repeats those kinds of exemptions: City, provincial, and federal work; Planning Act site plan, subdivision, or consent conditions; electricity transmission and distribution; land in a pit or quarry licence or permit under the Aggregate Resources Act; drain construction; and removal of topsoil as an incidental part of a normal farm practice, including sod-farming, greenhouses, and nurseries. Schedule A lists other exemptions, including some building-permit work. Read the schedule for the exact wording.

What the application has to show

An application includes the owner's authorization, the address, a description of the fill and where it comes from, the quantity in cubic metres, and the fee. The Director may require the plan to be based on a legal survey, showing slopes, drainage, buildings, and stockpiles on the land and within 30 metres on abutting land (section 4.5).

• Up to 1,000 cubic metres

  A small fill operation. The City's permit page still asks a qualified person for the ownership letter, the purpose, zoning, a survey of existing and proposed grades, the volume, the source, erosion control, and the haul route.

• More than 1,000 cubic metres

  A large fill operation. A site alteration plan is required. Schedule B says that plan, for a small or large operation, is prepared by a professional engineer or an Ontario land surveyor. It includes the quantity, features within 120 metres, drainage within 30 metres, daily truck numbers, and the haul route. The Director sets the security. The by-law also lets the Director require studies of natural heritage or water features within 120 metres, an agricultural impact assessment, or an archaeological assessment.

Hauling, records, and soil quality

The Director designates the haul routes and the trucking schedule (section 4.6). A small or large operation posts, at the entrance, the names and emergency numbers of the permit holder and the trucking companies, and gives those emergency contacts to the City (section 4.7). Schedule B asks for the daily truck levels and the external haul route on the plan.

Section 5.4, added by By-law 2024-202, requires certification that every load meets the Ministry Table 1 or Table 2 standard that fits the zoning and the intended use, as set out in O. Reg. 406/19. A qualified person reports on the source and the quality. The City may test the fill at the applicant's expense. The owner is responsible for removing contaminated fill. Section 2.12, from the same amendment, says no one may place or remove soil in contravention of O. Reg. 406/19. A city permit does not replace that regulation. On a job we take, we help sort out the city permit and that paperwork. The City still makes the permit decision.

Conservation authorities, and fees

The by-law's definition of conservation authority is the Kawartha Region Conservation Authority, the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority, the Otonabee Region Conservation Authority, or the Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority, whichever the province has given jurisdiction. On hazard land, a flood plain, a wetland, or other land regulated under section 28 of the Conservation Authorities Act, the by-law requires that authority's approval, a city permit, or both, as the case requires (section 2.8). The City's permit page says that in a regulated area the City defers to the conservation authority. An application includes a copy of that authority's permit where one applies.

The by-law says the permit fee is adjusted each year in the City's consolidated fees by-law. It separates a small fill operation from a large one, and a large operation also carries a per-cubic-metre component and security set by the Director. The 2019 figures in the by-law are not a current price list. A permit lasts 90 days unless the Director extends it. Renewal uses the fee in the consolidated fees by-law. Confirm the current fee with the City. This page does not quote a dollar amount.

Permits are administered by the Engineering and Corporate Assets Department. The City's City of Kawartha Lakes site alteration permits page is the place to start that application. The City telephone is 705-324-9411. The toll-free number is 1-888-822-2225.

This is general information so you know what to ask about. It is not legal, engineering, or environmental advice. Whether a rule applies depends on the material, the site, and the volume. If this page and the official text differ, the official text wins.

Start with a call or a text

Say where the land is, whether you have soil or need it, and roughly how much. There is no form.