C7: Neighbourhood Commercial

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

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

Main uses

Small shopping centres: shops, offices, personal services, restaurants and cafés, banks, fuel, laundry, entertainment, assembly and cultural facilities, community care, indoor recreation, grooming and veterinary clinics; apartments; home-based businesses in apartments

Smallest lot for a subdivision

3,076 m², 60 m wide; no lot may be over 2.2 ha

Lot coverage

40%

Height limit

1 storey; apartments 3 storeys; rooftop structures 4.5 m above the main roof, 6 m on a lot with no building

Setbacks

Front 6 m; sides 6 m; rear 6 m; sides and rear 3 m where a lane or street separates the lot from a residential zone

Floor area ratio 0.4 for commercial buildings; 1.2 with homes, 1.8 with the density bonus (s. 10.9.5).

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. 10.9.7) come with businesses on at least 40% of the ground floor'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. 10.9.3): up to six homes (and no fuel, entertainment or vet) at 1450 Highland Drive; a home, offices and small repair and craft shops at 1579 Collingwood Drive.

No outdoor storage (s. 10.9.6).

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.