ReThink Zoning

After an extensive public consultation and appeals process, the City’s new official plan – The London Plan – was adopted. This plan provides a vision for how London will grow and change over the next twenty years.

Zoning is a technical land use planning tool used to implement the policies and direction of The London Plan. However, our current zoning by-law does not provide the framework needed to implement this vision, which is why the City is currently in the process of preparing a new comprehensive Zoning By-law for the City of London. This process is called ReThink Zoning.

The new Zoning By-law will implement The London Plan’s vision and has the potential to shape how our communities evolve by regulating how land can be used or developed.

Find out more about what zoning is and how our neighbourhoods are changing in the following videos:

Videos:

Sample Zone Factsheets

While work is underway on the first draft of the Zoning By-law, we have prepared several sample zone factsheets to give a high-level overview of some of the proposed zone classes. The intent of these factsheets is to provide a preliminary outline of the new Zoning By-law structure, including some of the proposed zone classes, ‘permitted uses’, and ‘permitted building types’. The factsheets provide the proposed ‘permitted uses' and ‘permitted building types’ for the Downtown, Neighbourhoods, Commercial Industrial, Light Industrial, and Heavy Industrial Zones.

What is a ‘permitted use’?

‘Permitted use’ is term used to describe an activity that a property can legally be used for, for example a school, a restaurant, or a clinic.

What is a ‘permitted building type’?

‘Permitted building type’ is a term used to describe a classification of building that includes characteristics such as the physical size, height, shape, style, and architectural elements, for example a stacked townhouse or high-rise building.

We are inviting your comments on these factsheets to help inform our work on the draft Zoning By-law. Specifically, we are looking for feedback on the format of the zone classes, as well as the range of ‘permitted uses’ and ‘permitted building types’ in the various zone classes. You are encouraged to review and provide comments on these factsheets until such time as a working draft of the full Zoning By-law is available for review and comment.

The balance of the working draft Zoning By-law document, including all Zone Classes, General Provisions, Definitions and Mapping is scheduled to be released for public consultation at a future date.

• Downtown
• Neighbourhoods
• Commercial Industrial
• Light Industrial
• Heavy Industrial

You are invited!

The City of London will be hosting an interactive workshop seeking public input on the work currently underway on the City’s new comprehensive Zoning By-law. The workshop will include a staff presentation with a brief overview of the ReThink Zoning project, followed by breakout groups to generate feedback on specific topics related to the Zoning By-law.

Meeting Location: Carling Heights Optimist Community Centre - 656 Elizabeth Street, London, ON

Meeting Date: September 28, 2023

Meeting Time: 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Due to an overwhelming level of interest in the workshop, capacity has been reached and registration is now closed. Additional opportunities for public engagement will be available in the future.

Catch up on previous meetings

Community Information Meeting - December 8, 2022
Missed our first meeting? Watch the recording below!