Auto & Garages · 7 min read · Last updated
Garage D is the odd one out in the public garage family. Nothing is sold, repaired or washed; the business is the parking itself. Because the licence is really about a piece of land and how it is laid out and signed, the Class D checklist reaches into planning approvals and asks for photographs of what your customers actually see.
The City of Hamilton lists this under its “Establishments” category: “GARAGE D - A parking station or a parking lot. SITE PLAN is required to be consulted before licence issuance.”
Who needs this licence?
Garage D covers a parking station or a parking lot. If you charge the public to leave vehicles on your property, whether in a structure or on open ground, that is the licence you need.
What makes Class D unusual is that no work is done to the vehicle at all. The other classes in Schedule 16 are defined by activity: sale and storage, repair, fuel, washing. Class D is defined by the land use itself, which is why planning and signage take the place of fire safety and repair equipment on the checklist.
If parking is incidental to another licensed business on the same site, ask Licensing how the classes interact before applying. Public garage classes are tied to what the premises is used for, and a site can raise more than one definition.
What documents do you need?
The Class D checklist has six items, and two of them appear in no other public garage class.
The familiar items come first: the completed business licence application form, business registration or corporate profile documentation dated within one year, and a Zoning Verification Certificate for the address. There is no criminal record check in this class.
The scaled plot plan is handled in two ways. An existing parking lot needs a plan showing the location of the lot together with everything else on the property, including current and proposed structures, parking and manoeuvring spaces, exits and entrances, adjacent utility lines, landscaping, fencing, fire hydrants and the surrounding roads and sidewalks, with north marked. A new parking lot is directed instead to the specific requirements in Schedule 16 of the by-law, so check those before commissioning drawings.
Then come the two distinctive items. Photographs of the signage posted at the parking premises show what is actually displayed on site. Confirmation of a site plan application or exemption shows where you stand with planning. Both are about the lot as the public encounters it and as the City has approved it.
Zoning and premises requirements
Zoning and site plan approval are two different things, and Class D touches both. The Zoning Verification Certificate confirms that a commercial parking use is permitted at the address, and it is applied for separately with its own fee.
A site plan is required to be consulted before the licence is issued. Applicants are directed to contact the City's planning enquiries service for more information, and confirmation of the site plan application or exemption goes into the licence file. Some lots will be exempt; the point is that the City wants that position confirmed rather than assumed.
The addendum route remains available for zoning: where the same category of business was previously licensed at the address within one year, a Zoning Addendum may be completed instead of a full certificate. That helps when a parking lot changes operator but not use.
If the lot is new rather than existing, treat the plot plan as a planning-grade drawing. The by-law sets out its own requirements for new parking lots in Schedule 16, and those are the requirements to work from.
Inspections and approvals
Class D requires a parking inspection, arranged after the application has been received. Given the nature of the business, it is the inspection that matters most in this class.
The inspection looks at the site as a working parking facility: where vehicles enter and leave, how they move within the lot, how spaces and aisles are laid out, and how the lot meets the surrounding roads and sidewalks. Your plot plan describes that; the inspection checks it on the ground.
The signage photographs and the site plan confirmation are reviewed as part of the file rather than as separate inspections, but they are looking at the same thing from different directions: whether the lot as built and signed matches the lot as approved.
How much does it cost?
A new Class D application carries a processing fee, the licence fee and a parking inspection fee. HST applies to the processing fee and the inspection fee; the licence fee is not taxed.
Zoning verification or an addendum is charged separately if required, so the City quotes the total both with and without it.
Costs connected to the site plan process are a planning matter rather than a licensing fee, and they are handled through the planning enquiries route rather than at the licensing counter. Factor time for that step even where no licensing fee attaches to it.
Renewal is the licence fee only, with no repeat inspection charge, and a licence re-instatement fee applies if the licence has lapsed. The City sets all amounts in its fee schedule and confirms them during the application.
How to apply
Start with the planning question, because it is the one that can take longest. A site plan is required to be consulted before the licence is issued, so contact the City's planning enquiries service early and get confirmation of your site plan application or exemption in writing.
In parallel, order the Zoning Verification Certificate for the address, or ask whether the addendum route applies.
Prepare the plot plan on the right footing. Existing lot and new lot are treated differently, and a new lot follows the requirements set out in Schedule 16.
Photograph the signage as posted at the premises, gather your business registration documentation, then submit the application form with the complete package and pay the processing, licence and inspection fees. A parking inspection is arranged, and the licence is issued once the inspection and the site plan confirmation are in order.
Renewals and staying compliant
Class D renewal requires Declaration B to be completed and the licence fee to be paid. Declaration A is not part of the Class D renewal, unlike the sales and repair classes.
No inspection fee recurs at renewal. That said, if the layout or signage of the lot has changed since the licence was issued, renewal is the right time to raise it, since both were part of what the City reviewed at the start.
A late renewal brings a licence re-instatement fee. Parking operations frequently run on multi-year property arrangements, so put the licence renewal in the same calendar as the lease rather than relying on a mailed reminder.
Quick quiz: test what you learned
Three questions, all answered in this guide. Click an answer to check it.
1. What does a Garage D licence cover?
Class D is defined simply as a parking station or a parking lot, with no work being done to the vehicles themselves.
2. Which two items appear on the Class D checklist and no other public garage class?
Class D adds signage photographs and site plan confirmation because the licence is about how the lot is laid out, approved and presented to the public.
3. How does the plot plan requirement differ between an existing and a new parking lot?
The Class D checklist splits the plot plan requirement, pointing new parking lots to the by-law's own requirements rather than the general content list.
Skip the paperwork
Tell Permits2Go about your business and it assembles the licence application for you — document checklists, e-signatures and a guided workspace for Hamilton, with more cities on the way.
This guide is general information, not legal or professional advice. Licensing requirements, by-laws and fees change and vary by municipality — always confirm the current rules with the City before you apply.