Lot in Merritt (PID 007-635-231)

Zone

AR1 (Agricultural)

Zoning bylaw

City of Merritt Zoning Bylaw No. 2284, 2020

Homes allowed

One house or mobile home, plus one detached secondary dwelling and secondary suites

Main uses

Farming, greenhouses, winery, animal boarding, house or mobile home; bed and breakfast, detached secondary dwelling, home-based business, produce stand, mobile vendor, secondary suite, short-term rental

Smallest lot for a subdivision

8 ha in the Agricultural Land Reserve, 1 ha outside it; 40 m wide

Lot coverage

75%

Height limit

Houses 12 m or 2.5 storeys; farm buildings 14 m; detached secondary dwellings 10.5 m or 2 storeys

Setbacks

Homes: front 6 m, sides 3 m, rear 9 m (detached secondary dwellings 3 m). Farm buildings: front 6 m, sides 3 m, rear 9 m; for livestock, fur-bearing animals or poultry, front 25 m, sides 10 m, rear 15 m and 12 m from homes

Heritage conservation area

None over the lot on the Province's list of local heritage conservation areas (a newly designated one may not be listed yet, and single buildings protected by a heritage bylaw aren't on it)

Fewest homes provincial law requires

Adds no homes here: the lot is in the Agricultural Land Reserve, where the Agricultural Land Commission's limits on homes come first (usually one secondary suite or accessory home at most, and some need the Commission's approval).

Transit-oriented area (provincial minimum)

Not in one: the Province sets transit-oriented areas only around the SkyTrain, West Coast Express and bus exchange stations its regulations list, in Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey, Richmond, Coquitlam, New Westminster, Port Moody, Port Coquitlam, Delta, the Langleys, Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, the North Vancouvers, Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Mission, Victoria, Saanich, Langford, Colwood, View Royal, Nanaimo, Lantzville, Kelowna, Kamloops, Vernon, Penticton, Prince George and Whistler, and Merritt isn't one of them (B.C. Reg. 263/2023, checked 2026-10-06).

Short-term rentals (provincial rule)

The Province's principal residence requirement doesn't apply in Merritt (list in force from June 1, 2026), so the provincial rule doesn't limit short-term rentals to the host's home. Local bylaws, including the zone's own rules, can be stricter. Hosts anywhere in BC register each unit with the provincial registry.

On land in the Agricultural Land Reserve, the Agricultural Land Commission's rules come first (s. 4.2.4).

Mobile homes and modular buildings meet CSA Z240 or A277 and sit on a foundation built to that standard (s. 7.2.6).

No building between the east end of the airport runway and the City boundary (s. 7.2.7).

Secondary suites and detached secondary dwellings together (s. 4.36): up to 3 on a lot of 280 m² or less; on a bigger lot 4, or one per main home if that is more.

Secondary suites (s. 4.37) sit inside a house, half of a duplex or a townhouse behind a vertical fire separation, are no bigger than the home they belong to, and are rented a month or more at a time; not in the same building as a bed and breakfast or short-term rental. One more parking space for up to two accessory homes, half a space for each more (Table 5.18).

Detached secondary dwellings (s. 4.38) are smaller than the main building, stand 3 m from it and from each other, share its City water and sewer connections, and are lived in only once the main building has its occupancy permit. A suite in the main building is registered with the City before one is built.

Bed and breakfast (s. 4.33), in a house: up to four guest rooms, the owner or operator living there at least 180 days a year, guests staying up to 30 days in a row and 90 a year, and not in a building with a suite or short-term rental. One more parking space per guest room (Table 5.18).

Short-term rental (stays under 30 days) is allowed (s. 4.34), with a business licence shown on site, written permission from the strata council in a strata, guests staying up to 30 days in a row and 90 days a year, and not in a home with an occupied suite or a bed and breakfast.

Home-based businesses (s. 4.32), with a business licence: up to 40% of the home's floor area (25% with a bed and breakfast), run by people who live there with at most one outside employee, no outside storage, no deliveries by commercial vehicle and at most two clients at a time.

Shipping containers for storage, vented and labelled, screened and kept in the back yard: one per 2 ha (s. 4.19).

Buildings stand 3 m apart (s. 7.2.5).

An accessory building can't be a home, a suite or a short-term rental (s. 4.16), and goes up only with or after the main building.

Section 4.14 sets no fence height for this zone; a 6 m sight triangle at a corner stays clear above 1.25 m (s. 4.15).

Minimum lot sizes apply to new lots; an existing smaller lot stays lawful (s. 4.6).

Every zone also allows public utilities, electric vehicle charging, and temporary site buildings and containers during construction (s. 4.2).

Floodplain (s. 4.30, Schedule B): land below the Province's 200-year flood level of the Nicola and Coldwater rivers, or less than 1.5 m above any other watercourse, is floodplain. Floors of homes, businesses and storage there sit at least 0.6 m above that level, and fill stays 30 m from the rivers and other watercourses unless a riparian assessment allows it. Setbacks from streams follow provincial and federal rules (s. 4.24).

Our summary of Section 7.2 of City of Merritt Zoning Bylaw No. 2284, 2020, consolidated to 2024-06-25. Site-specific exceptions listed in the bylaw by legal description can add or change uses for one property.

Zoning is only one layer: development permit areas, the official community plan, the ALR, building and septic permits and provincial housing rules can add limits or allow more. Confirm with the City of Merritt's planning department before you buy or build.

The provincial floor is our summary of the small-scale multi-unit housing rules in the Local Government Act (ss. 481.3 and 481.4) and the Local Government Zoning Bylaw Regulation, checked 2026-10-04. Local governments had to bring their bylaws in line by June 30, 2024, and with the 2025 changes by June 30, 2026, so the zone's own rules usually allow at least these homes already; height, coverage, setbacks and parking still decide how they fit. Whether the lot is inside an urban containment boundary, on community water or sewer, or near a frequent bus stop isn't checked here: confirm with the local government before you buy or build.

Clear of steep slope and water setbacks

1.9 ha (88%)

In or within 30 m of mapped water

13%

Steeper than 30%, outside that strip

0%

15 to 30% slope

25%

On designated floodplain (counted as clear)

50%

Median slope

9%

Main slope direction

Mostly faces north (92% of the lot faces within 45° of it); measured by us on NRCan's 30 m elevation model

Which way it faces

0% south (SE to SW), 79% north (NW to NE), 8% flat; the rest east or west

Terrain stability (Province's map)

The Province's terrain stability mapping doesn't cover this lot: it was mapped from air photos, mostly on forest land, so most towns and farmland aren't on it. That says nothing either way about the ground's stability

Estimated by us on Natural Resources Canada's 30 m elevation model: each dot on the plan is one 30 m cell. Small banks, gullies and benches can be smoothed out, and on lots under a few hectares the edges count for a lot. Slopes over 30% usually need a geotechnical engineer's report to build on; 15 to 30% is buildable with more work.

Designated floodplain counts as clear here: homes are built on it, with floors raised to the flood construction level and setbacks from the water that the local bylaw sets. The Floodplain section names the map, and the level where we've read the local bylaw; ask the local government for the level that applies.

Not counted: zoning setbacks from the lot lines, room for a septic field and well (the Septic section screens for a field), easements and rights of way, and the local government's own slope or hazard development permit areas. What you can build names them where the local government publishes its map. A surveyor and the local government confirm where you can build.

December 21 (shortest day)

5 h 50 min of possible direct sun; 7 h 50 min on open ground

March 21 (about the same on September 21)

11 h 10 min; 12 h on open ground

June 21 (longest day)

15 h 20 min; 16 h 10 min on open ground

Noon sun on December 21

16° above level; the hills due south rise to 10°, 0.1 km away

Highest hills in the winter sun's path

11° above level to the south, 0.1 km away

Measured at

The middle of the lot, ground at about 603 m, from head height

Solar panel output (south-facing, tilted at the latitude)

About 1,060 kWh a year for each kW of panels (December about 39), on Natural Resources Canada's 1998-2022 sunshine map; the sun on the panel's face is 3.89 kWh/m² a day over the year, 1.68 in December

Water the ground lets you see (16 km)

Nicola River to the northwest, from about 850 m away

Highest skyline

11° above level to the south-southeast, 0.1 km away

Computed by us from the terrain only: trees, buildings and cloud aren't counted, so the sun that reaches a window or a garden is often less. The hours are possible direct sun, counted from when the sun's centre clears the hills, at head height at the middle of the lot; another spot on a hillside lot can differ.

The horizon is read from Natural Resources Canada's 30 m elevation model in 72 directions, out to 16 km: on its 30 m grid within 1.5 km, beyond that on a 120 m version of it, where single peaks can read a little lower than they are. The curve of the earth is taken into account.

The sun's path is from the standard solar position formulas. Hours are counted in sun time; clock times shift with daylight saving and with how far the lot is from its time zone's centre.

Check it on site: visit on a clear day in December or January, look at where the trees and buildings to the south fall, and ask neighbours when the sun leaves and comes back.

The panel output is our reading of Natural Resources Canada's figures: its map gives the sun reaching a south-facing panel tilted at the latitude, averaged over 1998-2022 on a grid of about 10 km, and we turn it into kWh for each kW of panels at the performance ratio its Photovoltaic Potential maps use (0.75: losses in heat, wiring, the inverter and dirt). The map is for an open sky: the hills around the lot, trees, buildings and snow on the panels aren't counted. The hills around this lot take about 27% of the direct sun on December 21 and about 6% on June 21 (our figure above), so a panel at the lot's middle would most likely make less than this, most of all in winter (our reading; the hills block direct sun, not all the light). A solar installer measures the roof or the spot itself.

What the ground allows you to see from head height at the middle of the lot, read by us on the same elevation model as the sun hours, out to 16 km: trees, buildings and the house's own spot and height aren't counted, so a view the ground allows can be hidden by the forest, and a second storey can see over a rise. Lakes and rivers are the Freshwater Atlas's; the sea is read where the elevation model sits at sea level.

Capability class (1 best, 7 none)

Class 4: about 100% of the lot

What limits it

too wet (high water table), flooding

Map scale

1:50,000: describes the area, not the field

Mapped

1960s to 1990s (digitised 2015)

These classes rate how well the land suits ordinary field crops, from the soil and climate as surveyed decades ago. Drainage, irrigation or fill since then can change the real answer, and a map at this scale can miss a good or poor field. The Agricultural Land Commission weighs these classes when it decides applications.

If farming matters to you here, a professional agrologist (P.Ag.) can assess the soil on site.

Peak ground acceleration, 2% in 50 years (the code's design level)

0.13 g

Peak ground acceleration, 10% in 50 years

0.054 g

Short-period shaking Sa(0.2), the value the code uses for houses and other low buildings

0.29 g

The same value in city centres

Victoria 0.81 g, Vancouver 0.47 g, Kelowna 0.089 g, Prince George 0.064 g

Tsunami

More than 2 km from the ocean shore, so the Province's tsunami notification zones, which are for the coast, don't bear on it

These are the 2020 National Building Code's reference values at the lot's centre, on firm ground (site class C). Soft soil, fill or a slope can make shaking stronger; the site class and the values a building is designed for come from the building official or a geotechnical engineer.

2% in 50 years means shaking at least this strong has about a 1-in-2,500 chance in any year; 10% in 50 years, about 1 in 475. g is the acceleration of gravity. The comparison with Vancouver and the other cities is ours.

Liquefaction and earthquake-triggered landslides aren't covered here; ask the local government whether it has mapped them.

On record on the lot or within 100 m

0

On record within 1 km

0

On record within 5 km

2

Nearest

4.2 km from the lot: an earth slide, 15 Nov 2021, after rainfall

Kinds within 5 km

earth slide 2

With a date

2 of 2; the latest 15 Nov 2021 (earth slide, 4.2 km from the lot)

Recorded causes

rainfall 2

This is a list of landslides that are known to have happened, gathered from published inventories and from mapping on satellite images and lidar. It isn't a hazard map: it doesn't say how likely a slide is here, and no record nearby doesn't mean the ground is stable. Some parts of BC (the Fraser Valley and Fraser Canyon, Vancouver Island, Haida Gwaii, recent burn areas) are mapped in far more detail than others.

Each point mostly marks where a slide started. Debris can travel well past it, down a creek channel and onto the fan at the creek's mouth, so a lot on a fan or below a steep slope can be reached by a slide that began kilometres away. Distances are measured by us from the lot's boundary.

The kind of slide and its date are the database's own, mostly worked out from images, so treat them as a first look. Confirm with the local government, many of which have mapped steep-slope or debris-flow hazard areas, and with a geotechnical engineer.

Health region (regional figure, not this lot)

Thompson Cariboo Shuswap

Homes tested here

109

At or above 200 Bq/m³ (the guideline)

7 (6.4%)

At or above 600 Bq/m³

None

Across BC

143 of 1,817 homes (7.9%) at or above the guideline

Radon comes up from the ground and differs from one house to the next, even next door, so a regional figure says nothing certain about one home. The only way to know is a long-term test of at least 3 months. Health Canada's guideline is 200 Bq/m³ in the parts of a home where people spend more than 4 hours a day; above it, fix it within a year, and the higher the level, the sooner. For a home you buy, Health Canada suggests a long-term test once you've moved in.

The survey tested about a hundred volunteer homes per health region, with one long-term test each. That gives a rough regional picture: it isn't a map, and a region where few or none tested high can still have homes above the guideline. The survey grouped homes by the 2007 health regions; we place the lot by today's boundaries for the same areas.

Federal sites within 2 km

0

This inventory lists only contaminated sites on federal land or that the federal government is responsible for: military land, ports and harbours, airports, fisheries and research stations, reserve land, national parks and similar. Most contaminated sites in BC, such as old gas stations, dry cleaners and industrial land, are on the Province's Site Registry, which charges for searches and isn't shown here. Ask the seller what the land and its neighbours were used for; a Phase I environmental site assessment covers it properly.

Each site is one point given by its federal custodian, and a large site such as a base or an airport reaches well past it. Distances are measured by us from the lot's boundary to that point.

Confirm with the local government and a qualified environmental professional.

At-risk species or ecosystems on the parcel

None recorded

Within 500 m

None recorded

Wide-ranging species mapped over it

None

Secured records in the wider area

No

Wildlife Habitat Area over the parcel

No

Ungulate winter range over the parcel

No

Proposed Wildlife Habitat Area over the parcel

No

Proposed ungulate winter range over the parcel

No

Federal critical habitat over the lot

American Badger jeffersonii subspecies (Western population) (safe movement; a wide area, up to 11,503 ha)

Sensitive ecosystems mapped on the lot

Not mapped here: the lot isn't covered by any of the Province's sensitive ecosystem inventories (checked 2026-10-11)

Invasive plants recorded on the lot

None on the Province's list

Invasive plants recorded within 100 m

None on the Province's list

Red-listed species are at risk of being lost from BC; Blue-listed are of special concern. A record shows where the species was found, sometimes decades ago; no record doesn't mean nothing lives here, since most land has never been surveyed.

Federal critical habitat is the habitat a recovery strategy or action plan under the Species at Risk Act says a listed species needs to survive or recover (ss. 2, 41). On federal land the Act protects it by order (s. 58). On private and provincial land the Act leans on provincial and local law first; the federal Cabinet can order it protected where that falls short (s. 61). The Act's bans on harming a listed species or its residence apply everywhere for aquatic species and migratory birds, and elsewhere on private land only under a federal order (ss. 32 to 34). Our summary, read 2026-10-12.

Critical habitat for some sensitive species is kept off the public map; Environment and Climate Change Canada's Species at Risk Public Registry has each species' recovery strategy.

Species at risk can still limit building through local environmental development permit areas: ask the local government before planning work.

The Province's records come from invasive plant surveys, mostly since 2022, along roads, trails and shores and wherever crews were sent; no record doesn't mean no invasive plants. A record marks where a plant was found that day; it may since have been treated.

Community water

No open map of the City of Merritt's water service: ask the City of Merritt whether the lot is on it

Wells within 2 km

21

Median depth

60 m

Median tested yield

76 L/min (15 wells tested)

Median water level below ground

9 m

Aquifer 74 under the lot

Upper Merritt: unconfined sand and gravel (small stream system); productivity high, vulnerability high, demand high; 16 wells linked, median depth 21.8 m

Aquifer 1167 under the lot

Lower Merritt: confined sand and gravel (glacial); productivity high, vulnerability low, demand moderate; 5 wells linked, median depth 110 m

Aquifer 1168 under the lot

Middle Merritt: confined sand and gravel (glacial); productivity high, vulnerability low, demand moderate; 24 wells linked, median depth 63.1 m

Observation well 296

in aquifer 74, 2 km from the lot's middle: water level stable or no clear trend over 2014 to 2023; stable or no clear trend over 1989 to 2023; water typically 4 m below ground in a well 17 m deep (the Province's trend, records to December 2023)

Groundwater tested 1.3 km away

At a sampled well, in aquifer 1167, under the lot: within Health Canada's limits, in mg/L: arsenic 0.0036, fluoride 0.1, manganese 0.075, uranium 0.0019, nitrate (as nitrogen) under detection, lead under detection; manganese over the 0.02 mg/L taste and staining level in its one sample; 1 sample, 2021. Not this lot's water: test your own well.

Groundwater tested 1.9 km away

At a water system's well, in aquifer 74, under the lot: within Health Canada's limits, in mg/L (medians): arsenic 0.0001, fluoride 0.03, manganese 0.00038, uranium 0.00027, nitrate (as nitrogen) 0.026, lead 0.0001; up to 3 samples, 2003 to 2004. Not this lot's water: test your own well.

Groundwater tested 2 km away

At the Province's observation well 296, in aquifer 74, under the lot: manganese median 0.00723 mg/L, 1 of 12 samples over the 0.12 mg/L limit; within Health Canada's limits, in mg/L (medians): arsenic under detection, fluoride 0.048, uranium 0.00012, nitrate (as nitrogen) 0.12, lead 0.00005; up to 12 samples, 2001 to 2024. Not this lot's water: test your own well.

More wells tested

11 more within 10 km in the Province's records, farther away or in another aquifer

Drinking-water protection zone

City of Merritt Well Field, from its Source Water Assessment and Protection Plan (2017): Collettville Well: the 10-year capture zone (the plan's Zone 3); Fairley Park Well: the 10-year capture zone (the plan's Zone 3); Kengard Well: the 10-year capture zone (the plan's Zone 3); Voght Park Well: the 10-year capture zone (the plan's Zone 3) (per the Province's map)

Water systems' wells and intakes within 300 m

None on the Province's list

Community watershed

None over the lot on the Province's map

Neighbours' wells show what drillers found nearby, not what a new well here will find; many wells were never registered. For a property on a well, ask for a recent flow test and water quality test.

Productivity is how much water the aquifer gives up to wells; vulnerability is how easily a spill at the surface could reach it; both are the province's ratings for the whole aquifer, not this lot. Mapped aquifers cover mostly settled valleys: a lot outside every outline can still have groundwater. Confirm with a qualified hydrogeologist or registered well driller.

Observation wells are the Province's monitoring wells, their water level measured for years or decades. The trend is the Province's reading of one well's yearly levels: a decline of 3 to 10 cm a year that the record clearly shows is a moderate rate, 10 cm or more a large one, anything not clear is stable or no clear trend. It shows how the aquifer has behaved there, not what a well on this lot will give; confirm with a qualified hydrogeologist or registered well driller.

These are samples of raw water, before any treatment, from wells in the Province's environmental monitoring records since 2000: its observation wells and groundwater surveys, water systems' wells and other drinking-water wells; wells at landfills, mines and permit holders' works are left out. A result below the lab's detection limit counts at that limit. Lead mostly comes from a well's pipes and fittings rather than the aquifer. Groundwater changes over short distances and with depth, so a nearby well says what the aquifer can hold, not what a well on this lot gives. Bacteria aren't shown: they depend on how each well is built and kept.

Health Canada's Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality set the most a drinking water should hold: arsenic 0.010 mg/L, fluoride 1.5 mg/L, manganese 0.12 mg/L (and 0.02 mg/L for taste and for staining laundry and fixtures), uranium 0.02 mg/L, nitrate 10 mg/L as nitrogen (45 mg/L as nitrate) and lead 0.005 mg/L, with arsenic and lead kept as low as reasonably achievable. Our summary of Health Canada's summary table, read 2026-10-11.

Test your own well, for bacteria and these, at an accredited lab; your health authority can say which labs take samples from private wells.

A protection zone marks the land around a water system's well or intake where what happens on the surface, such as a septic field, fuel storage, livestock or digging, could reach the water people drink; a capture zone's years are how long ground water inside it takes to reach the well. The Province maps the zones from the water systems' own protection plans. Being inside one sets no rule on its own (our reading), but a local government may have made it a development permit area or set bylaws on it, and the health authority looks at new septic systems near drinking-water sources. Ask the City of Merritt Well Field and the local government what applies here; the plan is linked under Sources.

Community sewer

No open map of the City of Merritt's sewer service: ask the City of Merritt whether the lot is on it

Recorded water-supply wells within 30 m

None recorded within 30 m

Mapped water within 30 m

Nicola River, Hamilton Creek and an unnamed stream

Within the setbacks, under 15% slope (gravity fields, mounds and trenches)

1.1 ha (50%)

Within the setbacks, under 25% slope (mounds, at-grade beds and trenches)

1.4 ha (67%)

Within the setbacks, under 45% slope (trenches)

1.4 ha (67%)

The lot is inside the mapped protection zones of 4 of the City of Merritt Well Field's wells (Collettville Well, Fairley Park Well, Kengard Well and Voght Park Well): tell the Authorized Person who designs a field, and ask the local government and the health authority whether larger setbacks or a higher level of treatment apply there.

Screening, not a site assessment: measured by us on the same elevation cells as the buildable area, against the separations in the Province's Sewerage System Standard Practice Manual: a field stays 30 m from a drinking-water well (60 to 90 m from a high-pumping one), 30 m from a lake, river or permanent stream (15 m from seasonal water and the sea), 7.5 m from a downslope drain or bank where effluent could break out, and, as a guideline, 3 m from the lot line. We use 30 m for every mapped stream. A gravity field isn't allowed on slopes over 15%, a mound or at-grade bed over 25%, and trenches over 45%.

Under the Sewerage System Regulation, only an Authorized Person (a Registered Onsite Wastewater Practitioner or a professional engineer or geoscientist) may plan and install a system, and they file the plans with the regional health authority before work starts. They dig test pits to check the soil depth and the seasonal water table and measure how fast the soil drains, which no open map shows. Ask the seller for the filing and maintenance records of an existing system, and have it inspected.

Well locations in GWELLS are often approximate, and many wells were never registered: look for well caps on and next to the lot. Wells, water lines and septic fields on the neighbours' land count too.

If the lot is on a community sewer, none of this applies; ask the local government, which may also set larger setbacks or a minimum lot size for septic.

Nearest hospital

Nicola Valley Hospital and Health Centre, Merritt: 1.5 km

Next nearest hospital

Royal Inland Hospital, Kamloops: 69 km

Emergency departments and walk-in clinics

Not loaded yet: the services file was built before they were added

School catchment

Not mapped for this lot: catchments are shown only where the school district's boundaries are open data, for Surrey Schools (Surrey and White Rock) and the North Vancouver School District (the City and District of North Vancouver). Ask the school district which schools serve it.

Nearest public elementary school

Nicola Canford Elementary, Lower Nicola: 1.1 km

Nearest public secondary school

Boston Bar Elem-Secondary: 56 km

Nearest public school with early French immersion

Merritt Secondary: 2.5 km

Nearest francophone school (Conseil scolaire francophone)

Collines-d'or, Kamloops: 76 km

Independent schools within 10 km

1

Nearest licensed group child care

White Bear Daycare: 500 m

Licensed group child care within 1 km

1: by the ages their operators list, 1 under 36 months, 1 for 30 months to 5 years and 1 preschool; it takes part in the fee reduction (CCFRI)

Licensed group child care within 2 km

3: by the ages their operators list, 1 under 36 months, 1 for 30 months to 5 years and 1 preschool (2 list none); all take part in the fee reduction (CCFRI)

Licensed family child care within about 2 km

1, in the providers' homes

Nearest grocery store

No Frills: 1.3 km

Grocery stores within 10 km

2

Nearest fire station

A fire station (no name on the map): 1.8 km, on OpenStreetMap

Nearest fire hydrant

Not said: we have no open hydrant map of the City of Merritt; ask its fire department where the nearest hydrant is

Nearest ambulance station

Ambulance station 324, Merritt: 1.6 km

Nearest transfer station or landfill

Lower Nicola Eco-Depot (transfer station): 11 km

Nearest post office

Downtown Merritt: 1.9 km

Nearest gas station

Super Save: 1.2 km

Nearest transit stop

Granite Pl at Douglas St: 900 m, route 3; 14 departures on a weekday, 14 on Saturday, 10 on Sunday (BC Transit's schedule, week of October 12, 2026)

Transit stops within 500 m

0

Nearest park or protected area

Monck Park, a provincial park: 16 km from the lot line

Nearest recreation site or trail

GodeyCreek, on Recreation Sites and Trails BC's list: 2.8 km from the lot line

Distances are straight lines from the middle of the lot, measured by us. The drive is longer, and much longer where the road winds, crosses water or takes a ferry.

Hospitals are from the Province's list. Not every hospital has a 24-hour emergency department, and some small towns have a health centre with emergency care that isn't on this list: check with the regional health authority.

Which school a child goes to depends on the school district's catchment, not on distance: ask the district.

French programs are from the Ministry's school list. French immersion usually takes students by application or lottery, often with its own boundary, and the Conseil scolaire francophone's schools are for children whose parents have the right to French-language education: ask the district which applies.

Child care is from the Province's Child Care Map Data, listed October 11, 2026: licensed facilities the Province funds, so a licensed one without that funding, or a licence-not-required carer, isn't on it. The ages served and any space are what each operator reports, and many list no ages. A space reported weeks ago may be gone: ask the facility about spaces and wait lists.

The fee reduction is the Province's Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative (CCFRI): a facility taking part charges lower monthly fees for children up to kindergarten age (our summary).

Licensed family child care is in the provider's own home, so we count it but don't name or place it. It's counted on a grid of about 1 km, so the count near 2 km is approximate (our reading).

A fire station nearby doesn't mean it covers this lot: confirm the fire protection area with the local government. Insurers price fire cover by the road distance to the hall that responds and whether the lot is inside a fire protection area.

Insurers ask how far the house is from a hydrant as well as from the fire hall that responds: ask yours what distance it uses and what that does to the premium.

Fire halls and ambulance stations are from the Province's First Responders list (updated 2026-09-11), with fire stations it lacks added from OpenStreetMap. A hall that has moved may still be listed at its old address.

An ambulance station is where crews are based. How soon one arrives depends on where the crew is when the call comes.

Transit stops and departures are counted by us from BC Transit's and TransLink's published schedules for one week, leaving out the stop where a trip ends. A stop's distance is a straight line from the middle of the lot; the walk is longer. Service changes with the seasons: check the timetable before you count on a route.

Parks and recreation sites are measured in a straight line from the lot line. Conservancies, regional and municipal parks aren't on these lists. Recreation Sites and Trails BC's list doesn't say whether a site is open, closed or reachable this season: check its page before you go.

Grocery stores, transfer stations, landfills, recycling depots, post offices, gas stations are from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers: one may be missing, closed or mapped in the wrong place, and a landfill may be closed without the map saying so (our reading).

Confirm services with the local government.

Best speed recorded within about 1 km

50/10 Mbps or faster

Over a wired line (cable, fibre or DSL)

50/10 Mbps or faster

Over fixed wireless

50/10 Mbps or faster

LTE mobile within about 1 km

recorded

Nearest place with 50/10 Mbps or faster

within about 1 km (about 200 m)

Data

ISED National Broadband Data, May 2026

This is the service providers report to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) for homes and roads near the lot, not a quote: ask providers whether they serve this address, at what speed and at what cost to connect.

Speeds are download/upload bands. 50/10 Mbps is ISED's top band, so a place in it can get much faster service, and it is the CRTC's target for every Canadian home.

A line that reaches homes within 1 km may stop short of this lot; bringing it further can cost the buyer. Fixed wireless and LTE need a clear line to the tower, which hills and tall trees can block.

Satellite service doesn't need nearby lines, but it needs a clear view of the sky.

Distances are straight lines from the middle of the lot, measured by us on a grid of about 250 m.

Nearest climate station

Merritt treatment plant, 2.9 km away

Station elevation

609 m

Lot elevation (estimated, middle of the lot)

603 m

January mean temperature (1981-2010)

−3.0 °C

July mean temperature (1981-2010)

18.8 °C

Yearly precipitation, rain and snow as water (1981-2010)

321 mm

Yearly snowfall (1981-2010)

67 cm

Frost-free period (1981-2010)

129 days a year*

Average last spring frost (1981-2010)

May 14*

Average first fall frost (1981-2010)

September 21*

Days a year over 30 °C (1981-2010)

23 days, 2.9 days of them over 35 °C*

Heating degree days, below 18 °C (1981-2010)

3,866 a year*

Growing degree days, above 5 °C (1981-2010)

1,918 a year; 965 above 10 °C*

Period

1981-2010

Plant hardiness zone (regional)

5b

By the 2050s, days a year over 30 °C (model projection, SSP2-4.5)

About 16 more days over 30 °C a year than in the same models' 1971-2000

By the 2050s, longest frost-free run (model projection, SSP2-4.5)

A longest frost-free run about 30 days longer than in the same models' 1971-2000

By the 2050s, winter precipitation falling as snow (model projection, SSP2-4.5)

About 10 percentage points less of winter's precipitation falling as snow than in the same models' 1971-2000

Air monitoring station measuring fine particles

None within 30 km with 5 or more full years of readings

Normals are 30-year averages at the station, not readings for this lot. In BC's mountains a few hundred metres of elevation, a north-facing slope or a lakeshore can change winters a lot: a hillside lot can be much colder and snowier than a valley station.

The lot's elevation is our estimate from Natural Resources Canada's 30 m elevation model at the middle of the lot.

The hardiness zone is from Natural Resources Canada's 2025 map, read by us on a grid of about 2 to 3 km: near a zone's edge, or well above or below the valley around it, the lot may fall in the next zone. It is a guide to which plants survive the winter, not a frost date.

* Based on fewer years than the WMO standard: these figures rest on at least 20 of the 30 years, short of the World Meteorological Organization's standard of nearly all of them. ECCC publishes them as normals; treat them as a rougher guide.

ECCC's 1981-2010 normals for this station don't include days with snow on the ground or the lowest temperature recorded, so those are left out rather than guessed.

A degree day is one degree of a day's mean temperature below or above a base, added up over the year. Heating degree days below 18 °C follow how much a home needs heating: a place with 5,000 needs roughly half again the heat of one with 3,300, for the same house. Growing degree days above 5 °C (10 °C for warm-season crops such as corn and grapes) follow how much warmth plants get to grow.

Model projections, not predictions of the weather: the median of 26 climate models downscaled by Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (CanDCS-M6), for 2041-2070 under SSP2-4.5, a middle path for emissions. Each is given as the change from the same models' 1971-2000, not against a station's normals: in the mountains the models' figures can sit well off a valley station's, and the change between the two periods says more than either number. The frost-free run is the longest stretch of days with the low at or above 0 °C. The share of winter's precipitation falling as snow is our reading: each model's December to February snowfall over its precipitation, then the median across the models.

The models work on a grid of about 9 by 6 km, which averages valley floors with the slopes around them, so their own figures can sit well off a station's normals and aren't comparable with them. The models' own figures here, for setting against each other only: about 21 days over 30 °C a year in 2041-2070 (range 15 to 37 across the models), against about 5 in 1971-2000; a longest frost-free run of about 150 days (range 135 to 175), against about 120; and about 72% of winter's precipitation falling as snow (range 64% to 74%), against about 82%. The range runs from the 10th to the 90th percentile of the models' 2041-2070 figure; it isn't a range of the change.

Frost dates are averages: in about half of years the last spring frost comes later than the date shown, and frost pockets in hollows and valley bottoms get it later still.

ECCC has no fuller 1991-2020 set for this station, so these are its 1981-2010 normals; recent years have run warmer than them in most of BC. Ask neighbours or the local government about snow on the road and who clears it.

Local government

Merritt

Residential rate, 2026

7.9295 per $1,000

Municipal

4.9886 per $1,000

Regional district

0.6444 per $1,000

Regional hospital district

0.3125 per $1,000

School (set by the Province)

1.818 per $1,000

Other

0.166 per $1,000

BC municipalities' middle rate

6.24337 per $1,000

Your bill uses BC Assessment's value for the property, which can differ from its price, and may also include parcel taxes and utility fees (water, sewer, garbage) that aren't rates on value.

The home owner grant takes up to $570 off the bill of a home its owner lives in ($770 in the Province's northern and rural area in 2026, and up to $845, or $1,045 there, for seniors, veterans and people with a disability), for homes assessed at $2,075,000 or less in 2026; above that it shrinks by $5 for each $1,000. From 2027 the northern and rural extra ends and the regular grant is $570 everywhere. The owner applies each year, and must pay at least $350 in tax ($100 for the higher grant) after it.

Rates are set each May for the year; the next year's will differ.

Police service

The Merritt RCMP (municipal)

Crime severity index, 2025

292 (BC 92)

Violent / non-violent index

450 / 231 (BC 98 / 91)

Crime severity index, 2015

144 (BC 93)

Break and enter, per 100,000 people, 2025

1,224 (BC 281)

Theft of a vehicle, per 100,000 people, 2025

250 (BC 138)

Theft from a vehicle, per 100,000 people, 2025

306 (BC 441)

Violent crime, per 100,000 people, 2025

5,452 (BC 1,531)

All Criminal Code offences (not traffic), per 100,000 people, 2025

20,529 (BC 6,943)

The crime severity index weighs each offence by how serious it is (one assault counts for more than several thefts), with Canada in 2006 set at 100. Rates are per 100,000 people living in the police service's area, so places with many visitors, commuters or seasonal homes read high, and in small places a few incidents swing the figures a lot. These are crimes reported to police, not all crime.

In BC only Surrey, the Township of Langley, Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam publish reported property crime block by block under an open licence; reports there count what was reported within 500 m of the lot. The police here don't, so the figures above are for the whole area they cover.

Police calls to a particular address aren't published in BC (privacy law keeps police records about identifiable people closed), and neither is whether a home was used as a grow-op or drug lab: that shows up as a notice on the title. Ask the seller for the Property Disclosure Statement, and your lawyer for the title search.