I3: High Tech Industrial

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

No house: one home per lot as an accessory use to the industrial use (s. 13.2.2)

Main uses

Clean, high-tech industry and the businesses that serve it: light industry, food and beverage processing and custom workshops (processing inside a building; an odour plan for food processing), manufacturing with a contractor's office up to 929 m², a laboratory, research, printing, a production bakery or studio, service industry, repair and sign shops, mini storage, a warehouse, wholesale, tool and equipment rental, a commercial school, daycare, pet daycare, a veterinary clinic, recreation, a restaurant, a refund container depot, a social service resource centre, railways; daycare, one home, an office up to 20% of the floor area and retail up to 25% of the main use's floor area as accessory uses; a data centre, helicopter landing pad, offices or a personal care facility only on lots the bylaw names (ss. 13.2.1, 13.2.2, 13.2.3)

Smallest lot for a subdivision

900 m², 15 m wide, 30 m deep (s. 13.3)

Lot coverage

50%; 15% more where the development meets one of Schedule D's amenity categories (s. 13.6.1)

Height limit

14 m (s. 13.6.1)

Setbacks

Front 6 m (3 m where the front is landscaped and not used for parking), one side 3 m and the other 0 m, flanking side 4.5 m, rear 6 m; 7.5 m from a line beside a residential or corridor zone, 15 m from the Agricultural Land Reserve, 7.5 m beside a major road not yet widened (ss. 13.4.1, 13.4.2, 13.4.4, 13.4.5)

The zone is for clean, high-tech industry and the commercial uses that support it (s. 13.1).

Some lots the bylaw names have their own uses or height (ss. 13.2.3, 13.6.2); whether a lot is one of them, ask the City.

Accessory buildings may each have as much floor area as the main building (s. 6.6.6), 3.0 m from the rear line (1.5 m on a lane) (s. 6.6.3).

Short-term rental isn't a listed use in this zone (ss. 13.2.1, 13.2.2); ask the City before renting the accessory home by the night.

Part 6 (general regulations: accessory buildings, watercourse setbacks, flood levels, fences, home businesses) also applies.

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 Nanaimo's planning and development department before you buy or build.

Source: Part 13 of City of Nanaimo Zoning Bylaw No. 4500 (summarised in our words, checked 2026-10-06); zone map: Open Government Licence – Nanaimo.