E zone, Toronto: Employment Industrial Zone
Chapter 60, Section 60.20 (Employment Industrial Zone (E)); category-wide rules in Section 60.5 of the City of Toronto Zoning By-law 569-2013, as amended by OMB PL130592, 0403-2014, 1124-2018, 1198-2019, 1774-2019, 420-2023, 1153-2023.
A general industrial zone for factories, warehouses, workshops, labs, offices and similar businesses, with retail, restaurants, vehicle uses and open storage allowed only under specific conditions, and no homes.
Is a property in the E zone? Enter its address and the lookup returns the zone and these standards, including any site-specific exception.
Check an addressWhat the E zone permits
- Ambulance Depot
- Animal Shelter
- Artist Studio
- Automated Banking Machine
- Bindery
- Building Supply Yards
- Carpenter's Shop
- Cold Storage
- Contractor's Establishment
- Custom Workshop
- Dry Cleaning or Laundry Plant
- Financial Institution
- Fire Hall
- Industrial Sales and Service Use
- Kennel
- Laboratory
- All Manufacturing Uses except: abattoir/slaughterhouse/rendering of animals; ammunition, firearms or fireworks factory; asphalt plant; cement plant or concrete batching plant; crude petroleum oil or coal refinery; explosives factory; industrial gas manufacturing; large scale smelting or foundry for primary processing of metals; pesticide or fertilizer manufacturing; petrochemical manufacturing; primary processing of gypsum; primary processing of limestone; primary processing of oil-based paints, coatings or adhesives; pulp mill; resin, natural or synthetic rubber manufacturing; tannery
- Office
- Park
- Performing Arts Studio
- Pet Services
- Police Station
- Printing Establishment
- Production Studio
- Public Works Yard
- Service Shop
- Software Development and Processing
- Warehouse
- Wholesaling Use
- Lawfully existing place of worship on a lot abutting a major street (60.20.20.1(1); under appeal, not in full force)
- With conditions (60.20.20.20 / 60.20.20.100): Body Rub Service (32)
- With conditions: Cogeneration Energy (26)
- With conditions: Crematorium (33)
- With conditions: Drive Through Facility (5, 21)
- With conditions: Eating Establishment (1, 19, 30)
- With conditions: Marihuana Production Facility (2)
- With conditions: Metal Factory involving Forging and Stamping (25)
- With conditions: Open Storage (10)
- With conditions: Outdoor Patio (9)
- With conditions: Public Utility (27, 29)
- With conditions: Recovery Facility (8)
- With conditions: Recreation Use (7)
- With conditions: Renewable Energy (26)
- With conditions: Retail Service (3)
- With conditions: Retail Store (4, 30)
- With conditions: Shipping Terminal (11)
- With conditions: Take-out Eating Establishment (1, 30)
- With conditions: Transportation Use (28)
- With conditions: Vehicle Depot (6)
- With conditions: Vehicle Fuel Station (16, 30)
- With conditions: Vehicle Repair Shop (23)
- With conditions: Vehicle Service Shop (17, 31)
- With conditions: Vehicle Washing Establishment (18)
Standards
| Requirement | By-law |
|---|---|
| Minimum lot width (interior lot) | 20 m |
| Minimum front yard | 3 m |
| Minimum interior side yard | 3 mMinimum side yard setback 3.0 m (60.20.40.70(2)); the by-law states one side yard value with no separate interior/exterior distinction. Any lot line abutting a Residential or Residential Apartment zone lot requires 15.0 m (60.20.40.70(4)). No side setback for railway-car loading buildings from a side lot line abutting the railway right-of-way (60.20.40.70(5)). |
| Minimum exterior side yard | 3 mSame single side yard setback of 3.0 m applies (60.20.40.70(2)); no separate flankage value given. 15.0 m where the lot line abuts a Residential or Residential Apartment zone lot. |
| Minimum rear yard | 7.5 mMinimum rear yard setback 7.5 m (60.20.40.70(3)); 15.0 m from a rear lot line abutting a Residential or Residential Apartment zone lot (60.20.40.70(4)); no rear setback for railway-car loading buildings from a rear lot line abutting the railway right-of-way (60.20.40.70(5)). Lawfully existing lesser setbacks are grandfathered (60.20.40.71). |
| Maximum building height | See noteIf the Height Overlay Map shows an HT value, that value in metres is the maximum for any building or structure. If no HT value: office buildings or office portions of buildings are capped at 20.0 m; no maximum height applies to buildings with permitted uses other than office (60.20.40.10(1)). Parapet wall for a green roof may exceed the maximum by 2.0 m. Lawfully existing greater heights are grandfathered (60.20.40.11). |
| Maximum floor space index | See noteThe numerical value following the E zone symbol in the zone label (e.g. E 1.0) is the permitted maximum floor space index for all land uses on the lot (60.20.1.10(3)); carried on the zoning polygon attribute ZN_FSI_DENSITY. |
Other provisions in this section
- Any lot line abutting a street must have a minimum 3.0 m wide strip of soft landscaping along its entire length, excluding driveways and walkways (60.20.50.10(1)).
- Minimum building setback of 15.0 m from any lot line abutting a lot in the Residential or Residential Apartment zone category; non-building structures also no closer than 15.0 m (60.20.40.70(4)).
- Buildings or structures used for loading/unloading railway cars need no side or rear setback from a lot line abutting the railway right-of-way (60.20.40.70(5), By-law 1124-2018).
- Lawfully existing lots with less than 20.0 m frontage keep their lawful frontage as the minimum; additions must comply with all other regulations or obtain a Section 45 minor variance (60.20.30.21).
- Lawfully existing buildings with lesser setbacks or greater height keep those lawful values; additions may match the existing main walls or need a Section 45 minor variance (60.20.40.11, 60.20.40.71, By-law 420-2023).
- Ancillary buildings and structures must comply with the requirements for a building or structure (60.20.60.1).
- A gatehouse, scale, weigh-house, fire pump house or other security building is permitted in the front yard and exempt from the minimum front, side and rear yard setbacks (60.20.60.10).
- A parking space not in a building must be at least 0.5 m from a lot line (60.20.80.20).
- Loading spaces may not be in a front yard, a side yard abutting a street, or any side/rear yard abutting a Residential or Residential Apartment zone lot; lawfully existing non-complying loading spaces are exempt (60.20.90.10, 60.20.90.11).
- Loading space access: from the lane if the lot abuts a lane; on a corner lot without a lane, from the street that is not a major street; otherwise from the fronting street. Loading spaces inside a building may not have vehicle access through a main wall facing a street. Lawfully existing entrances are exempt (60.20.90.40, 60.20.90.41).
- Separating or sorting of recyclable materials must take place within a wholly enclosed building (60.20.20.1(2)).
- Eating establishments and take-out eating establishments: total interior floor area on a lot may not exceed 500.0 m2; eating establishments must also comply with Section 150.100 (conditions 1, 19).
- Retail service: total interior floor area on a lot may not exceed the greater of 300.0 m2 or 10% of the gross floor area of buildings on the lot, to a maximum of 500.0 m2 (condition 3).
- Retail store must be associated with a permitted manufacturing use on the same lot; total retail store interior floor area may not exceed 20% of the gross floor area of the manufacturing use (condition 4).
- Retail store with a vehicle fuel station must be a convenience store; interior floor area of the fuel station, retail store, eating establishment or take-out may not exceed 300 m2; the store may remain only while the fuel station exists (condition 30).
- Drive through facility must be on a lot fronting a major street on the Policy Areas Overlay Map and comply with Section 150.80 (conditions 5, 21).
- Recreation use must be on a lot fronting a major street on the Policy Areas Overlay Map (condition 7).
- Vehicle depot, shipping terminal, and metal factory involving forging or stamping must be on a lot at least 70.0 m from a Residential or Residential Apartment zone lot (conditions 6, 11, 25).
- Vehicle repair shop must be on a lot at least 100.0 m from a Residential or Residential Apartment zone lot (condition 23).
- Recovery facility may not be an asphalt, concrete, heavy metal, hazardous chemical, petrochemical, industrial gas, rubber or asbestos recovery facility; must be at least 70.0 m from a Residential/Residential Apartment zone lot; sorting must be within a wholly enclosed building (condition 8).
- Outdoor patio: must be combined with an eating establishment, retail store or take-out eating establishment on the same or abutting lot; no closer to a lot line than the required rear or side yard setback; not on land needed for loading, driveways or landscaping; maximum area the greater of 50.0 m2 or 50% of the interior floor area of the premises; entertainment only if abutting a major street, not above the first storey, entertainment area not exceeding the greater of 10% of patio area or 5.0 m2; at least 30.0 m from a Residential/Residential Apartment zone lot (40.0 m if above the first storey); fence required along the rear when the rear yard abuts a residential lot; not permitted in the area bounded by Laird Ave, Vanderhoof Ave/Don River, Don Mills Rd and Overlea Blvd (condition 9, By-laws 1198-2019, 1153-2023).
- Open storage (under appeal, not in full force): must be associated with a permitted use other than a recovery facility; not in a yard abutting a Residential/Residential Apartment zone lot; not in the front yard; minimum 7.5 m from any lot line; less than 30% of the lot area; no higher than the permitted maximum building height; enclosed by a fence; may be for recyclable material and waste (condition 10).
- Vehicle service shop open storage must be less than 20% of the lot area not covered by wholly enclosed buildings and enclosed by a fence (condition 31).
- Vehicle fuel station, vehicle service shop and vehicle washing establishment must comply with Sections 150.92, 150.94 and 150.96 respectively (conditions 16, 17, 18).
- Marihuana production facility must comply with Section 150.60 (condition 2, By-laws 0403-2014, 1124-2018).
- Renewable energy or cogeneration energy production must be combined with another permitted use on the lot and comply with all municipal, provincial and federal laws (condition 26).
- Public utility may not be a sewage treatment plant; a hydro electrical transformer station or natural gas regulator station must be enclosed by walls and comply with lot coverage, setbacks and height for a building (conditions 27, 29).
- Transportation use buildings must comply with all regulations for a building on the lot (condition 28).
- Body rub service lot must be at least 100.0 m from a Residential/Residential Apartment zone lot, 500 m from a lot with a public or private school, place of worship, or in an IS or IPW zone, 500 m from a lot with an adult entertainment use, and 100 m from another body rub service lot (condition 32).
- Crematorium must be at least 300 m from a lot not in the EL, E, EH or UT zone (condition 33).
- Lawfully existing place of worship permitted on a lot abutting a major street; expansions or replacement must comply with Section 150.50 and the E zone requirements (60.20.20.1(1); enacted May 9, 2013 but under appeal to the OLT, not in full force and effect).
Source: Chapter 60, Section 60.20 (Employment Industrial Zone (E)); category-wide rules in Section 60.5, By-law 569-2013 (City of Toronto), 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.