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Zoning · Burlington · Mixed use

MXG zone, Burlington: Mixed Use Corridor - General (MXG)

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 2020.213, 2020.205.

A mixed-use corridor zone that allows mid-rise (2 to 6 storey) buildings with shops, restaurants, offices and apartments, with retail limited to the ground floor and townhouse forms permitted away from major streets.

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

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What the MXG zone permits

  • Convenience/Specialty Foods Store (ground floor only, footnote a)
  • Other Retail Stores (ground floor only, footnote a)
  • Standard Restaurant
  • Standard Restaurant with Dance Floor (subject to Part 1 s.2.21(u), footnote r)
  • Fast Food Restaurant
  • Convenience Restaurant
  • Dry Cleaning Depot, Laundromat, Laundry Service (ground floor only, footnote a)
  • Veterinary Services (no outdoor animal-keeping facilities, footnote d)
  • Elevated Parking Facility (ground floor within 15 m of a public street must be retail/service commercial/entertainment/recreation, footnote i)
  • Other Service Commercial Uses (ground floor only, footnote a)
  • Outdoor Patio (subject to Part 1 s.2.21(v), footnote s)
  • All Office Uses
  • Community Institution
  • Car Wash per Part 1 s.2.9 (not on a lot abutting a residential zone or containing dwelling units, footnotes b,c)
  • Motor Vehicle Service Station per Part 1 s.2.10 (not on a lot containing dwelling units, footnote c)
  • Motor Vehicle Sales, Leasing, Rental and Service (not on a lot over 0.2 ha or containing dwelling units; max two service bay doors, not facing a residential zone, footnotes e,f)
  • Recreational Establishment
  • Entertainment Establishment
  • Night Club (not abutting a residential zone, not on a lot with dwelling units, max capacity 500 persons, footnotes b,c,h)
  • Apartment Building
  • 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, footnote n)
  • Back-to-Back Townhouse (see Subsection 5; not within 25 m of a public street with deemed width 26 m or greater, footnote o)
  • Townhouse (see Subsection 5; not within 55 m of a public street with deemed width 26 m or greater, footnote p)
  • Additional Residential Units (subject to Part 1 s.2.21(u), footnote r)

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)
Minimum front yard3 mYard abutting any street: 3 m minimum, 4.5 m maximum (maximum applies only to buildings within 60 m of a public street, footnote a); yard abutting Plains Road west of the QEW: 3 m minimum, 23 m maximum. Townhouse forms (Table 5.5.1 fn a): 3 m, garage entrance elevation 6 m from street; on a street with deemed width 26 m or greater, maximum yard 10 m for 60% of building length along the street line
Minimum interior side yardSee noteSide yard: no minimum (Table 5.4.1); 3 m for townhouse, stacked townhouse and back-to-back townhouse (Table 5.5.1). 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); townhouse forms per Table 5.5.1 footnote (a): 3 m, garage entrance 6 m
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: 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)). Buildings under 2 storeys legally existing on April 28, 2008 (By-law 2020.205) deemed to conform
Maximum gross floor area1800Maximum floor area 1800 m2 per retail or service commercial use (Table 5.4.2)
Maximum floor space index1.5Maximum floor area ratio 1.5:1 for other buildings; 0.5:1 for entertainment or recreation buildings; industrial buildings not applicable (Table 5.4.2). Townhouse forms: maximum 1.5:1 (Table 5.5.1). Minimum FAR 0.3:1 for buildings other than entertainment, recreational or industrial
Minimum parkingSee notePer Part 1 s.2.25 and Table 1.2.6; for non-residential uses the minimum is the Table 1.2.6 number less 5%, and supply may not exceed 102% of the Table 1.2.6 minimum (s.4.6(b),(c)); mixed-use developments may use shared-parking peak-period percentages (s.4.6(e))

Other provisions in this section

  • Holding 'H' prefix: uses per Part 11 s.1; development premature until 'H' removed (s.1(a)); accessory buildings, patios/decks, fencing, pools per Part 1 s.2.2-2.5; parking/driveways/parking structures per Part 2 s.1
  • 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 subject to Part 2 s.2 Prohibited Uses (s.3)
  • Standard Restaurant with Dance Floor in a building with dwelling units only permitted at grade where office or residential-accessory uses are on the second storey (Table 5.2.1 fn q)
  • Building setback from a creek block 7.5 m; yard abutting a Pipeline Easement 7 m; yard abutting a railway right-of-way none required, but 30 m separation for land uses sensitive to railway rights-of-way; yard abutting a PC or P zone 6 m (Table 5.4.1)
  • Separation distance from a residential zone: Standard Restaurant 15 m; Fast Food Restaurant 30 m; Night Club 45 m (s.4.2)
  • Minimum floor area ratio 0.3:1 for buildings other than entertainment, recreational or industrial; buildings under 0.5:1 FAR legally existing April 28, 2008 (By-law 2020.205) deemed to conform (s.4.3)
  • Minimum density in a residential building 30 units/ha (Table 5.4.2); townhouse forms 30 units/ha (Table 5.5.1)
  • Landscape area 3 m abutting a street, a creek block or O3 zone, and a PC or P zone; outdoor patio may encroach into required landscape area abutting a street; landscape buffer 6 m abutting a residential zone (s.4.4, s.5.2; townhouse buffer not required abutting LN3 lands fronting Barclay Road, Dean Street or Ashley Avenue)
  • Floor area of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th storeys of a multi-storey building must be at least 50% of the first storey floor area (s.4.5)
  • Non-residential parking on the same property may count toward residential visitor parking in mixed-use developments (s.4.6(d)); a converted detached dwelling used for service commercial or office must have a 1.5 m unencumbered pedestrian walkway from the street to the principal entrance (s.4.6(g))
  • Truck and trailer parking prohibited except while loading/unloading, for customers of the principal use, belonging to the owner/tenant, or for charitable purposes (s.4.6(h))
  • Outside storage limited to merchandise displayed for retail sale (not in a vehicle); perishable waste in refrigerated storage inside or in a sealed below-grade deep collection container; non-perishable waste 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 at least 1.8 m high (solid screen or chain-link with dense year-round planting) along any boundary with a residential zone (s.4.9, s.5.6)
  • Drive-through facilities: restaurant drive-throughs facing a street must be landscape-screened; 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 15 m from a residential zone; other-use drive-throughs not permitted on elevations facing a street, freestanding facilities 15 m from a residential zone (s.4.10)
  • Loading/unloading not within 7.5 m of a residential zone; loading docks screened from streets and adjoining residential zones (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/standard townhouse 15/25/35 m2 per efficiency/one-bedroom/two-plus-bedroom unit; back-to-back townhouse 25 m2 per unit including a common amenity area of at least 100 m2 or 6 m2 per unit, whichever is greater (s.5.4)
  • Every building within 60 m of a street with deemed width 26 m or greater must have a pedestrian door on the elevation facing that street (s.4.13)
  • Contiguous lots developed under one comprehensive site plan are deemed one lot for zoning purposes (s.4.15, s.5.8)
  • Townhouse forms (Table 5.5.1): yard abutting R1, R2, R3, LN3, LN4, LN5, LN6 zone 9 m for a 2-storey building 11.5 m or less in height, 12 m for a 2- or 3-storey building over 11.5 m; creek block setback 7.5 m; pipeline easement 7 m; railway right-of-way 30 m; PC or P zone 6 m; minimum FAR 0.3:1
  • Townhouse forms: driveways and parking lots set back 3 m from a wall with habitable-room windows unless the space serves the unit occupant exclusively; enclosed parking structures more than 1.6 m above grade follow principal building yards, those up to 1.6 m above grade set back 3 m from the street line and outside the landscape buffer (s.5.3)
  • Privacy area: standard townhouse 20 m2 per unit; stacked townhouse 15 m2 per unit; back-to-back townhouse each unit needs a 5.5 m2 balcony, screened from neighbours, projecting no more than 1.8 m from the front wall (s.5.5)
  • Residential building height for townhouse forms per Part 1 s.2.31 (s.5.7(a))
  • Elevated parking facility: excluding the driveway entrance, ground floor within 15 m of a public street must be used for retail, service commercial, entertainment or recreation uses (Table 5.2.1 fn i)

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, MXC, MXE, MXT, UC, UCR1, UCR2, UCR3, UE, UMXE, UOP