EL zone, Toronto: Employment Light Industrial Zone

What the EL zone permits

• Ambulance Depot
• Artist Studio
• Automated Banking Machine
• Bindery
• Carpenter's Shop
• Cold Storage
• Custom Workshop
• Dry Cleaning or Laundry Plant
• Financial Institution
• Fire Hall
• Industrial Sales and Service Use
• Laboratory
• Office
• Park
• Performing Arts Studio
• Police Station
• Production Studio
• Self-storage Warehouse
• Service Shop
• Warehouse
• Wholesaling Use
• Apparel and Textile Manufacturing Use (with conditions, 9)
• Beverage Manufacturing Use (with conditions, 9)
• Cogeneration Energy (with conditions, 17)
• Contractor's Establishment (with conditions, 7)
• Crematorium (with conditions, 21)
• Eating Establishment (with conditions, 6, 14)
• Education Use (with conditions, 4)
• Food Manufacturing Use (with conditions, 9, 10)
• Furniture Manufacturing Use (with conditions, 9)
• Metal Products Manufacturing Use (with conditions, 9)
• Open Storage (with conditions, 12)
• Outdoor Patio (with conditions, 11)
• Plastic Product Manufacturing Use (with conditions, 9)
• Printing Establishment (with conditions, 8)
• Public Utility (with conditions, 16, 18)
• Recreation Use (with conditions, 1, 3)
• Renewable Energy (with conditions, 17)
• Retail Store (with conditions, 5)
• Software Development and Processing (with conditions, 2)
• Take-out Eating Establishment (with conditions, 6)
• Transportation Use (with conditions, 19)
• Lawfully existing Place of Worship (60.10.20.1(1); under appeal, not in full force)

Standards

Other provisions in this section

• Zone label suffix number = maximum floor space index of all uses on the lot (60.10.1.10(3)).
• Separating or sorting of recyclable materials must take place within a wholly enclosed building (60.10.20.1(2)).
• Lawfully existing place of worship permitted if lot has a front or side lot line abutting a major street on the Policy Area Overlay Map; expansions/replacements must comply with Section 150.50 and EL requirements (60.10.20.1(1); enacted May 9, 2013 but under appeal, not in full force).
• Golf driving range permitted as a recreation use only if the lot is at least 70.0 m from a lot in the Residential or Residential Apartment Zone category and fenced from all lot lines (cond. 1); any recreation use must be on a lot fronting a major street on the Policy Areas Overlay Map (cond. 3).
• Software development and processing: interior floor area may not exceed 5,000 m2 (cond. 2).
• Education use limited to technical/trade skills for manufacturing equipment or driver education for commercial/construction vehicles; total interior floor space may not exceed the lesser of FSI 0.5 or the zone label's maximum FSI (cond. 4; By-law 350-2024).
• Retail store must be associated with a permitted manufacturing use on the same lot; total interior floor area of all retail stores may not exceed 20% of the manufacturing use's gross floor area (cond. 5).
• Total interior floor area of all eating establishments and take-out eating establishments on a lot may not exceed 500.0 m2 (cond. 6); eating establishments must comply with Section 150.100 (cond. 14).
• Contractor's establishment may not store heavy equipment (cranes, ploughs, tractors, pile drivers, road making, wrecker's or steel erector's equipment) on the lot (cond. 7).
• Printing establishment interior floor area may not exceed 5,000 m2 (cond. 8).
• Manufacturing uses listed in 60.10.20.20 limited to 5,000 m2 interior floor area (cond. 9).
• Food manufacturing must be processing, packaging or baking of foods that are not meats, fish, dairy, or brewing or pickling (cond. 10).
• 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/side yard setback; not on land required for loading, driveways or landscaping; max area the greater of 50.0 m2 or 50% of the interior floor area of the premises; entertainment only on lots abutting a major street, not above the first storey, entertainment area max greater of 10% of patio area or 5.0 m2; at least 30.0 m from a Residential/Residential Apartment Zone category lot (40.0 m if above the first storey); fence required along rear-lot-line side when rear yard abuts such a lot; not permitted in the area bounded by Laird Ave, Vanderhoof Ave/Don River, Don Mills Rd and Overlea Blvd (cond. 11).
• Open storage must be associated with a permitted use; not in a yard abutting a Residential/Residential Apartment Zone category lot; not in the front yard; at least 7.5 m from any lot line; max 10% of lot area; no higher than the permitted maximum building height; enclosed by a fence; may be for recyclable material and waste (cond. 12).
• Public utility hydro transformer station or natural gas regulator station must be enclosed by walls and comply with max lot coverage, min setbacks and max height for a building (cond. 16); a public utility may not be a sewage treatment plant (cond. 18).
• Renewable energy or cogeneration energy production must be combined with another permitted use on the lot (cond. 17).
• Transportation use buildings/structures must comply with all requirements for a building on the lot (cond. 19).
• Crematorium must be at least 300 m from a lot that is not in an EL, E, EH or UT zone (cond. 21).
• Lawfully existing buildings keep their lawful height and setbacks; additions must comply with the standard or obtain a Section 45 minor variance, except additions may match the setbacks of the existing main walls (60.10.30.21, 60.10.40.11, 60.10.40.71; By-law 420-2023).
• A parapet wall for a green roof may exceed the maximum building height by 2.0 m (60.10.40.10(2)).
• A structure that is not a building may be no closer than 15.0 m to a lot line abutting a Residential/Residential Apartment Zone category lot (60.10.40.70(4)(B)).
• 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 (60.10.50.10).
• Ancillary buildings and structures must comply with the requirements for a building or structure; a gatehouse, scale, weigh-house, fire pump house or other security structure is permitted in the front yard and exempt from minimum front, side and rear yard setbacks (60.10.60).
• Parking for a retail store, eating establishment or take-out eating establishment combined with a manufacturing use is calculated at the manufacturing use's rate (60.10.80.1).
• A parking space not in a building must be at least 0.5 m from a lot line (60.10.80.20).
• Loading spaces not permitted in a front yard, a side yard abutting a street, or a side/rear yard abutting a Residential/Residential Apartment Zone category lot; lawfully existing loading spaces exempt (60.10.90.10, 60.10.90.11).
• Loading space access must be from a lane if the lot abuts one; on a corner lot without a lane, from the non-major street; otherwise may be from the fronting street; a loading space in a building may not have vehicle access through a main wall facing a street; lawfully existing access exempt (60.10.90.40, 60.10.90.41; Article 220.5.20).
• Category-wide regulations in Section 60.5 and Chapter 5 also apply; the Height (HT) and Lot Coverage overlay maps govern height and coverage where shown.