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Zoning · Burlington · Mixed use

MXC zone, Burlington: Mixed Use Corridor - Commercial (MXC)

Zoning By-law 2020, Part 5 (Mixed Use Corridor Zones), Sections 1-5; Tables 5.2.1, 5.4.1, 5.4.2, 5.5.1 of the City of Burlington Zoning By-law 09-2026 / 2020, as amended by 2020.205.

A commercial-corridor zone along major streets where shops, restaurants, offices, automotive uses and apartment or townhouse housing can be mixed, in buildings of 2 to 6 storeys close to the street.

Is a property in the MXC zone? Enter its address and the lookup returns the zone and these standards, including any site-specific exception.

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What the MXC zone permits

  • Supermarket/Grocery Store
  • Convenience/Specialty Foods Store
  • Other Retail Stores
  • Standard Restaurant
  • Standard Restaurant with Dance Floor (subject to Part 1, s.2.21(u))
  • Fast Food Restaurant
  • Convenience Restaurant
  • Funeral Home
  • Dry Cleaning Depot, Laundromat, Laundry Service
  • Veterinary Services (no outdoor animal keeping facilities)
  • Elevated Parking Facility (ground floor within 15 m of a public street must be retail/service commercial/entertainment/recreation, excluding driveway entrance)
  • Other Service Commercial Uses
  • Outdoor Patio (subject to Part 1, s.2.21(v))
  • All Office Uses
  • Community Institution
  • Convention/Conference Centre (not on a lot abutting a residential zone or containing residential dwelling units)
  • Banquet Centre (not on a lot abutting a residential zone or containing residential dwelling units)
  • Caterer
  • Car Wash per Part 1, 2.9 (not on a lot abutting a residential zone or containing residential dwelling units)
  • Motor Vehicle Service Station per Part 1, 2.10 (not on a lot abutting a residential zone or containing residential dwelling units)
  • Motor Vehicle Sales, Leasing, Rental, and Service (not on a lot containing residential dwelling units; not on lots exceeding 0.2 ha which abut a residential zone)
  • Motor Vehicle Repair Garage (not on a lot abutting a residential zone or containing residential dwelling units)
  • Taxi-cab Garage (not on a lot abutting a residential zone or containing residential dwelling units)
  • Retail Propane Facility per Part 1, 2.7 (not on a lot abutting a residential zone or containing residential dwelling units)
  • Recreational Establishment
  • Entertainment Establishment
  • Night Club (not on a lot abutting a residential zone or containing residential dwelling units; maximum capacity 500 persons)
  • Apartment Building (retail or service commercial uses permitted on the ground floor only)
  • Retirement Home
  • Dwelling Units in a commercial/office building
  • Stacked Townhouse (see Subsection 5; not within 25 m of a public street with deemed width 26 m or greater)
  • Back-to-Back Townhouse (see Subsection 5; not within 25 m of a public street with deemed width 26 m or greater)
  • Townhouse (see Subsection 5; not within 55 m of a public street with deemed width 26 m or greater)
  • Additional Residential Units (subject to Part 1, s.2.21(u))

Standards

RequirementBy-law
Minimum lot area (interior lot)1000 m²1000 m² (Table 5.4.1); 1200 m² for townhouse, stacked townhouse and back-to-back townhouse (Table 5.5.1)
Minimum lot width (interior lot)25 mLot width 25 m (Table 5.4.1); 30 m for townhouse, stacked townhouse and back-to-back townhouse (Table 5.5.1; its 25 m alternative is MXT only)
Minimum front yard3 mYard abutting any other street: 3 m minimum, 4.5 m maximum (maximum applies only to buildings within 60 m of a public street); yard abutting Plains Road west of the Queen Elizabeth Way: 3 m minimum, 23 m maximum (Table 5.4.1). Townhouse forms: 3 m, garage entrance elevation set back 6 m from the street; on streets of deemed width 26 m or greater, maximum yard 10 m for 60% of the building length abutting the street line (Table 5.5.1 fn (a))
Minimum interior side yardSee noteNo minimum (Table 5.4.1); 3 m for townhouse, stacked townhouse and back-to-back townhouse (Table 5.5.1). Separate standard for a yard abutting a residential zone: 12 m for floors 1-3, 15 m for floors 4-5, 18 m for floor 6
Minimum exterior side yard3 mYard abutting any other street: 3 m minimum, 4.5 m maximum (maximum applies only to buildings within 60 m of a public street); Plains Road west of the QEW: 3 m minimum, 23 m maximum (Table 5.4.1); townhouse forms per Table 5.5.1 fn (a)
Minimum rear yard3 m3 m (Table 5.4.1); 6 m for townhouse, stacked townhouse and back-to-back townhouse (Table 5.5.1)
Maximum building heightSee noteStoreys only: Office/Apartment building and other uses 2 storeys minimum, 6 storeys maximum; automotive uses 2 storeys maximum (s.4.5). Townhouse, stacked townhouse and back-to-back townhouse: 3 storeys up to 14 m (s.5.7(b))
Maximum gross floor area5600Maximum floor area per retail or service commercial use 5600 m² (Table 5.4.2)
Maximum floor space index1.5Maximum floor area ratio 1.5:1 for other buildings; 1.0:1 for entertainment or recreation buildings; industrial buildings not applicable (Table 5.4.2). Townhouse forms: maximum 1.5:1 (Table 5.5.1)

Other provisions in this section

  • Minimum floor area ratio 0.3:1 for buildings other than entertainment, recreational or industrial buildings (Table 5.4.2; also 0.3:1 for townhouse forms per Table 5.5.1); buildings under 0.5:1 FAR legally existing at the passing of By-law 2020.205 (April 28, 2008) deemed to conform for the life of the building
  • Minimum density in a residential building 30 units/ha (Table 5.4.2; townhouse forms 30 units/ha per Table 5.5.1)
  • Yard abutting a residential zone: 12 m for floors 1 to 3, 15 m for floors 4 and 5, 18 m for floor 6 (Table 5.4.1); townhouse forms abutting an R1, R2, R3, LN3, LN4, LN5 or LN6 zone: 9 m for a two-storey building 11.5 m or less in height, 12 m for a two- or three-storey building over 11.5 m (Table 5.5.1)
  • Building setback from a creek block 7.5 m; yard abutting a Pipeline Easement 7 m; yard abutting a PC or P zone 6 m (Tables 5.4.1 and 5.5.1)
  • Yard abutting a railway right-of-way: none required, but 30 m separation distance for land uses sensitive to railway rights-of-way (Table 5.4.1); townhouse forms 30 m (Table 5.5.1)
  • Separation distance from a residential zone: Standard Restaurant 15 m, Fast Food Restaurant 30 m, Night Club 45 m (s.4.2)
  • Landscape area 3 m abutting a street, a creek block or O3 zone, and a PC or P zone; an outdoor patio may encroach into a required landscape area abutting a street (s.4.4, s.5.2)
  • Landscape buffer 6 m abutting a residential zone (s.4.4); townhouse forms 6 m abutting an R1, R2, R3, LN3, LN4, LN5 or LN6 zone, not required abutting LN3 lands fronting Barclay Road, Dean Street or Ashley Avenue (s.5.2, Table 5.5.1 fn (b))
  • Floor area of the second, third and fourth storeys of a multi-storey building must be at least 50% of the first storey floor area (s.4.5); buildings under two storeys legally existing at the passing of By-law 2020.205 (April 28, 2008) deemed to conform to the height regulations
  • Parking per Part 1, s.2.25 except: non-residential minimum is the Part 1 Table 1.2.6 standard less 5%; non-residential parking provided shall not exceed 102% of the Table 1.2.6 minimum; non-residential parking on the same property may count toward required residential visitor parking in mixed developments; mixed-use developments may calculate parking using the percent-of-peak-period occupancy table (s.4.6)
  • Where a detached dwelling is converted to a service commercial or office use, a 1.5 m unencumbered pedestrian walkway from the street connecting the sidewalk to the principal entrance is required (may cross a driveway) (s.4.6(g))
  • Truck and trailer parking prohibited except while loading/unloading, for customers of the permitted principal use, belonging to the property owner or tenant, or used for charitable purposes (s.4.6(h))
  • Outside storage limited to merchandise displayed for retail sale and not stored in a truck, trailer or other vehicle; perishable waste must be refrigerated inside or kept in a below-grade sealed deep collection container; non-perishable waste stored outside on lands abutting a residential zone must be in a solid screen enclosure per Part 1, s.2.2.3 (s.4.7)
  • Fencing of minimum 1.8 m height (solid screen, or chain-link with dense year-round landscape planting) required along any common boundary with a residential zone (s.4.9, s.5.6)
  • Drive-through facilities: restaurant drive-throughs in or adjacent to elevations facing a street must be screened by landscaping; external conveyor pick-up systems not permitted in a yard abutting a street and set back 15 m from a residential zone; intercom ordering stations set back 15 m from a residential zone; other uses' drive-throughs not permitted in elevations facing a street and freestanding facilities set back 15 m from a residential zone (s.4.10)
  • Loading/unloading not within 7.5 m of a residential zone and docks screened from view from a street or adjoining residential zone (s.4.11)
  • Amenity area: 15 m² per efficiency unit, 20 m² per one-bedroom unit, 35 m² per two-or-more-bedroom unit, back-to-back townhouse 25 m² per unit (s.4.12); stacked or standard townhouse 15/25/35 m² (efficiency/one-bedroom/two-or-more-bedroom); back-to-back townhouse 25 m² per unit including at least one common amenity area of at least 100 m², or 6 m² per unit, whichever is greater (s.5.4)
  • Privacy area: standard townhouse 20 m² per unit, stacked townhouse 15 m² per unit, back-to-back townhouse an individual balcony of 5.5 m² separated from adjoining units by a wall or privacy screen and projecting at most 1.8 m from the front wall (s.5.5)
  • Every building within 60 m of a street with a deemed width of 26 m or greater must provide a pedestrian accessible door on the elevation facing that street (s.4.13)
  • Townhouse forms: driveways and parking lots set back 3 m from a wall containing habitable room windows, except where the space and driveway are for the exclusive use of the unit occupant; enclosed parking structures extending more than 1.6 m above finished grade are subject to principal-building yards, those below grade and up to 1.6 m above grade set back 3 m from a street line and not encroaching into a required landscape buffer (s.5.3)
  • Townhouse forms: residential building height per Part 1, s.2.31 "Residential Building Height", subject to the 3 storey / 14 m maximum in s.5.7(b)
  • Multiple contiguous lots developed under a single comprehensive site plan are deemed one lot for purposes of applying zoning regulations (s.4.15, s.5.8)
  • Prohibited uses in addition to Part 1, s.2.22: Warehouse Club, Hotel, Propane Cylinder Handling Facility, Bulk Propane Storage Depot, Video Game/Pinball Machine Arcade, Adult Entertainment Establishment; residential uses permitted in Table 5.2.1 are subject to Part 2, Subsection 2 "Prohibited Uses" (s.3)
  • Holding 'H' prefix: uses per Part 11, Section 1; development or redevelopment deemed premature until the 'H' prefix is removed per Part 11, s.1.2 (s.1(a)). Accessory buildings and structures, patios and decks, fencing and privacy screens and swimming pools per Part 1, ss.2.2-2.5; parking spaces, driveways and parking structures per Part 2, Subsection 1. Exceptions per Part 14

Source: Zoning By-law 2020, Part 5 (Mixed Use Corridor Zones), Sections 1-5; Tables 5.2.1, 5.4.1, 5.4.2, 5.5.1, By-law 09-2026 / 2020 (City of Burlington), checked 2026-09-12. General provisions elsewhere in the by-law (parking, driveways, accessory buildings) also apply, and a numbered exception on the parcel can change any value here. Treat this as a pre-check, not a sign-off.

Other mixed use zones in Burlington: DC, DL-A, DL-B, DL-C, DW, MXE, MXG, MXT, UC, UCR1, UCR2, UCR3, UE, UMXE, UOP