I2: Industrial Heavy

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

No house: the zone lists every Industrial Light (I1) use, whose only home is an accessory dwelling unit attached to the lot's main use (ss. 77(1), 76(1); definition in s. 12). The zone sets no count or size for it: ask the Municipality

Main uses

Every I1 use (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); also an automobile wrecking or salvage yard, bulk storage of flammable and combustible liquids, boat terminals and docks, piers and wharves, a cannabis production facility, a helicopter pad, a private airstrip, a railway yard, an industrial recycling use, sawmills, pulp mills and planing mills (which the I1 list leaves out), a slaughterhouse, a works yard, municipal or regional government offices, mobile food service (s. 77(1))

Smallest lot for a subdivision

16,000 m² (about 4 acres), with 90 m of frontage (s. 77(2), (3))

Lot coverage

50% (s. 77(4))

Height limit

None set in the zone

Setbacks

Main and accessory buildings: front 8.0 m, sides and rear 0 m; 46 m from any line next to another zone; 18 m from a line on an arterial highway; a slaughterhouse 92 m from every line (s. 77(5))

The bylaw gives no statement of the zone's intent; its uses are heavy industry: mills, wrecking yards, fuel storage, docks and rail yards (our reading).

Shipping containers for storage: one for every 0.4 ha of land, at most 10, set back as accessory buildings; a container used to build with needs a development permit and a building permit (s. 40.1). One named lot may have 25 (s. 77(6)).

This is the only zone where land may be used for a private airstrip (s. 41).

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)). Derelict vehicles kept from view from every lot line (s. 40).

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