To broaden the range of home-based business opportunities available to residents, the Community Planning Division has taken on a review of the Home Occupation provisions within the Town's current Zoning By-law (2010-050).
Study Background
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was already a growing trend towards working from home. Town staff routinely received requests for new home-based business uses that the current by-law does not permit. BWG residents clearly wanted to use their homes as affordable business incubators (for things like swimming lessons, catering, e-commerce, medical offices, contracting and more), and needed more flexibility in how they used their properties (including things like conducting business on-site and using accessory buildings for storage). In response, staff initiated the process of amending the Zoning By-law at the end of 2018.
The Town's intention is to be progressive and permissive in terms of home-based business permissions, while ensuring that these businesses remain respectful of residential neighbours. Staff have produced a draft by-law that strives to balance these two aims.
Proposed Changes
The Zoning By-law that is currently in place imposes a number of restrictions on home-based businesses. The proposed changes will make it possible to operate more types of businesses in homes, and to use homes for more business-related activities.
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In brief, the draft amendments to the by-law would:
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Why Change the By-law?
There are many reasons why this is good for our community: |
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Providing Comments
Please review the draft amended portions of the by-law (we also recommend you read the explanatory document, which demonstrates how the proposed by-law is different from the existing one and describes some of the research and decisions that went into crafting the by-law amendments), then provide your comments either by email to Brandon Slopack or by mail to our Community Planning Division.
Home Occupation Review FormContact Us