I1: Industrial Light

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

No house: an accessory dwelling unit, attached to the lot's main use, is the only home the zone lists (s. 76(1); definition in s. 12). The zone sets no count or size for it: ask the Municipality

Main uses

Industrial use (processing, fabricating, assembling, storing, transporting, distributing, wholesaling, testing, servicing, repairing, wrecking or salvaging goods, and selling heavy industrial equipment; no sawmills, pulp or planing mills, commercial composting or septage facilities), resource use (extracting, crushing, screening and storing sand, gravel, minerals and peat, no manufacturing), a service industry, machine, repair, sign and custom workshops, autobody and motor vehicle repair, motor vehicle sales, parts and accessories, truck, trailer and heavy equipment sales and rentals, tool and equipment sales and rentals, a truck depot, fuelling installations and a commercial cardlock, a cannabis production facility, food and beverage processing, a dry-cleaning plant or laundry, a laboratory, mini-warehousing, a warehouse, wholesale, a storage yard, a recycling depot, a retail lumber and building supply yard, a fitness centre, a trade school, a veterinary clinic, mobile food service; an accessory office, an accessory restaurant and an accessory dwelling unit (ss. 76(1), 12)

Smallest lot for a subdivision

1,675 m², 30 m of frontage (s. 76(2), (3))

Lot coverage

50% (s. 76(4))

Height limit

None set in the zone

Setbacks

Main buildings: front 8.0 m, sides and rear 0 m; 18 m from a line next to a rural or residential zone. Accessory buildings: front 8.0 m (18 m on an arterial highway), sides and rear 0 m (18 m next to a rural or residential zone). Any line on an arterial highway 18 m (s. 76(5))

The bylaw gives no statement of the zone's intent; its uses are light industry, trades, vehicle and equipment businesses and storage (our reading).

Next to any other zone, an arterial highway or a street, a landscape screen of planting and a 2.0 m fence, on a landscaped strip 6.0 m wide (3.0 m next to a commercial zone) (s. 39(3)).

At most two shipping containers for storage, set back as accessory buildings or no nearer the front line than the main building's front wall; a container used to build with needs a development permit and a building permit (s. 40.1).

The zone sets no height of its own; ask the Municipality what limit applies before you plan a building.

Short-term rental isn't a use this zone lists; ask the Municipality of North Cowichan before renting a home short term.

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 North Cowichan's planning department before you buy or build.

Source: Section 76 of Zoning Bylaw 1997, No. 2950 (summarised in our words, checked 2026-10-06); zone map: Open Government Licence – Municipality of North Cowichan.