C1: General Commercial

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

Apartments, above a ground floor with community-serving businesses, or in an all-residential building on a landscaped lot

Main uses

Shops, offices, personal services, restaurants and cafés, pubs and lounges, hotels and motels, banks, entertainment, assembly and cultural facilities, places of worship, community care, education and training, funeral home, laundry, animal grooming and veterinary clinics (no outdoor kennels), cannabis and liquor stores, parking; apartments; food trucks, produce stands, home-based businesses in apartments

Smallest lot for a subdivision

278 m², 9 m wide

Lot coverage

60%

Height limit

Commercial buildings 2 storeys; with a hotel or homes 4 storeys; in a transit-oriented area 10 storeys within 200 m of a transit exchange, 6 at 201 to 400 m; rooftop structures 4.5 m above the main roof

Setbacks

Front 2 m (3 m on Seymour Street between 6th and 8th Avenue); sides 0 m; side street 2 m; rear 0 m (1.5 m where a door opens onto a lane or loading has no stall). Next to a residential zone with no lane or street between: sides 3 m for 1 or 2 storeys, 6 m taller; rear 3 m and 4.5 m

Floor area ratio 1.2 for commercial buildings; 2.4 with a hotel or homes, 3.6 with the density bonus; in a transit-oriented area 3.5 within 200 m of a transit exchange and 2.5 at 201 to 400 m (s. 10.3.5).

Whether a lot in a transit-oriented area can still use the density bonus: the zone allows a floor area ratio of 2.4, or 3.6 with the bonus, but only 2.5 in part of a transit-oriented area, and doesn't say which governs there, so this is unclear; ask the City of Kamloops.

Density bonus (s. 3.18): the higher figures need every added home kept as market rental, or 40% of them as affordable rental, or 20% of all homes as social housing, under a housing agreement that bars strata-titling them; in RM3, RM4 and RM5 the lot must also be within 200 m of a mixed-use centre in the official community plan.

Homes (s. 10.3.7) sit above a ground floor with at least 40% given to community-serving businesses (offices, shops, restaurants, personal services and the like), or, in an all-residential building or one with less commercial space, 30% of the lot is landscaped amenity area (rooftop allowed, balconies not).

An existing building, a hotel included, becomes apartments only if it meets these rules, with a development permit and building permit before anyone moves in (s. 10.3.7(c)).

Site-specific (s. 10.3.3): only office, a house and multi-unit housing at 172 Battle Street; an indoor kennel for 12 dogs and a suite above the shop at 839 Victoria Street.

No outdoor storage, except at 2079 Falcon Road, and no surface parking between a building and a street (ss. 10.3.6, 10.3.8).

Cannabis stores stay 150 m from P3 (school) lots and 100 m from each other; liquor stores 1 km from each other (ss. 3.13, 3.14).

The zone doesn't list short-term rental (stays under 30 days), so homes here are let for 30 days or more (ss. 1.3.1, 2.2).

Home-based businesses are allowed inside homes (s. 3.3).

Fences up to 1.2 m in a required front or side-street yard and 2 m elsewhere (s. 5.7).

Up to two for storage, each at most 12.1 m long, under the accessory building limits, never lived in and never holding fuel or explosives (s. 3.11.4).

Beside a provincial highway, buildings and structures stand at least 4.5 m from that lot line (3 m where a public lane gives secondary access); less needs the Ministry of Transportation's consent and a variance (s. 3.15).

Below the 200-year flood level, floors used for living, business or storing goods in multi-unit or small-scale multi-unit housing and in garden or carriage suites sit above that level (s. 3.16).

A lot registered before this bylaw that is smaller or narrower than the zone's minimum may still be developed to the zone's density (s. 2.1.1).

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 Kamloops' planning and development department before you buy or build.

Source: City of Kamloops Zoning Bylaw No. 55, 2021 (summarised in our words); zone map: Open Government Licence – Kamloops.