Kitchener Building Permits – Open Data API

Building Permits for Kitchener only, from the city's official open dataset (~76,000 source rows), via the ArcGIS REST API — no website scraping.

• Key fields: permitNumber, permitType, workType, status, issuedDate, estimatedValueCad, unitsCreated, netUnits, totalGfaM2.
• Licence: Open Government Licence – City of Kitchener; every record carries the required credit and licence link.
• Output: structured JSON, or CSV / Excel from the Apify dataset. Filters run at the source (type, status, issued dates and more), up to 50,000 permits per run.
• Privacy: street addresses and free-text descriptions removed; postal codes cut to FSA and coordinates rounded to ~1 km where present.

Why not build it yourself? No ArcGIS/Socrata paging, field mapping, date normalising or de-duplication to write and maintain. You get one tidy row per permit with consistent field names and ISO dates.

Price: $0.003 per result (three-tenths of a cent; 1,000 results = $3.00), no start fee. You pay only for permits returned.

What it does

This Actor reads building permits from the City of Kitchener's official open dataset (Kitchener open data, about 76,000 source rows) through the ArcGIS REST query API. It does not scrape any website.

Rows are deduplicated so you get one record per permit number.

Free open data vs. this Actor

The dataset is free on the Kitchener open-data portal. Use that for a one-off download. This Actor is for:

• Filters at the source: permit type, status, issued dates, minimum value, keyword
• Clean JSON: ISO dates, consistent field names, one row per permit
• Privacy trimming: no street addresses, no free-text descriptions, no names
• Scheduled runs and Apify API / Sheets / Make / Zapier exports

Who it's for

• Contractors and suppliers (windows, HVAC, roofing, landscaping) watching new work in Kitchener
• Developers and real-estate analysts tracking construction activity
• Housing researchers counting permits and new units

What data you get

Field	Meaning
permitNumber	City permit number
permitType	Permit type / class
workType	Kind of work
subType	Sub-type of work
status	Permit status
applicationDate	YYYY-MM-DD
issuedDate	YYYY-MM-DD
finalDate	YYYY-MM-DD
expiryDate	YYYY-MM-DD
estimatedValueCad	Estimated construction value (CAD)
unitsCreated	Dwelling units created
unitsLost	Units lost
netUnits	Net unit change
storeys	Storeys
totalGfaM2	Total gross floor area (m²)
source	Source portal
licence	Required attribution and licence link

Input

Field	Key	Notes
Permit type contains	permitType	e.g. Residential, Industrial/Commercial/Institutional (case-insensitive).
Work type contains	workType	e.g. New Construction, Alterations.
Status contains	status	e.g. Issued, Closed.
Issued on/after (YYYY-MM-DD)	issuedFrom	Optional start date.
Issued on/before (YYYY-MM-DD)	issuedTo	Optional end date.
Minimum construction value (CAD)	minValue	Optional.
Keyword	keyword	Server-side filter on description, type and permit number (descriptions are not returned).
Max permits	maxItems	Stop after this many permits.

Bad dates or an inverted date range fail before any API call, with a clear error.

Example input:

{"permitType": "Residential", "issuedFrom": "2025-01-01", "maxItems": 200, "minValue": 1000000}

Pricing

Pay per result: you are charged only for permits returned (one result = one permit). See the Pricing tab for the current rate.

Licence and privacy

• Licence: Open Government Licence – City of Kitchener. Reuse, including commercial use, is allowed. Every record includes the required credit and a link to the licence terms.
• No endorsement: this Actor is independent. It does not use Kitchener names or logos as branding and does not imply municipal endorsement.
• Privacy: Street addresses (civic number, street name and unit) and free-text work descriptions are removed. Postal codes, where present, are cut to the first 3 characters (FSA) and coordinates are rounded to 2 decimals (about 1 km). Owner, applicant and contractor names are not exported. Records still include permit number, permit type and category, status, dates, construction value and unit counts, and (where the source has them) ward, neighbourhood or building-use category. Also not exported: owner, applicant, contractor and contractor-contact names, parcel and roll numbers, legal descriptions and staff IDs.

Limits

• Coverage is the City of Kitchener only.
• Data freshness and completeness match the Kitchener open-data feed. This Actor does not add or correct permits.
• Max 50,000 permits per run. Pages of 1,000 with a 1 s pause between pages.
• Fields can be null when the source left them blank.

FAQ

Is this scraping? No. It queries the city's public ArcGIS REST API.

Does it include owner or applicant names or addresses? No. Street addresses, names and descriptions are removed, but the data is reduced, not anonymous: a permit number can be looked up in City records and may relate to a specific property.

Can I use it commercially? Yes, under the Open Government Licence – City of Kitchener, with attribution and without implying endorsement.