C6: Arterial Commercial

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

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

Main uses

Shops, offices, personal services, restaurants and cafés (no drive-throughs in the North Shore Town Centre), banks, car and RV sales, rental and service, fuel, contractors, auctions, bottle depot, garden stores, laundry, UBrew, entertainment, assembly and cultural facilities, community care, education, animal shelters, grooming and veterinary clinics, parking; apartments; food trucks, produce stands, outdoor storage and display, home-based businesses in apartments

Smallest lot for a subdivision

450 m², 15 m wide

Lot coverage

50% (75% at 1211 8th Street)

Height limit

2 storeys; apartments 4 storeys, and 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, 6 m on a lot with no building

Setbacks

Front 2 m (fuel pump islands 4.5 m); 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 and rear 3 m for 1 or 2 storeys, 4.5 m taller

Floor area ratio 1.0 for commercial buildings; 2.0 with homes, 3.0 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; 1.0 on lots facing Hugh Allan Drive, whatever else applies (s. 10.8.5). Buildings are at least 45 m².

Whether a lot in a transit-oriented area can still use the density bonus: the zone allows a floor area ratio of 2.0, or 3.0 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. 10.8.9) come with businesses on at least 40% of the first storey's footprint, or, in an all-residential building or one with less commercial space, 30% of the lot is landscaped amenity area; that doesn't apply to converting existing commercial space inside a building.

Site-specific (s. 10.8.3): an emergency shelter and transitional housing at 271 Victoria Street West; light manufacturing and warehousing at 3211 Westsyde Road; heating and air conditioning at 805 Notre Dame Drive; a dog kennel (30 a day, 6 overnight) at 1440 Hugh Allan Drive; liquor stores at 1821 Trans Canada Highway East, 1380 Summit Drive (VQA wine) and 780 Windsor Avenue; a 65-seat pub at 945 Lorne Street; warehousing at 1110 Tranquille Road.

Outdoor storage is screened; display only for car, RV and garden sales; bottle depots keep materials indoors (ss. 10.8.7, 10.8.8).

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).

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.