With the recent approval of a new Official Community Plan (OCP) it's time to take a look at the City's Zoning Bylaw.

The purpose of the Zoning Bylaw review is to ensure the Bylaw is:

• aligned with the newly adopted Official Community Plan (OCP);
• up-to-date with recent provincial changes to planning and development rules; and
• easier for everyone to read, understand, and use.

Although it may sound like a big task, overall, there are very few major changes being considered; it's mostly a lot of minor changes. Based on past feedback from the public, City staff have identified multiples sections of the Bylaw that could benefit from a re-write to improve clarity and make it less complex. Below you'll see a series of discussion forums on the more significant changes proposed, we're also open to feedback on other parts of the Bylaw. Feel free to ask a question.

In addition to this webpage, you can also learn more by viewing the October 21, 2025 Council meeting or reading the introductory report to Council.

Expand the boxes below to learn more about the Zoning Bylaw!

Explore the tabs below to discover how zoning in Nelson has evolved—from the early 1900s to today.

Before 1938, the City didn’t have a Zoning Bylaw and there were very few rules about what could be built where. Some examples of what development looked like before there as a Zoning Bylaw, include:

• some commercial buildings that cover most of the lot, or even sometimes encroach into the road right-of-way (e.g. a few Baker Street heritage buildings);
• residential buildings in older parts of that city that are built closer to the street than the current 4.5m setback or are taller than the current maximum height of 10 metres;
• buildings without off-street parking (e.g. most of Baker Street); and
• major industrial buildings in primarily residential areas (e.g.Brewery Building on Latimer St).

In 1938, Council approved the City’s first Zoning Bylaw.
This Bylaw had 19 pages of regulations and had 3 types of Zoning.:

• Residential zoning
• Business District zoning and
• Semi-Business and Residential District’ zoning.

But the names of the Zones were a misnomer:

• the ‘Residential’ zoning allowed one family dwellings and duplexes, churches, schools, museums, parks, farming, hospitals, and club houses. There was also a regulation that stated you could build anything you wanted in the Residential zone, if you could convince 55% of the property owners within 300 feet of your property that your proposed development was a good idea!
• The ‘Semi-Residential and Business’ zoning allowed hotels, boarding houses, apartments and similar to the Residential Zone, you could build anything you wanted in the Semi-Residential and Business zone, if you could convince 55% of the property owners within 300 feet of your property that your development proposal was a good idea.
• The ‘Business’ zoning allowed almost anything.

In 1964, Council approved Nelson’s second Zoning Bylaw. This Bylaw had 39 pages of regulations and 9 different types of Zoning. It placed significant restrictions on the type of housing that could be built, only 1 dwelling unit could be built per residential lot, along with Churches, Schools and Greenhouses. If you wanted to build anything other than a single unit on a residential lot, such as an apartment building, you had to go through a Rezoning process.

This Bylaw also introduced off-street car parking requirements and home-based business regulations (called Home Occupations).

In 1970, Council approved Nelson’s third Zoning Bylaw. The 1970 Zoning Bylaw very much continued the trend of the 1964 Zoning Bylaw by placing further restrictions on the types of housing that could be built and limited the other types of uses that could be built in residential neighbourhoods. In addition to a new Zoning Bylaw, in 1971 the Province gave new powers to municipalities to negotiate Land Use Contracts (LUCs) a form of site specific, contractual zoning between local governments and landowners. LUCs were zoning, development permits, subdivision layouts and engineering servicing agreements all rolled into one document. The intent was to allow more flexibility than traditional zoning and, for the first time allow municipalities to require developers to pay for water, sewer, road and other engineering upgrades. These contracts were registered on land title and could only be changed by agreement of the City and the landowners. When the land use contract legislation was repealed in 1978, the existing contracts remained in place, however no new contracts could be created.

Ultimately, LUCs were found to not be effective as it required, public notice, a Public Hearing and a Council decision every time a property owner wanted to build something not listed specifically in the LUC; even if it was something as simply as a new garage. In 2014, the Province mandated that all Land Use Contracts would expire in 2024 which ended this experiment with “contract zoning”.

In 1983, Council approved Nelson’s fourth Zoning Bylaw. This Bylaw had 68 pages of regulations and 13 types of Zoning. For the first time, it had regulations for landscaping, preservation of water courses and amenity space requirements in apartment building development. It also loosened restrictions put in place in 1964 related to housing. You were again allowed to build up two units per residential lot, along with schools, parks, churches, day cares, group homes, and public utilities.

In 1987, Council approved Nelson’s fifth Zoning Bylaw. This Bylaw had 116 pages of regulations and 21 types of zoning. It introduced Comprehensive Development (CD) zoning that allowed a property owner to request unique zoning that would only apply to a specific property. CD zoning was introduced to recognize that ‘one-size-fits all’ zoning of the past often didn’t always work well, particularly for unique development projects.

In 2013, Council approved Nelson’s sixth (and current) Zoning Bylaw. This Bylaw has 109 pages of regulations and 35 types of zoning. Changes to both Bylaw over the years have added: new and amended zones, Short-Term rental regulations, laneway housing, emergency access standards for new dwellings, and increased the maximum number of units that can be built on a residential lot to 4. At the same time in 2013, Council adopted a separate bylaw, the 27 page Off-Street Parking and Landscape Bylaw, regulating parking and landscaping requirements. This bylaw has also been amended over the years, for example to include bicycle parking requirements, electric vehicle infrastructure requirements, and minimum accessible parking requirements.

Click on each tab to learn more and join a conversation on Zoning Bylaw changes!

Each topic has its own discussion forum—use the Read and Contribute button to share your ideas and start a conversation with your neighbours. Please keep your comments respectful; we may have different views, but we all share the same goal: making Nelson an even better place to live.

We're seeking input and discussion on the following proposed changes and topics:

• Consolidating existing bylaws and replacing outdated terminology
• Making it easier to build more housing by simplifying certain zoning requirements
• Reducing parking requirements for multi-unit affordable housing and rental housing
• Landscaping
• Large format retail
• Waste & Recycling facilities for new developments

You can also ask a question, if you'd like to know more about another Zoning Bylaw topic.

Zoning Bylaw regulations are current located in three separate Bylaws:

• the Zoning Bylaw,
• the Off-Street Parking and Landscape Bylaw; and
• the Mobile Home Park Bylaw.

It’s proposed to:

• Consolidate these three Bylaws into one Bylaw to ensure all Zoning regulations are in one place.
• The current Zoning Bylaw uses a lot of outdated terminology and it’s proposed to replace those terms with more up-to-date language to avoid confusion or mis-understandings. For example:
  • In residential zones, the terms ‘Low-Density’, ‘Medium Density’ and ‘High Density’ are currently used to describe different types of zoning. There’s no common definition of what constitutes low, medium or high-density development.
  • In residential zones, the terms single-detached dwelling, secondary suite, laneway house, duplex, and multi-unit residential are all used to describe the same types of residential development.
• To fix this, it’s proposed:
  • to remove the terms ‘Low-Density’, ‘Medium-Density’ and ‘High Density’.
  • consolidate the various types of residential development into two terms:
    • Small Scale Residential (referring to residential development with 4 or fewer units); and
    • Multi-Unit Residential (referring to 5 or more units).

Click on the "Read and Contribute" button below to share your thoughts!

We’ve heard over the past few years that some of the regulations for new housing development are not easy to understand, or make it difficult to build new housing.

Height: how it’s measured

In the R1 zone, the maximum height is currently 10m. On a flat site, this is easy to measure. But, as we all know, most of Nelson isn’t flat, so how we measure height can adversely impact what can be built.

Currently, height is measured from average finished grade to the highest peak of the roof. Or other words, the average of the 4 corners of the building. This definition encourages flat roofs to the detriment of pitched roofs. On steep lots, it also results in buildings that have one or more facades that are significantly taller than the maximum permitted height, because the shorter facades help reduce the average height. Think: a new house built on a steep slope with a 1 storey façade that faces the street, but 4 storeys in the rear.

Following research on how other cities in BC calculate building height, City staff are proposing a new approach:

• Measure from the lowest point of the building (rather than average finished grade); and
• Measure to mid-peak of the roof (rather than the highest point of the roof)

This new approach would cease to discriminate against pitched roofs, all while reducing perceived building bulk by ensuring that no single façade of a building exceeds the maximum permitted height.

Maximum height in the R1 zone

The OCP states we should be allowing new small-scale residential up to 3 storeys. The Zoning Bylaw currently caps height at 10 metres. Depending on roof type and topography, this is sometimes enough to allow for three storeys, but often only two storeys can be achieved. Given this inconsistency, City staff are proposing that height be increased by just one metre to ensure equal development potential. The proposed height of 11 metres is also supported by Provincial guidelines.

Lot coverage

Lot coverage is the maximum area buildings can cover on a lot, principal building and accessory buildings like garages combined. For example, if you have a 5,000 sq ft. (464 sq. m) lot and the maximum lot coverage is 35%, the maximum area buildings can cover is 1750 sq. ft. (162 sq m.).

When the current Zoning Bylaw was updated in 2019 to allow up to 4 units per residential lot, the maximum allowable lot coverage was not updated. This has caused a problem, developers either have to build fewer units, smaller units, or apply for a variance. It’s proposed to have a progressive maximum lot coverage (1 unit 35%, 2 or 3 units 40%, 4 units 45%.). This stepped approach would assist with the development of triplexes and fourplexes that can help meet Nelson’s housing needs, without enabling very large single-family homes.

The City is of course considering the impacts of increased lot coverage on stormwater runoff. This will likely result in more stringent engineered on-site stormwater management solutions for properties that do not have the possibility of connecting to the municipal stormwater sewer.

Click on the "Read and Contribute" button below to share your thoughts!

Building parking is expensive.

It’s estimated that one underground parking stall can cost upwards of $100,000 to build. Surface parking stalls can cost upwards $35,000 to build. Much research has shown that people living in multi-unit affordable and purpose-built rental housing units don’t have as many cars. There are a few links to various parking studies in the document section of this webpage.

Overall, having a one-size fits all parking requirement requires multi-unit residential affordable and purpose-built housing developers to build excessive amounts of parking which increases the overall cost to construct new projects. These costs are passed on to tenants in the form of higher rents. It’s proposed to reduce the overall parking requirements for new affordable and purpose-built apartment buildings from 1 stall per unit to 0.5 stalls per unit, plus 0.1 stall per unit for visitors. This also aligns with the 50% parking reduction already afforded to mixed-use developments in the downtown core.

Click on the "Read and Contribute" button below to share your thoughts!

The current Bylaw is not clear on what type of landscaping is required for new development.

It’s proposed:

• to add a requirement for a specific minimum number of trees and plants in landscape areas;
• to state that landscape trees and plants must be:
  • Climate resilient;
  • Fire Smart;
• to clarify existing wording in the bylaw to make it clear landscaping must be:
• Indigenous to the West Kootenay region; and
• Non-Invasive
• to provide an incentive to developers to retain existing trees by giving them a credit for existing trees that are retained, at a ratio of 2:1. For example, if a new multi-unit residential, commercial or industrial development is required to plant 20 trees, but they retain 2 existing trees. They would receive a credit of 4, and would only have to plant 16 trees.
  
  Click on the "Read and Contribute" button below to share your thoughts!

Currently, the Zoning Bylaw does not distinguish between different types of retail stores.

A small-scale store could be located anywhere commercial developed is allowed, and the same for a large-format retail store. It’s proposed to no longer allow the construction of large-scale retail stores in Nelson greater than 4,000 sq m (43,050 sq ft) as-of-right. As-of-right zoning means a property owner has a right to build, provided they comply with the Zoning Bylaw and other municipal requirements without having to go through a rezoning process.

If a large-format retail store would like to expand, or relocated to Nelson they would be required to go through the rezoning process. This will ensure a higher-level of public and Council review of the proposal.

Currently there are two large-format retail stores that exceed this cap. These stores would have 'legal non-conforming' status and can continue to operate, but not expand. Unless they received rezoning approval. Existing Shopping Centres could expand (provided they meet Zoning Bylaw requirements), but could not contain a Retail Store greater than the cap.

Requiring a rezoning process for this type of development means a higher level of public and Council review and scrutiny because the developer would be required to under public engagement, an economic impact analysis study and require Council approval.

Click on the "Read and Contribute" button below to share your thoughts!

Currently, only new multi-unit residential buildings (5 units ore more) must provide space for waste and recycling.

Space for garbage and recycling bins is sometimes overlooked by builders, in particular for developments without garages. It’s proposed to require a dedicated area for waste and recycling bins in all new residential development.