GovHandbook

CBD-1 zone in Victoria: Central Business District – 1 Zone

Victoria, British ColumbiaDraft, not yet reviewedBylaw read 2026-11-07

In short

Main uses: Art and Cultural Facility, Assembly, Assisted Living Facility, Brew Pub (beer, spirits, wine), Care Facility, and 16 more.

Zone rules

Main uses
  • Art and Cultural Facility
  • Assembly
  • Assisted Living Facility
  • Brew Pub (beer, spirits, wine)
  • Care Facility
  • Civic Facility
  • Drinking Establishment
  • Equipment Rental
  • Financial Service
  • Food and Beverage Service
  • Hotel
  • Laboratory
  • Light Industrial
  • Office
  • Personal Service
  • Residential
  • Retail Liquor Sale
  • Retail Trade
  • Studio
  • Utility
  • Veterinary Clinic
Residential uses and Hotel guest bedrooms are not allowed on the first storey.
Also allowed (secondary uses)Home Occupation
Maximum density5.5:1 overall; 3.0:1 for Residential uses
Maximum height43.0m
Rear setbackResidential portions: 8.0m where exterior wall is over 5.0m high (up to 18.0m high for buildings over 23.0m), 10.0m where exterior wall is over 18.0m high (buildings over 23.0m); non-Residential portions: 6.0m where exterior wall is over 5.0m high, 0.0m where exterior wall is up to 5.0m high
Interior side setback0.0m for buildings up to 23.0m high; buildings over 23.0m high: 10.0m for portions with a Residential use and exterior wall over 18.0m high, 6.0m for portions with a non-Residential use and exterior wall over 23.0m high
Other rules
  • Motor vehicle parking must be located within a Building
  • Brew Pub production area: no more than 35% of the First Storey floor area
  • Light Industrial use must be wholly contained within a Building
  • Lot coverage and lot dimensions: no regulations stated (left blank)

Source: Zoning Regulation Bylaw No. 80-159 (consolidated on October 17, 2019 up to Bylaw No. 19-074; zone Parts amended to Bylaw 24-060, August 2024) and Zoning Bylaw 2018 (consolidated on June 9, 2022 up to Bylaw No. 22-048), s. 4.5 (read 2026-11-07)

Rules in the bylaw's general sections (parking, fences, suites, home businesses) also apply, and a lot can have site-specific rules. Victoria has two zoning bylaws in force. Zoning Bylaw 2018 (zones GRD-1, LVD-1, CVD-1, TCD-1, CBD-1, CBD-2, MRD-1, OTD-1, IAI-1, MI-1, LI-1, HI-1; https://www.victoria.ca/media/file/zoning-bylaw-2018) applies to the areas on its Map 1: the Downtown Core Area and most commercial and low-density residential properties in town centres, urban villages and residential fabric. The Zoning Regulation Bylaw No. 80-159 (one PDF per zone) still governs the rest, including most industrial, medium and high density residential outside downtown, comprehensive development districts and some commercial properties. The City says its website bylaws are office consolidations provided for convenience; refer to the bylaws and amendments at City Hall. In text.txt every file starts at a '[source <url>]' line; the first file is the Introduction & General Regulations of Bylaw 80-159 and the Zoning Bylaw 2018 is appended at the end. Zones whose PDF has no text layer (image-only; no OCR was run) have no lines or pdf_page, only source_url; 179 codes, listed in places/victoria/no-text-layer.txt. For zones with text, pdf_page is the page inside that zone's own PDF (always the first page). Zone pages are taken from the bylaw text by a research agent and have not yet been reviewed by a person: confirm with the bylaw before you rely on them. How answers are checked.

This zone as Markdown · JSON · all Victoria zones · Report an error