Zoning & Land Use
Zoning is everywhere — from parks and playgrounds to housing, businesses and the downtown. Zoning sets the City’s streetscape creating the areas where we all eat, sleep, work and play. It guides growth in an orderly way to minimize conflicts between different activities and can improve the safety, public health and welfare of its citizens and the environment.
Vernon’s Zoning Bylaw is the primary regulatory tool required to implement the Official Community Plan. It determines what can be built where and to what scale. It sets the rules for where new buildings should go, what types of buildings they can be and what types of businesses and activities can happen on a property.
Zoning Bylaw 6000Land Use ApplicationsZoning Map
Learn More About Zoning and the Bylaw
Zoning is about:
- What can be built where and to what scale
- Permitted types of buildings and activities
- Implementing municipal land use plans
Zoning is not about:
- Regulating groups of people or behaviours
- How buildings are built
- Exactly what a building looks like
The Zoning Bylaw does not provide the rules for how a building is constructed, in terms of safety and construction materials — that is the role of the British Columbia Building Code. It also does not determine the rules for business licensing — that is the role of the Business Licence Bylaw.
There are also other City bylaws and legislation that are aimed at ensuring developments are well maintained and operated once they are constructed. One example is the Good Neighbour Bylaw.
The City of Vernon’s Official Community Plan (OCP) and Transportation Plan (TP) were updated in 2025.
The OCP is our community vision for how the city will grow to 2045, outlining how Vernon will become a place where everyone can live, work, and play while protecting our parks, green spaces, farmlands, and the things that make Vernon home to all of us.
To read the OCP, see the Official Community Plan page.
The TP guides how our community’s transportation system, such as roads, public transit, and cycling paths, will grow and develop in line with the OCP. The TP outlines how we move and connect to all the places we go safely and efficiently.
To read the TP, see theTransportation Plan page.