The City of Kingston has initiated a new Commercial Land Review ahead of the next review of the Official Plan. The study is being managed by Planning Services, and the City has retained a consultant team led Watson & Associates Economists Ltd.to undertake the study. The purpose of the review is to update the City's commercial inventory, complete a commercial land supply and demand analysis, and provide guidance and policy recommendations to update and improve the commercial policy structure in the City's Official Plan. This work is being done in conjunction with the Population, Housing and Employment Projections Study, and the Employment Land Review.  

An update to this Study is conducted approximately every five years to provide the foundation for the City's long-range planning. 

The 2024 review is underway - let us know how you shop

As part of the Commercial Land Review, the City’s consultant team will be undertaking a consumer commercial survey to better understand the shopping patterns of Kingston residents and visitors. This survey will help inform our analysis and guide our recommendations for commercial land use policy in Kingston.  The survey is open until March 15 at 4 p.m.

Providing contact information is not required, however, participants who do will have a chance to win a $50 Downtown Kingston Gift Card.

Past key findings the 2016 Commercial Land Review

The key findings and recommendations of the 2016 Commercial Land Review were: 

• Increased residential intensification had led to more intensive commercial formats that had previously been resisted by the retail industry. 

• In 2015, the city had approximately 9.6 million square feet of commercial space in total. It was estimated that almost 1 million square feet of commercial space was added since 2007. The downtown commercial node comprised 15% of all commercial space in Kingston and was the city's largest commercial node. 

• The ‘Services' category (which includes financial services, entertainment, personal services, medical services, eating/drinking facilities, professional offices, daycare facilities and others) experienced the highest growth between 2007 and 2015.  

• In 2015, the city had an overall commercial vacancy rate of 6.5% city-wide, which was within a healthy range of typically between 5% and 8%. 

The 2016 findings indicated that there was no demonstrated need for additional commercial designated lands in the city. While there may be needed uses that may not be able to fit on an existing commercial site, the City should ensure that:  

1. there is market to support the use, 
2. that it cannot reasonably be accommodated on other vacant designated commercial sites and  
3. that it would not significantly impact the planned function of existing or planned commercial areas. 

Market findings supported residential development downtown to support downtown commercial vitality, and continued encouragement of mixed-use formats.