MU4 zone, Oakville: Urban Core

What the MU4 zone permits

• Apartment dwelling (footnote 3: prohibited in first 9.0 m of building depth on the first storey; ancillary residential on first storey may occupy max 15% of the front main wall length)
• Art gallery (footnote 7)
• Business office (footnotes 6, 7)
• Commercial parking area
• Commercial school (footnote 7)
• Community centre
• Conservation use
• Day care
• Dormitory (footnote 4: only accessory to and on the same lot as a post-secondary school or private school)
• Dry cleaning depot (footnote 7)
• Dry cleaning/laundry establishment (footnote 7)
• Emergency service facility
• Emergency shelter (footnote 8: prohibited within a single use building)
• Financial institution (footnote 7)
• Food bank (footnote 7)
• Food production (footnote 7)
• Home occupation (footnote 5)
• Hotel (footnote 7)
• Library
• Long term care facility (footnote 3)
• Medical office (footnotes 6, 7)
• Motor vehicle rental facility
• Museum
• Outside display and sales area (footnote 7)
• Park, public
• Pet care establishment (footnote 7)
• Place of entertainment (footnote 7)
• Place of worship
• Post-secondary school
• Private home day care (footnote 5)
• Public hall (footnote 7)
• Rental establishment (footnote 7)
• Restaurant (footnote 7)
• Retail store (footnote 7)
• Retirement home (footnote 3)
• School, private
• School, public
• Service commercial establishment (footnote 7)
• Short-term accommodation (footnote 5)
• Sports facility (footnote 7)
• Stormwater management facility
• Taxi dispatch (footnote 7)
• Veterinary clinic (footnote 7)

Standards

Other provisions in this section

• Maximum front yard 5.0 m and maximum flankage yard 5.0 m (Table 8.3.1 footnotes 1, 3): applies only to the first 12.0 m of building height measured along the main wall facing the front/flankage lot line; does not apply where an urban square of at least 300.0 m2 with a minimum length of 10.0 m is provided along the main wall.
• Table 8.3.1 footnote 2 (2015-079): maximum front and flankage yard is 5.0 m where a dwelling occupies the entire first storey on a lot fronting any public road other than Lakeshore Road West, Lakeshore Road East or Kerr Street. This footnote is not marked against the MU4 column in the extracted text (MU4 maximum yards are marked (1)(3) only); recorded for reference, and in any case the MU4 maximum is already 5.0 m.
• Minimum number of storeys 8, minimum first storey height 4.5 m, minimum building height 25.5 m (Table 8.3.1 footnote 7: any building legally existing on the effective date not complying is permitted). Section 8.6(f): minimum first storey height does not apply to parts of the first storey of a parking structure solely occupied by parking area.
• Table 8.3.1 footnote 6 (not marked against the MU4 column in the extracted text; recorded for caution): (a) max 3 storeys / 12.0 m where the lot is adjacent to a lot in any Residential Low (RL) Zone; (b) a mechanical penthouse shall not exceed 3.0 m in height measured from the top of the roof on which it sits where the lot is adjacent to a lot in any RL Zone, notwithstanding Section 4.6.4(a).
• Table 8.2 footnote 1 (2021-068): stand-alone residential buildings are not permitted on lots with a front or flankage lot line abutting Lakeshore Road; first-storey residential dwelling units must have the main front entrance oriented towards a public road.
• Detached dwellings, semi-detached dwellings, townhouse dwellings and live-work dwellings are not permitted in MU4 (the MU4 column of Table 8.2 shows '-'; Table 8.2 footnote 2, which permits legally existing ones, applies only where marked and is not marked for MU4). Attached or detached additional residential unit, bed and breakfast establishment and funeral home are also not permitted in MU4.
• Table 8.2 footnote 3 (2021-068): apartment dwellings, long term care facilities and retirement homes are prohibited in the first 9.0 m of building depth measured from the main wall facing the front lot line on the first storey; an ancillary residential use on the first storey may occupy a maximum of 15% of the length of that main wall.
• Table 8.2 footnote 5 (2023-024, 2024-111): a maximum of one of home occupation, private home day care or short-term accommodation is permitted in a dwelling or an additional residential unit associated with the main dwelling.
• Table 8.2 footnote 6: on a lot with lot frontage greater than 20.0 m, business offices and medical offices are limited to a cumulative maximum width of 50% of the building in the first 9.0 m of building depth on the first storey.
• Table 8.2 footnote 7: uses so marked have a maximum net floor area of 1,400.0 m2 per premises, applying only to the portion of the premises on the first storey.
• Table 8.3.2 (shared table for permitted detached, semi-detached and townhouse dwellings; none of these are permitted in MU4, so recorded for reference only): minimum lot area and lot frontage as legally existing on the effective date; minimum front yard = as legally existing less 1.0 m (Section 6.6 additionally applies to a dwelling erected between legally existing dwellings, 2015-018); minimum flankage yard 3.0 m; minimum interior side yard 1.2 m (Section 6.10 applies for semis/townhouses); minimum rear yard 7.5 m; max 3 storeys / 12.0 m; max lot coverage 35% for detached (n/a for semi/townhouse); accessory buildings and structures per Section 6.5.
• Section 8.4: transformer and telecommunications vaults and pads are not permitted in a front yard or flankage yard between the main wall and the lot line (notwithstanding Section 4.10(b)); stairs and air vents for a parking structure are not permitted in a front or flankage yard.
• Section 8.5: Sections 8.3, 8.4 and the additional regulations of Table 8.2 do not apply to any portion of a built heritage resource designated under the Ontario Heritage Act or listed on the Town of Oakville Heritage Register legally existing on the effective date.
• Section 8.6(a): a surface parking area (excluding a driveway) is not permitted in any yard between a building and Lakeshore Road East, Lakeshore Road West, Kerr Street, Randall Street, Oak Park Boulevard, Old Bronte Road or Khalsa Gate.
• Section 8.6(b): on a lot in a Mixed Use Zone on Map 19(19a), maximum surface parking area coverage is 50%.
• Section 8.6(c) (2015-018): notwithstanding Section 5.8.2, on a lot with lot frontage of 15.0 m or more, maximum driveway width for a detached, semi-detached or townhouse dwelling is 6.0 m (those dwelling types are not permitted in MU4).
• Section 8.6(d) (2015-018): parking of motor vehicles is prohibited in all storeys of an above-grade parking structure for the first 9.0 m of building depth measured from the main wall facing Lakeshore Road West, Lakeshore Road East, Kerr Street, Randall Street, Old Bronte Road, Oak Park Boulevard or Khalsa Gate.
• Section 8.6(e) (2015-018): on a corner lot, a driveway to a parking structure crossing a flankage lot line must be set back at least 9.0 m from the main wall of the parking structure facing the front lot line.
• Section 8.7 (2015-018): uses above grade are not limited where a basement is used for storage accessory to a permitted use in the same building.
• Section 8.8 (new buildings only, not additions to legally existing buildings): at least 75% of the length of all main walls facing the front lot line must be located within the area defined by the minimum and maximum front yards; likewise at least 75% of main walls facing the flankage lot line within the minimum and maximum flankage yards.