C-2: General Commercial

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

No house: apartments and congregate housing only above the first storey, with no advertising on those storeys, and at most one home for the owner, operator, manager or caretaker inside a commercial building, which may be on the main floor (ss. 816.1, 816.5, 816.6, 2)

Main uses

Retail sales of goods and services (wholesale only as part of them), medical services, household item, tool and appliance rental and repair, personal services, offices, restaurants, assembly, apartments, congregate housing, adult and child day care, supplementary parking, a cable hub site, a bottle depot; an accessory home. Not lumber or building supply yards, vehicle, boat or machinery sales or repair (except as part of a department or hardware store), a neighbourhood pub, or a bottle depot where all the uses on the lot have 1,000 m² of leasable floor area or less (ss. 816.1, 816.2)

Smallest lot for a subdivision

No minimum set in the zone

Lot coverage

None set in the zone; floor space ratio at most 1.20 (s. 816.3)

Height limit

15.0 m (s. 816.4(b))

Setbacks

7.5 m from a line on a street (3.75 m where that strip is landscaped and not parked on); 0 m from a rear or inside side line not on a street, else at least 3.0 m from it; a rear line next to a rural or residential zone 7.5 m, an inside side line next to one 3.0 m for a one-storey building and 6.0 m for a taller one; the part of a building holding apartments or congregate housing 7.5 m from the front and side lines and 10.0 m from the rear (s. 816.4(a))

A bottle depot collects and stores only inside a building or fully enclosed structure (s. 816.7).

Non-market housing developments are allowed on any lot inside the Sewer Service Area or the Urban Containment Boundary that isn't zoned industrial, under Schedule I's rules, which we haven't summarised (s. 5.39).

Sections 5, 6, 7 and 8 and Schedule B of the bylaw also apply here (s. 816.8).

Short-term rental (stays under 30 days) isn't among the zone's listed uses (s. 2 defines it apart from bed and breakfast); ask the District whether and how a home here may be rented that way.

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 District of Saanich's planning department before you buy or build.

Source: Schedule 816 of District of Saanich Zoning Bylaw No. 8200 (summarised in our words, checked 2026-10-06); zone map: Saanich Data Catalogue Licence (based on the Open Government Licence – British Columbia).