C-2: Highway Commercial

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

One home, only with a hotel or motel, built into the main building with its own outside entrance (ss. 7.15.2(b), 7.15.6(b))

Exceptions (1)

• One home of under 175 m² in a building on one other lot the bylaw names, without its own entrance

Listed in ss. 7.15.2(b), 7.15.6(b) of the bylaw.

Main uses

Hotels and motels, restaurants and pubs, retail and repair, barbers, beauty shops, laundries and dry cleaners, fitness, a driving range or mini-golf, theatres, plant nurseries and greenhouses, veterinary clinics and kennels (pens enclosed), auctions, funeral homes, bus depots and taxis, printing, upholstery, taxidermy, signs, group day care, schools, janitorial services, medical and dental clinics, bank machines, car, RV service, sales and rental, real estate offices, a liquor store, gas stations, cannabis retail (ss. 7.15.1, 7.15.6(c))

Exceptions (5)

• Mobile and manufactured home sales, assembly and display on three lots the bylaw names
• Storage in buildings or containers (no vehicles, boats, trailers or heavy equipment) on two groups of lots the bylaw names
• A craft brewery on one lot
• An auto body shop in one strata unit
• A food hub on one lot

Listed in s. 7.15.1(q), (cc), (ee), (ff), (gg) of the bylaw.

Smallest lot for a subdivision

464 m², at least 15.0 m along the street (s. 7.15.3)

Lot coverage

No limit set in the zone

Height limit

Main building 12.0 m; accessory buildings 4.5 m (s. 7.15.5)

Setbacks

Main building: front 7.5 m, rear 3.0 m, street side 6.0 m, inside side 4.5 m where there's no lane behind, 6.0 m next to a residential zone. Accessory buildings: behind the front of the main building and at least 7.5 m from the front, rear 2.1 m (1.5 m with no lane), sides 2.1 m (one 2.7 m with no lane), street side 4.5 m, never in the main building's 4.5 m side yard (s. 7.15.4)

Business is carried on inside a building, except parking and loading, screened storage yards and display, rental or sales areas (s. 7.15.6(a)).

Land not built on, parked on or used for storage is landscaped (s. 7.15.6(d)).

Shipping containers may serve as storage buildings here, set back like accessory buildings, at least 3.0 m from anything that burns, behind the front of the main building, never stacked or lived in, at most six (or one per 400 m² of the first hectare, whichever is less), screened where they face a highway or a residential lot (ss. 4.07.7, 4.07.8).

Cannabis retail at least 100 m from a group day care, playground, school or park, one per lot, at most six in the C-2 zone (s. 4.21).

Fences at most 1.0 m in the front yard and 1.8 m elsewhere; a screen at least 1.5 m high along a side or rear line next to a residential zone; land not built on, parked on or used for storage is landscaped (s. 4.11.2).

Commercial zones are areas where the City may consider a temporary use permit for a use the zone doesn't list (s. 4.22).

Short-term rental of a home isn't a use the zone lists, so ask the City before renting one by the night.

Site-specific exceptions listed in the bylaw by legal description can add or change uses for one property, and development permit areas, the ALR and building rules apply on top. Confirm with the City of Cranbrook's planning department before you buy or build.

Source: Part 7.15 of City of Cranbrook Zoning Bylaw No. 3977, 2019 (summarised in our words, checked 2026-10-04); zone map: Open Government Licence – British Columbia (named by the City of Cranbrook).