Retail Strategy Implementation

Active Use Zoning Changes

On June 8, 2026 the City updated its zoning rules for new businesses on the ground floor of key shopping streets – called Active Frontage Areas – to make neighbourhoods more vibrant and bustling.

The City wants our most important shopping streets to be lively and buzzing with activity. To do that, we’re using zoning to make more space at the ground level for retail stores, cafés, restaurants, entertainment venues, and other businesses that bring energy to the street.

Certain portions of commercial streets, called Active Frontage Areas, now have special zoning rules: 

  • New ground floor businesses be active - think the types of businesses that draw people in, like shops, restaurants, entertainment spaces, and personal services;
    • Some new businesses must place their most customer-facing areas — like retail displays, seating, performance spaces, or reception desks — closest to the street/sidewalk.
    • Back-of-house spaces, like offices and storage, must be kept away from the street.
  • New businesses that people seek out, rather than stumble upon – like offices and medical clinics – be located on upper floors.

We’ve also updated zoning rules to allow: 

  • Small breweries, distilleries, wineries and cideries across all Downtown commercial districts; and,
  • Small-scale businesses that make and sell their own products on-site across all commercial areas.

Active Use Zoning changes were given three readings by Council on April 13, 2026 and adopted on June 8, 2026.
Read the April 13, 2026 Council report here.

Active Frontage Areas

The new zoning rules apply to new ground floor businesses on certain streets in these neighbourhoods:  

  • Downtown
  • Uptown
  • Sapperton
  • Upper Twelfth Street

These streets are called Active Frontage Areas and are shown in red on the maps below (click on the maps to see enlarged versions).

To view the Active Frontage Areas on CityViews Map, the City's GIS system, navigate to the Land Use Planning layer and turn on the Active Use Overlay.

Downtown

Upper Twelfth Street, Uptown, Sapperton