CR zone, Toronto: Commercial Residential Zone

What the CR zone permits

• Ambulance Depot (c)
• Art Gallery (c)
• Artist Studio (c)
• Automated Banking Machine (c)
• Community Centre (c)
• Courts of Law (c)
• Education Use (c)
• Financial Institution (c)
• Fire Hall (c)
• Library (c)
• Massage Therapy (c)
• Medical Office (c; includes medical clinic)
• Museum (c)
• Office (c)
• Park (c)
• Passenger Terminal (c)
• Performing Arts Studio (c)
• Personal Service Shop (c)
• Pet Services (c)
• Police Station (c)
• Post-Secondary School (c)
• Production Studio (c)
• Religious Education Use (c)
• Software Development and Processing (c)
• Veterinary Hospital (c)
• Wellness Centre (c)
• Dwelling Unit in a permitted building type (Apartment Building, Mixed Use Building, Townhouse) (r)
• Hospice Care Home (r)
• Municipal Shelter (r)
• Nursing Home (r)
• Religious Residence (r)
• Residential Care Home (r)
• Respite Care Facility (r)
• Retirement Home (r)
• Student Residence (r)
• With conditions (c): Amusement Arcade, Cabaret, Club, Cogeneration Energy, Custom Workshop, Day Nursery, Drive Through Facility, Eating Establishment, Entertainment Place of Assembly, Funeral Home, Hotel, Laboratory, Nightclub, Outdoor Patio, Outdoor Sales or Display, Place of Assembly, Place of Worship, Private School, Public Parking, Public School, Public Utility, Recreation Use, Renewable Energy, Retail Service, Retail Store, Service Shop, Sports Place of Assembly, Take-out Eating Establishment, Transportation Use, Vehicle Dealership, Vehicle Fuel Station, Vehicle Service Shop, Vehicle Washing Establishment
• With conditions (r): Crisis Care Shelter, Group Home, Home Occupation, Multi-tenant House, Private Home Daycare, Secondary Suite, Seniors Community House, Short-term Rental, Tourist Home

Standards

Other provisions in this section

• Three Development Standard Sets (SS1, SS2, SS3) form part of the zone label and change height, setback, landscaping, parking and access rules (40.10.1.10(2)).
• Dwelling units are only permitted in an Apartment Building, Mixed Use Building or Townhouse, and only where the zone label's 'r' value is greater than 0.0; townhouses are not permitted in Policy Area 3 or 4 (40.10.20.40).
• Dwelling units in a lawfully existing detached, semi-detached, duplex, triplex or fourplex (or townhouse in PA3/PA4) are permitted; additions must meet the RM zone (RT for townhouses) rules for that building type or get a s.45 minor variance (40.10.20.41).
• In a mixed use building, dwelling units and other residential uses must be above the first storey, except first-storey units on SS1 corner lots with direct access to a non-major street and located behind non-residential uses, or on SS2/SS3 lots accessed through a common inside area, behind non-residential uses at least 15.0 m deep from the front wall (40.10.40.1(1)).
• Non-residential first-storey floor level (except place of worship) must be within 0.2 m of ground at the street lot line opposite each pedestrian entrance, with a ramp no steeper than 0.04 m rise per 1.0 m (40.10.40.1(2)); not applicable to transportation uses along Eglinton Ave W/E if accessible.
• A building with a dwelling unit, or a hotel, may not have another building between its main wall and the street it fronts; no detached rear or front additions creating dwelling units/hotel rooms behind another building (40.10.40.1(3)-(5)).
• Pedestrian access (other than service, residential or legally required entrances) may not be within 12.0 m of a Residential or Residential Apartment lot where the lot abuts or is across a lane/street from one; exempt for SS1 lots south of Bloor St and places of worship (40.10.40.1(6)).
• Amusement arcades, cabarets, clubs, eating establishments, entertainment places of assembly, places of assembly, recreation uses and take-out eating establishments: total interior floor area capped at 400 m2 on SS1/SS2 lots within 6.1 m of a Residential or Residential Apartment lot (40.10.20.100(1)).
• Nightclub: must be in a non-residential building, the only nightclub in the building, not above the first storey, and max 400 m2 interior floor area if within 6.1 m of a Residential/Residential Apartment lot (40.10.20.100(2)).
• No hotel room or suite may be on the same storey as a dwelling unit (40.10.20.100(4)).
• Retail store with beer/cider/wine manufacturing: total interior floor area max 400.0 m2 (40.10.20.100(5)).
• Service shops, custom workshops and retail services: max 400 m2 total interior floor area each on SS1/SS2 lots (40.10.20.100(6),(16),(17)).
• Laboratory interior floor area may not exceed the interior floor area of the first storey of its building (40.10.20.100(15)).
• Public parking: not in an above-ground garage on SS1/SS2 lots; surface spaces set back 1.5 m from Residential/Residential Apartment lot lines; one attendant shelter max 4.0 m high, 5.0 m2, at least 6.0 m from a street lot line; fence required along street lot lines and residential lot lines (40.10.20.100(7)-(11)).
• Vehicle fuel stations and vehicle service shops must be on a lot abutting a major street on the Policy Areas Overlay Map (40.10.20.100(13)).
• Outdoor sales or display: must be combined with another non-residential use; not within 15.0 m of a Residential/Residential Apartment lot line; max 25% of the premises' gross floor area up to 1500 m2; not in required parking, loading, driveway or landscaping areas; no storage in vehicles (40.10.20.100(20)).
• Outdoor patio: max area the greater of 50.0 m2 or 50% of the premises' interior floor area; set back 10.0 m (SS1/SS2) or 30.0 m (SS3) from a Residential/Residential Apartment lot, 40.0 m if above the first storey; entertainment area max greater of 10% of patio or 5.0 m2; fence required in rear yard abutting residential (40.10.20.100(21)).
• Tourist home and private home daycare only in a townhouse or lawfully existing detached/semi-detached house; tourist home no mutual-driveway access; daycare play area fenced and not in front or street side yard (40.10.20.100(22),(44)).
• Banquet hall over 1,000 m2 must be at least 300.0 m from a Residential/Residential Apartment lot unless combined with a hotel (40.10.20.100(29)).
• Public utility may not be a sewage treatment or water filtration plant; transformer and gas regulator stations must be enclosed and meet CR coverage, setback and height rules (40.10.20.100(54),(57)).
• Conditional uses referencing Chapter 150: short-term rental 150.13, funeral home 150.120, vehicle washing 150.96, vehicle dealership 150.90, day nursery 150.45, schools 150.48, group home 150.15, eating establishment 150.100, drive through 150.80, vehicle fuel station 150.92, vehicle service shop 150.94, place of worship 150.50, seniors community house 150.30, crisis care shelter 150.20, home occupation 150.5, multi-tenant house 150.25, secondary suite 150.10.
• Lots developed together: requirements apply collectively to the parts of the lots in the CR zone (40.10.30.1).
• Lawfully existing lots, buildings, heights, coverage, setbacks, FSI, separation and amenity space that do not meet the standards keep their lawful values; additions must comply or get a s.45 minor variance (40.10.30.21, 40.10.30.41, 40.10.40.11, 40.10.40.41, 40.10.40.51, 40.10.40.71, 40.10.40.81).
• Heritage-designated buildings under an Ontario Heritage Act easement may be used without meeting the maximum gross floor area, subject to conditions (40.10.40.40(2)); SS1 enclosed pedestrian walkways (within 2.0 m of ground, min 3.0 m wide, 10.0 m from parallel streets, 60.0 m apart) are excluded from gross floor area (40.10.40.40(3)).
• Transportation use along Eglinton Ave W/E: exempt from FSI rule if floor area is no more than 2 times the lot area, and exempt from setbacks (0-110 m), minimum height and landscaping rules (40.10.40.41(2), 40.10.40.71(5), 40.10.50.11).
• Buildings with 20 or more dwelling units must provide amenity space of 4.0 m2 per unit, at least 2.0 m2 per unit indoor, at least 40.0 m2 outdoor adjoining the indoor space, and no more than 25% of the outdoor part as green roof (40.10.40.50(1)).
• SS1 buildings with non-residential floor area on lots with street lot lines over 12.0 m long must provide outdoor amenity space: lesser of 1.5%/3.0%/4.5%/6.0% of non-residential interior floor area or 4.5%/9.0%/13.5%/18.0% of lot area for one/two/three/four+ such lot lines (40.10.40.50(2)).
• Encroachments: unroofed platforms at or below first-storey level may encroach the lesser of 2.5 m or 50% of the setback (0.3 m from lot line, not between building and street); higher platforms max 1.5 m in SS1/SS3, in SS2 only above the first three storeys and max 1.5 m; canopies/awnings same as platform covered, else lesser of 2.5 m or 50% in rear yard, 1.5 m in interior side yard; stairs max 2.0 m wide; ramps max 1.5 m wide at 15:1; elevating device max 3.0 m2; cladding 0.15 m on buildings 5+ years old; architectural features and chimney breasts 0.6 m; bay/box windows 0.75 m front/rear (max 65% of wall width) and 0.6 m side (max 30% of wall width, 0.6 m from side lot line); eaves 0.9 m; wall-mounted air conditioners, dishes, antennae 0.9 m and vents 0.6 m; all no closer than 0.3 m to a lot line; dormers must meet main wall setbacks; no encroachment into required angular planes (40.10.40.60).
• Separation of main walls on the same lot: 11.0 m between windowed walls facing each other, 5.5 m between a windowed wall and a windowless wall (SS1: all walls; SS2/SS3: the portion of the building no taller than the abutting street right-of-way width) (40.10.40.80).
• Landscaping: none required in SS1/SS2 except abutting residential; in SS3 a 3.0 m wide landscaping strip between any street lot line and main-wall portions set back 3.0 m or more from the front lot line. Where the lot abuts a Residential/Residential Apartment lot, a fence and a 1.5 m wide soft landscaping strip are required along that lot line (40.10.50.10).
• Parking: surface parking not in the front yard in SS1/SS2; outdoor parking spaces set back at least 0.5 m from a lot line; on SS2 corner lots, parking spaces set back 7.5 m from Residential, Residential Apartment or Open Space lots (40.10.80).
• Loading spaces may not be in a front yard, a side yard abutting a street, or a side/rear yard abutting a Residential/Residential Apartment lot; in SS1/SS2 loading access must be from a lane if one abuts, otherwise from a non-major street on corner lots; loading/parking access may not cross a residential lot; mixed use buildings with 30+ units may substitute an enlarged Type A/B for a Type G space, and with 400+ units a Type A/B/C for a Type C (40.10.90).
• Vehicle access in SS1/SS2: from the lane if the lot abuts one, otherwise from a non-major street on corner lots; only one vehicle access permitted (not applicable to ambulance depots, City services, fire halls, police stations, vehicle fuel stations) (40.10.100.10).
• Waste and recyclables must be stored in a wholly enclosed building (permits issued more than 3 years after May 9, 2013); an ancillary waste building may not be in the front yard or a street side yard and must be 7.5 m from Residential, Residential Apartment or Open Space lots and 1.0 m from other side and rear lot lines (40.10.150.1).