UPDATE: On March 11, 2024, Belleville City Council passed Zoning By-law 2024-100. The Zoning By-law is subject to a mandatory appeal period before coming into effect on April 3, 2024.
On March 4, 2024, the Belleville Planning Advisory Committee recommended approval of the Consolidated Zoning By-law.
Numerous revisions have occurred to the Consolidated Zoning By-law based on public feedback, including:
- Removal of size restrictions of RVs, boats, and trailers;
- Numerous mapping updates;
- More housing options (e.g., stacked and back-to-back townhouses);
- Improved accessible parking provisions;
- Increased flexibility for property owners, particularly in the Thurlow Ward;
- Removal of the Mature Areas Overlay until further review is completed;
- Addition of a special Loyalist College Zone and Downtown Overlay Zone; and
- Provisions to protect and carry forward past minor variance approvals.
- Zoning By-law 2024-100 – March 11, 2024 (For a copy of this document, please contact planning@belleville.ca)
- Zoning Maps– March 11, 2024 (For a copy of this document, please contact planning@belleville.ca)
- Draft Mapping (web map) - March 11, 2024
The zoning by-law is a living document and will be consistently monitored and updated to reflect changes in the community.
Statutory Public Meeting
The City of Belleville held a statutory public meeting on September 5th in front of the Planning Advisory Committee regarding the draft Consolidated Zoning By-law.
The City would like to thank residents and stakeholders who participated in the meeting for their contributions and encourage further comments on this important project.
The Planning Advisory Committee moved to accept the Staff information report and referred the project back to Staff to address comments and prepare an updated draft.
For more information about the Zoning By-law Consolidation, or if you wish to be included on the Interested Parties List and notified of upcoming meetings, please complete the Notification Form.
| March 2023 Draft Release |
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The City currently has three Zoning By-laws which govern land use. The purpose of the Zoning By-law Consolidation is to merge the three By-laws into one and update the content to address key issues facing the City.
A zoning by-law controls the use of land in your community. It states exactly:
- how land may be used;
- where buildings and other structures can be located;
- the types of buildings that are permitted and how they may be used; and
- the lot sizes and dimensions, parking requirements, building heights and densities (the number of dwelling units and building floor area per hectare), and setbacks from the street.
| Who is Consulting? |
| City Staff submitted Report PP-2019-60 to Council and the City has hired Dillon Consulting Limited to consolidate and update the By-law. |
| Public Consultation |
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The City will receive community input from local organizations, developers, businesses, and the broader community.
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| Hot Button Zoning Issues |
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In addition to the work being completed by Dillon Consulting Ltd. on the new consolidated Zoning By-law, the City retained Planning Solutions Inc. to review several “hot button” zoning issues, including storage of recreation vehicles, boats and commercial vehicles in residential zones, storage of shipping containers in residential zones, and backyard chickens in rural residential zones. This included a review of best practices and public engagement. With the help of Planning Solutions, additional public consultation and engagement was undertaken to ensure views of the community were understood and taken into account. The City is committed to ensuring the views of its constituents are heard prior to the development and implementation of any zoning provisions, particularly for issues where there are diverse perspectives at the community level. The additional public engagement included four (4) public information meetings and a community survey which ran from November 8, 2021 until December 15, 2021. The findings and recommendations from Planning Solutions are included in the links below. It is important to note that these are not final recommendations. These recommendations will provide additional insight into these topics for Dillon Consulting to take under consideration in the development of the Consolidated Zoning By-law. The new Consolidated Zoning By-law will ultimately need to be approved by Belleville City Council before taking effect.
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Three Phases of the Consolidation
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Phase One: Initial Activities (Establishing Frameworks and Templates) |
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The first phase focuses on early decision-making that will ensure work is organized to fast-tract future phases. Tasks include:
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Phase Two: Preparation of the Draft Zoning By-law |
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The second phase focuses on transitioning the current zoning from three separate By-laws into a comprehensive single Zoning By-law. The goal is to ensure that the provisions of the Zoning By-law conforms to and effectively implements the updated Official Plan, but also improves clarity for the public and staff. Tasks include:
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Phase Three: Comprehensive Zoning By-law Document and Statutory Process |
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The third phase is to prepare, refine, and build consensus on the Zoning By-law. Tasks include:
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Key Issues (Discussion Papers)
Dillon Consulting has identified the following as key issues for review:
Rooming/Boarding Houses and Zoning Memorandum
Rail Setback and Policy Review Technical Brief
- Request a copy of Dillion Consulting's Key Issues
- Backgrounder 1-Commercial Zones
- Backgrounder 2-Parking
- Backgrounder 3-Loyalist College
- Backgrounder 4-Home Based Businesses
- Backgrounder 5-Accessory Uses
- Backgrounder 6-Legal Non-Conforming Use
- Request a copy of Backgrounder 1-6.