The Province's parcel map is only partly loaded today, so this is the report as we checked it on Oct 18, 2026. We'll check it again once the map is whole.

On the plan: everything we found240 m across

Plan is our drawing of every layer in this report on one sheet, with contours every 0.5 m (161–167 m above sea level) from NRCan's lidar elevation model (Vancouver Island Sunshine Coast survey, 2018; read at 2 m): the sheet that prints. Drawn from the sources in each section; lines can be metres off. Not a survey.

27 public records

What these mean

Look into: Something on or near this lot that's worth checking before you buy. Each section decides it for this lot from its own records: Winter sun, for one, only where the hills block much of the December sun.
This lot: The lot's own ground (zoning, slope, water, access, wells, septic), with nothing in the record to look into. Shown in full.
Background: Figures for the place around the lot (earthquakes, climate, services, taxes and the like) that read much the same for its neighbours. One line each; open one to read it.
Nothing found: Checked, and nothing on the record here.
Not covered: What these public records can't answer for this lot.

Each count is the sections in that group; the strip shows them in page order. Every finding names its source.

Around the lot

Nearest of each, from the lot's edge

Floodplain mapon or at the lotCowichan Lake
Public roadbeside the lot (about 5 m)Lakeview Avenue
Water10 mCowichan River
Logging or Crown land plan45 mCrown land application (commercial)
Highway or major road1.2 kmCowichan Valley Highway (Highway 18)

Nothing within 95 m: wildfire, water well, power line, pipeline, gravel pit or quarry, military land, railway, airport or airstrip, farmland reserve, mineral or placer title. Measured by us on the plan's lines, so expect a few metres either way. Each section has the official figures.

Look into5

Found on or near this lot, and worth checking before you buy.

§04Floodplain Look into

On a provincially designated floodplain map (Cowichan Lake).

Highest, 1968 331 m³/s
Median 179 m³/s

Yearly peak flow at the Cowichan River at Lake Cowichan gauge (08HA002), 1940 to 2024; gaps are years without a peak on record.

A dam's failure consequence class rates the harm a failure would cause downstream (lives, property, the environment), not the chance of one; it doesn't say which land the water would reach. Ask the local government whether the dam's emergency plan maps an inundation area over the lot.

The recordfloodplain on the plan

Cowichan Lake: Floodplain, designated June 84
Dam: Cowichan Lake Weir: About 650 m from the lot line; combination, 3.5 m high; the Dam Safety Regulation applies in full; failure consequence class High (the Province's rating of what a failure would do downstream, not of how likely one is); built 1960
Dikes nearby: None within 1 km on the Province's map of dikes and flood protection works
Yearly peak flow, Cowichan River: A median of 179 m³/s at the Cowichan River at Lake Cowichan gauge (08HA002), 100 m away, over 80 years with a peak on record from 1940 to 2024
Highest peak on record, Cowichan River: 331 m³/s on January 21, 1968
Last 10 yearly peaks: 2015: 217 m³/s; 2016: 176 m³/s; 2017: 232 m³/s; 2018: 216 m³/s; 2019: 207 m³/s; 2020: 271 m³/s; 2021: 249 m³/s; 2022: 125 m³/s; 2023: 151 m³/s; 2024: 132 m³/s

Designated floodplains usually come with a flood construction level and setbacks in the local bylaw. Ask the local government for both before you buy or build.

The gauge's yearly peak is the highest flow it measured each year, in cubic metres a second, from the Water Survey of Canada's record (HYDAT). It is the river's record at the gauge, not a flood line or a water level at this lot: a lot upstream or downstream, higher on the bank or behind a dike floods differently, and years the gauge didn't run or didn't record a peak are missing. The local government's flood mapping and flood construction level say what applies to the lot.

Sources (4)

Floodplain areas (designated floodplain mapping), Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Flood Protection Works: Structural Works, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); BC Dams, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); HYDAT: annual instantaneous peak flows, Water Survey of Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada).

What a floodplain map means, and what it doesn't cover →

River gauges: how high a river near a lot has run →

Dams: what the consequence class means, and an owner's duties →

Flood insurance and disaster assistance: what is covered, and what isn't →

§07Water and streamside setbacks Look into

Mapped water within 30 m of the parcel: Cowichan River. Coho Salmon, Rainbow Trout and other salmonids are recorded in Cowichan River (the Province's fish records).

Water nearby limits where you can build, clear or fill. In the regional districts covered by the Riparian Areas Protection Regulation, development within 30 m of a stream, lake or wetland needs a qualified environmental professional's assessment first; elsewhere the local bylaw sets its own setbacks, and any work in or next to a stream needs approval under the Water Sustainability Act. Ask the local government which rules apply here.

The recordwater and 30 m strip on the plan

Within 30 m: Cowichan River
On the parcel: None mapped
Fish recorded in the water by the lot: Cowichan River: Coho Salmon, Rainbow Trout, Steelhead, Brown Trout, Threespine Stickleback and 9 more species (99 records, 1986 to 2021)
Docks and moorage on the Province's register (50 m): No moorage tenure on the Province's register within 50 m

The Freshwater Atlas is mapped at 1:20,000, so a line can be tens of metres from the real bank and small streams can be missing. A site survey sets the actual setback.

The Province's fish records come from surveys, fisheries work and permits, so they cover the waters someone sampled: a record says a fish was found somewhere in that water, not by this lot, and no record doesn't mean no fish (our reading). A qualified environmental professional decides whether the water by the lot is fish habitat. Under the Riparian Areas Protection Regulation, in the regional districts and the Islands Trust area it names, a residential, commercial or industrial development within a stream's riparian assessment area (30 m from the stream in most cases) needs a qualified environmental professional's assessment when the stream provides fish habitat to protected fish: salmon, trout, char and the other salmonids, game fish, and fish listed under the federal Species at Risk Act (ss. 1 to 3). A "stream" there includes lakes, and ditches, springs and wetlands connected to one by surface flow. Our summary, checked 2026-10-11.

The foreshore and the bed of a lake, river or the sea below the natural boundary (the visible high water mark) are almost all Crown land in BC, whoever owns the lot behind them, so a dock, boat lift or ramp on them needs the Province's authorization under the Land Act, and must leave the public's way along the foreshore open. The Province's General Permission for private moorage authorizes one dock fronting a lot without an application when the dock's owner owns or leases that lot, it's for private residential moorage only, it isn't over an archaeological site, eelgrass, a park, ecological reserve or protected area, or in an application-only area or a Land Act reserve, no other tenure covers that foreshore, and it's built within the permission's limits: floating or held above the water, no fill, dredging, cribs or solid core, no boathouse, roof, deck or shed, at least 5 m from the side lot line projected out over the water (6 m beside a public beach access or park) and 10 m from another dock, and on a lake or river no more than 42 m out with a float up to 3 m and a walkway up to 1.5 m wide (on the sea 60 m out, a 14 by 3.7 m float, and a biologist's marine habitat assessment before a new dock). Otherwise the dock needs a specific permission or a lease, applied for through FrontCounter BC. Building in or about a lake, river or stream also needs a Water Sustainability Act s. 11 notification or approval, and the local government's zoning and bylaws apply as well. Our summary of the Province's private moorage page and its General Permission (May 9, 2024), checked 2026-10-07.

A dock under the General Permission needs no application, so it isn't on the register: no tenure listed here doesn't mean there's no dock, or that a dock on the shore isn't authorized (our reading). Ask the seller how an existing dock is authorized, and FrontCounter BC (1-877-855-3222) before building or changing one.

Sources (6)

Freshwater Atlas (streams, rivers, lakes, wetlands, coastline), Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Known BC Fish Observations and BC Fish Distributions, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Riparian Areas Protection Regulation, B.C. Reg. 178/2019, ss. 1 to 3 (summarised in our words, read 2026-10-11); TANTALIS Crown tenures, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Land use – private moorage, Province of BC (summarised in our words, read 2026-10-07); Provincial General Permission for the Use of Crown Land for Private Moorage (Land Act), version of May 9, 2024 (summarised in our words, read 2026-10-07).

Which streamside rules apply, and where →

Docks and moorage: what the Province allows on the foreshore →

§03Buildable area Look into

About 470 m² (59%) of the lot is clear of steep slope and water setbacks; 41% is in or within 30 m of mapped water. All of it is on a designated floodplain: new floors must usually sit at or above the flood construction level the local bylaw sets.

Clear, on floodplain 59%
Within 30 m of water 41%

Share of the lot's grid cells (2 m), each counted once: water first, then the 30 m strip, then steep slope.

Estimated by us on Natural Resources Canada's lidar elevation model, from the Vancouver Island Sunshine Coast survey (2018): bare ground with buildings and trees taken out, read here on a 2 m grid, one dot on the plan per cell. Retaining walls, road cuts and ditches count as steep ground, and earthworks since the survey aren't shown. Slopes over 30% usually need a geotechnical engineer's report to build on; 15 to 30% is buildable with more work.

The recordbuildable area on the plan

Clear of steep slope and water setbacks: 470 m² (59%)
In or within 30 m of mapped water: 41%
Steeper than 30%, outside that strip: 0%
15 to 30% slope: 4%
On designated floodplain (counted as clear): 100%
Median slope: 4%
Main slope direction: Mostly flat (slopes under 5%); measured by us on NRCan's lidar elevation model (Vancouver Island Sunshine Coast survey, 2018; 2 m grid)
Which way it faces: 5% south (SE to SW), 12% north (NW to NE), 64% flat; the rest east or west
Terrain stability (Vancouver Island Geomorphology): Over the lot, the Province's terrain stability mapping, mapped at 1:50,000 gives no stability class, so it says nothing either way
Fossils recorded within 5 km: One published collection: corals from the Parson Bay Formation, Triassic, about 205 million years ago (Rhaetian); about 1.5 km away as given, its position only to the nearest minute (up to about 2 km off).

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.

Fossils recorded nearby are collections published in the scientific literature and entered in the Paleobiology Database: where a find was made, not what lies under the lot, and most of BC's fossil ground has never been searched. Positions are as the papers gave them, often to the nearest minute (up to about 2 km off), so a collection is never placed on the lot. On Crown land fossils are the Province's, and collecting rules apply; on titled land, ask the owner.

Sources (5)

High Resolution Digital Elevation Model (HRDEM), lidar DTM from the Vancouver Island Sunshine Coast survey (2018), Natural Resources Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Freshwater Atlas and designated floodplain maps, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Terrain Stability Mapping (TSM) Detailed Polygons, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Paleobiology Database, fossil occurrences in British Columbia (4,166 collections), read 2026-10-13 (CC BY 4.0); Paleobiology Database, collection 82663 (CC BY 4.0).

How the buildable share is measured, and what it leaves out →

Archaeological sites: protected whether recorded or not, and how to ask →

Fossils near a property: what's recorded, and the collecting rules →

§05Wildfire history Look into

No recorded fire on the parcel; 3 recorded within 2 km, most recently in 2019.

Fire perimeters mapped by the BC Wildfire Service since 1919, each with its size and the cause the Service recorded (lightning or people, sometimes unknown); older and small fires are less complete. Past fire is history, not a forecast: for insurance, ask about the fire protection area and the distance to the nearest fire hall.

The record

Fires on the parcel: 0
Fires within 2 km: 3
Within 2 km in the last 30 years: 1
Most recent nearby: 2019 (2 ha, caused by people)
Largest nearby: 1935 (849 ha, caused by people)
Causes on record within 2 km: 3 caused by people
Natural fire regime (the Province's ecosystem map): NDT2, infrequent stand-initiating events: forest where large fires replaced the stand about every 200 years on average, leaving wide even-aged stands with a few older trees that survived
Biogeoclimatic unit: Coastal Western Hemlock zone, dry maritime subzone, Western variant (CWHdm2)

The natural disturbance type is how the forest here burned, blew down or otherwise renewed itself before logging and fire suppression, from the Province's biogeoclimatic map and its Biodiversity Guidebook (1995). It describes the land around the lot over centuries, not the lot's own fire risk or the odds of a fire in any year; the Province's fire threat rating and fuel maps aren't open data. Our summary, checked 2026-10-11.

Sources (3)

Fire perimeters – historical, BC Wildfire Service (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); BEC Map (biogeoclimatic zones and natural disturbance types), Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Biodiversity Guidebook, Forest Practices Code of British Columbia (1995), natural disturbance types (Our summary, checked 2026-10-11).

How to read a fire history →

Burning brush or slash on your property: the rules →

§12What's planned nearby Look into

Within 1 km: 1 application for Crown land (commercial). No major project in assessment or approved within 10 km on the Environmental Assessment Office's register.

Cutblocks are from the province's forest tenure records, which cover Crown forest licences and woodlots, not logging on private land. Crown land applications are on the province's tenure register; the Applications, Comments and Reasons for Decision site takes public comments on them. Mineral and placer claims are in their own section above.

The recordcutblocks and crown land applications on the plan

Cutblocks applied for (1 km): 0
Approved, not yet logged (1 km): 0
Logged in the last 5 years (1 km): 0
Crown land applications (1 km): commercial
Quarry, industry, energy or tower tenures (500 m): None
Along the lot line: Private land along about 75% of the lot line (the east and west sides); no parcel mapped along about 25% of the lot line (the north and south sides), most often a road allowance, water or Crown land the parcel map doesn't draw (our reading)
Rights of way and easements drawn on the lot: None drawn on ParcelMap BC; a charge with no plan can still be on the title, so ask for it
Crown land reserves and notations (1 km): Map reserve (Land Act s. 16) for a use the register doesn't name, file 1414707: expires August 19, 2027, 410 m from the lot line
Local development applications: Not covered here: we read applications only where the local government publishes them as open data (the CSRD, the City of Surrey, the City of Abbotsford and the District of Squamish). Ask the Town of Lake Cowichan what's in progress on and near the lot
Nearest power line (200 m): None mapped within 200 m
Oil and gas pipelines (200 m): None within 200 m on the BC Energy Regulator's permit map
Permitted discharges to air, water and land (2 km): A sewage treatment or discharge, about 1,850 m from the lot line (position given to about 100 m), may discharge to water or land (effluent), under a permit (authorization 247, 1968)
Major projects in assessment (10 km): None
Major projects approved (10 km): None
Reviewed, no assessment needed (10 km): None
Closed or not reviewable (10 km): None

Who owns the land beside the lot is ParcelMap BC's owner type for each parcel that shares the lot line (measured by us along the line); the open parcel map names no owners. Crown land beside a lot, with a title or without, can be logged, leased, grazed or roaded, and a view or trail across it isn't yours to keep; ask the natural resource district or FrontCounter BC. Land owned by the local government is often a park, a road allowance or a utility lot; ask the local government what it's for.

The Province can set Crown land aside for a purpose, such as a gravel source, a road, a communication site, recreation or a treaty. Cabinet can reserve it by order in council (Land Act s. 15); the minister can withdraw it from disposition for a time, a map reserve (s. 16), or designate it for one use, a designated use area, which withdraws it from any use that doesn't fit (s. 17). A notation of interest isn't a reserve: it marks another agency's interest, so that agency is asked before the Province decides an application there (our reading). A reserve gives no date for when its purpose is used, if ever. Our summary of the Land Act, read 2026-10-12.

Major projects are those large enough to need a provincial environmental assessment: mines, power plants, pipelines, transmission lines, highways, ports, dams and resorts, among others. Each is on the Environmental Assessment Office's register at a single point, the location it gives for the project. A mine, pipeline, transmission line or road can reach well past that point, so a project listed 8 km away can still pass the lot, and one placed beyond 10 km isn't listed here. Each project's page on the EAO's site has its maps, documents and comment periods; distances are measured by us from the lot line to the point. Smaller projects (subdivisions, smaller pits and quarries, and other works under the assessment thresholds) aren't on this register.

Power lines are from two maps read together: the Province's map of high-voltage transmission lines (BC Hydro's, private and independent producers' lines), which leaves voltages out, and OpenStreetMap, where volunteers map lines and record the voltage where it's known. Smaller distribution lines along streets aren't included. Distances are measured by us from the lot line to the mapped line, which can sit some metres off the real one. The line's right of way, and what it lets the line's owner do on the land, is set by the easement on title, which is the definitive record: check it in the title search, and ask BC Hydro (or the line's owner) about clearances for building and trees.

Permitted discharges are from the Province's list of active waste discharge authorizations under the Environmental Management Act: permits, approvals and operational certificates, and sites registered under its regulations and codes of practice (sewage, fuel storage, vehicle recycling, concrete, asphalt, composting and others). Each is one point the Province gives for the site, which can be a plant's office or an outfall rather than the ground worked; distances are measured by us from the lot line to that point. Metro Vancouver issues its own air quality permits, which aren't on this list, and the Province's Site Registry of contaminated sites charges for searches and isn't shown here.

An authorization sets what may be discharged, how much and on what conditions; it doesn't mean the site is out of compliance. The Province's Authorization Management System search shows each authorization's documents by its number. Odour, dust and noise are often for the local government too: ask the regional district or city, and the Province's environmental protection office about the authorization.

Sources (11)

Forest tenure cutblock polygons (FTA 4.0), Ministry of Forests (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); TANTALIS Crown tenures, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Environmental Assessment Office project points (EPIC), Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); ParcelMap BC parcel fabric (parcel class and owner type), Land Title and Survey Authority of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); TANTALIS Crown Land Reserves and Notations, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Land Act, RSBC 1996, c. 245, ss. 10, 15, 16 and 17 (summarised in our words, read 2026-10-12); BC Transmission Lines (BC Hydro, private and independent power producers' lines), Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); OpenStreetMap power lines as of 2026-10-13, © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL); Oil and Gas Pipeline Segment Permits, BC Energy Regulator (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Waste Discharge Authorizations – All Authorizations, Province of BC (file of 2026-07-22) (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Authorization Management System public search, Province of BC (linked for the authorization's documents, read 2026-10-11).

Power lines near a lot: rights of way, building, trees and health →

Getting power to a lot: who connects it and who pays →

Permitted discharges near a lot: what an authorization allows →

Crown land next door: what it means, and whether you can buy it →

For reference16

What the records say, with nothing in them to look into.

About this lot 6

§08Water wells nearby For reference

We have no open map of the Town of Lake Cowichan's water and sewer service: most lots in town are on it (our reading); ask the Town of Lake Cowichan before planning a well or field. 39 water-supply wells on record within 2 km; typical depth 38 m, typical tested yield 23 L/min. The lot is over mapped aquifer 945 (North-eastern shore of Cowichan Lake), fractured sedimentary rock, rated low productivity and low vulnerability.

The record

Community water: No open map of the Town of Lake Cowichan's water service: ask the Town of Lake Cowichan whether the lot is on it
Wells within 2 km: 39
Median depth: 38 m
Median tested yield: 23 L/min (33 wells tested)
Median water level below ground: 11 m
Aquifer 945 under the lot: North-eastern shore of Cowichan Lake: fractured sedimentary rock; productivity low, vulnerability low, demand low; 21 wells linked, median depth 52.4 m
Observation well 428: 7.8 km from the lot's middle: water level stable or no clear trend over 2014 to 2023; stable or no clear trend over 2013 to 2023; water typically 44 m below ground in a well 87 m deep (the Province's trend, records to December 2023)
Groundwater tested 960 m away: At a sampled well, not linked to a mapped aquifer: within Health Canada's limits, in mg/L: arsenic 0.000046, fluoride 0.048, manganese 0.0024, uranium 0.000008, nitrate (as nitrogen) 0.32, lead 0.00052; 1 sample, 2014. Not this lot's water: test your own well.
Groundwater tested 1.7 km away: At a sampled well, not linked to a mapped aquifer: within Health Canada's limits, in mg/L: arsenic 0.00021, fluoride 0.022, manganese 0.1, uranium 0.000004, nitrate (as nitrogen) 0.012, lead 0.00068; manganese over the 0.02 mg/L taste and staining level in its one sample; 1 sample, 2014. Not this lot's water: test your own well.
Groundwater tested 2.2 km away: At a sampled well, not linked to a mapped aquifer: within Health Canada's limits, in mg/L: arsenic 0.00081, fluoride 0.057, manganese 0.00013, uranium 0.000046, nitrate (as nitrogen) 0.33, lead 0.000009; 1 sample, 2014. Not this lot's water: test your own well.
More wells tested: 15 more within 10 km in the Province's records, farther away or in another aquifer
Drinking-water protection zone: None over the lot on the Province's map (it holds only the zones a water system's protection plan has mapped, so many wells and intakes have none on it)
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.

Sources (10)

Groundwater wells (GWELLS), Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Aquifer 945: North-eastern shore of Cowichan Lake: ratings and wells (PlaceDossier aquifer page); Ground Water Aquifers, Water Protection and Sustainability Branch, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Long-term Trends in Groundwater Levels in B.C., Environmental Reporting BC (Provincial Groundwater Observation Well Network) (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Environmental Monitoring Data System (EnMoDS) results, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality: summary table, Health Canada (summarised in our words); Health authority drinking water contacts, Province of BC (linked for reading); Drinking Water Sources – Protection Zones, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Drinking Water Sources – Intakes/Wellheads, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Community Watersheds – Current, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).

What to ask about a well before you buy →

What BC's well water tests for, by place →

§09Septic For reference

We have no open map of the Town of Lake Cowichan's water and sewer service: most lots in town are on it (our reading); ask the Town of Lake Cowichan before planning a well or field. If the lot isn't on sewer: about 270 m² (34%) of the lot is at least 30 m from mapped water and recorded wells, 3 m in from the lot lines and under 25% slope, where the Province's manual allows most kinds of septic field.

The record

Community sewer: No open map of the Town of Lake Cowichan's sewer service: ask the Town of Lake Cowichan whether the lot is on it
Recorded water-supply wells within 30 m: None recorded within 30 m
Mapped water within 30 m: Cowichan River
Within the setbacks, under 15% slope (gravity fields, mounds and trenches): 260 m² (32%)
Within the setbacks, under 25% slope (mounds, at-grade beds and trenches): 270 m² (34%)
Within the setbacks, under 45% slope (trenches): 270 m² (34%)

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.

Sources (8)

Sewerage System Standard Practice Manual, version 3 (2014), Province of BC: Tables II-6, II-19 and III-16, summarised in our words, read 2026-10-04 (summarised in our words); Sewerage System Regulation, B.C. Reg. 326/2004, summarised in our words, read 2026-10-04 (summarised in our words); Groundwater wells (GWELLS), Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); High Resolution Digital Elevation Model (HRDEM), lidar DTM from the Vancouver Island Sunshine Coast survey (2018), Natural Resources Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Freshwater Atlas and designated floodplain maps, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Terrain Stability Mapping (TSM) Detailed Polygons, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Paleobiology Database, fossil occurrences in British Columbia (4,166 collections), read 2026-10-13 (CC BY 4.0); Paleobiology Database, collection 82663 (CC BY 4.0).

Septic rules in BC, and what a buyer should check →

§13The lake For reference

Cowichan Lake is about 630 m from the lot, in a straight line from its mapped shore. The province's water-quality record for it is on its lake page.

The record

Nearest sampled lake: Cowichan Lake, about 630 m
Readings on record: 2008 to 2026, 3 sampling sites
Depth: Deepest point about 152 m (surveyed 1960); mean depth about 50 m, from the Province's lake surveys (the latest with a depth)

Measured by us from the Freshwater Atlas outline of the lake to the parcel map's lot line; it says nothing about a way down to the water, which the title, the strata or the local government can answer. The lake's clarity and nutrient record, compared with other BC lakes, is on its page.

Algae bloom reports and invasive mussel checks aren't in this record: the province's Algae Watch map and mussel monitoring aren't published as open data. For swimming, check the regional health authority's beach advisories; for blooms and mussels, ask the province's regional environment office or the local lake association.

Sources (4)

Cowichan Lake: every reading (PlaceDossier lake page); BC Environmental Monitoring Data System (EnMoDS) results, Environmental Monitoring and Analysis Branch, Province of BC, records to 2026-09-19 (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Freshwater Atlas lakes, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Lake Inventory Surveys (Fisheries Inventory), Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).

What a lake's clarity and nutrient readings mean for a buyer →

§14Wildlife and habitat For reference

No species-at-risk record on the parcel; 1 species or ecosystem recorded within 500 m.

The record

At-risk species or ecosystems on the parcel: None recorded
Within 500 m: Wandering Salamander (Blue-listed)
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: None on the federal map
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.

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

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.

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.

Sources (7)

Species and Ecosystems at Risk, publicly available occurrences, BC Conservation Data Centre (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Wildlife Habitat Areas and Ungulate Winter Ranges (approved), Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Wildlife Habitat Areas - Proposed, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Ungulate Winter Range - Proposed, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Critical Habitat for federally-listed species at risk (posted), Environment and Climate Change Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Sensitive Ecosystems Inventory (SEI) Detailed Polygons, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Invasive Species Observations (InvasivesBC), Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).

What a species-at-risk record means for a landowner →

§18Noise sources nearby For reference

Cowichan Valley Highway (Highway 18), a major road, is about 1.2 km from the lot line. No railway and no airport or airstrip mapped within 2 km.

The record

Nearest railway (2 km): None mapped within 2 km
Nearest highway or major road (2 km): Cowichan Valley Highway (Highway 18), a major road, about 1.2 km from the lot line
Nearest airport or airstrip (2 km): None mapped within 2 km
Light at night (within 1 km, 2024): 6 nW/cm²/sr, like a small town, as around Gibsons, Sooke or Valemount (our reading); darker than about 77% of BC's homes.
Aircraft accidents recorded within 2 km (since 1995): 1, per the Transportation Safety Board, in September 1997: a plane, its position given only to the nearest minute; TSB occurrence A97P0249.

Distances only, not a measured noise level; noise depends on traffic, trains per day and terrain. Measured by us in a straight line from the lot line to the mapped centreline of the track or road, or to the edge of an airport's mapped grounds (to its point where only a point is mapped); a mapped line can sit some metres off the real one.

Railways are OpenStreetMap's track in use: main, branch and industrial lines, sidings and yards, and rapid transit; lines mapped as disused or abandoned, and track in tunnels, are left out. "Main line" is how OpenStreetMap's mappers class the line. Highways and major roads are the roads OpenStreetMap classes as motorway (a freeway), trunk (a highway) or primary (a major road). Airports and airstrips are every aerodrome OpenStreetMap maps, public or private, with its type where mapped; heliports aren't included. Airport noise exposure maps (the NEF contours some airports draw) aren't open data, so they aren't used.

Visit at rush hour and at night, ask the seller how often trains pass, and confirm with the local government whether a noise bylaw, a development permit area or an airport zoning regulation covers the lot. For a railway, the railway company or Transport Canada can say how many trains use the line; for an airport, ask the airport about flight paths.

Light at night is what the VIIRS satellite records looking down at about 1:30 a.m., averaged over the cloud-free nights of 2024, with fires, the northern lights and other passing light left out (the Earth Observation Group's yearly composite); its cells are about 460 m by 300 m in BC. We give the median of the cells within 1 km of the lot's middle, in nanowatts per square centimetre per steradian (rounded to whole numbers), set against the same figure at BC's homes (Statistics Canada's 2021 dwellings on ISED's points) and named after places that read alike (our reading). It is light going up, not how dark the sky looks from the ground: a nearby town's glow on the horizon (Winter sun lists any towns whose lights are in direct line), the moon, a neighbour's yard light and the trees aren't in it, and it says nothing of light at other hours. For stargazing, look at the sky from the lot on a clear, moonless night. This product was made utilizing VIIRS Nighttime Lights data produced by the Earth Observation Group, Payne Institute for Public Policy, Colorado School of Mines.

Aircraft accidents are the Transportation Safety Board of Canada's record of occurrences it classes as accidents in BC since 1995, incidents left out. The TSB gives most positions to the nearest minute of latitude and longitude, up to about 1 km off, or at the aerodrome's own point, so an accident is counted when its given position is within 2 km of the lot line, and never placed on the lot. A count of past accidents, not a measure of risk or noise.

Sources (4)

OpenStreetMap road data as of 2026-10-13, © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL); OpenStreetMap railways and aerodromes as of 2026-10-13, © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL); VIIRS Nighttime Lights, 2024 annual composite, Earth Observation Group, Payne Institute for Public Policy, Colorado School of Mines (Elvidge et al. 2021, Remote Sensing 13(5):922), via Hengl, OpenGeoHub, Zenodo doi 10.5281/zenodo.7750174 (CC BY 4.0); Transportation Safety Board of Canada, Air occurrence data from January 1995 to present, as updated 2026-09-15 (Open Government Licence – Canada).

Railways, highways and airports near a lot: what the distances mean →

Dark skies: what the light-at-night figure means, and what it leaves out →

§21Winter sun For reference

On December 21 the hills leave about 6 h 40 min of possible direct sun at the lot's middle, against 8 h on open ground at this latitude. (Our estimate from the terrain; trees and buildings not counted.) The ground also allows a view of Cowichan River to the north-northeast (our reading). Mount Sutton is in sight, 22 km to the west (our reading).

The skyline from the middle of the lot, read by us from NRCan's elevation model every 5°, and the sun's path on December 21, March 21 and June 21: solid where the sun clears the hills, dotted where they hide it. Angles are drawn true to scale. The blue band marks water the ground lets you see from there (east through south to west).

The record

December 21 (shortest day): 6 h 40 min of possible direct sun; 8 h on open ground
March 21 (about the same on September 21): 11 h 20 min; 12 h on open ground
June 21 (longest day): 14 h 10 min; 16 h on open ground
Noon sun on December 21: 18° above level; the hills due south rise to 7°, 4 km away
Highest hills in the winter sun's path: 10° above level to the south, 4.3 km away
Measured at: The middle of the lot, ground at about 165 m, from head height
Solar panel output (south-facing, tilted at the latitude): About 990 kWh a year for each kW of panels (December about 36), on Natural Resources Canada's 1998-2022 sunshine map; the sun on the panel's face is 3.63 kWh/m² a day over the year, 1.54 in December
Water the ground lets you see (16 km): Cowichan River to the north-northeast, from about 50 m away, across about 150° of the horizon
Highest skyline: 13° above level to the northeast, 3.4 km away
Named peaks in view (150 km): Mount Sutton to the west, 22 km away (about 1,140 m); Bald Mountain to the west-northwest, 8.5 km away (about 608 m)
Highest ground in view: About 1,140 m: Mount Sutton, to the west, 22 km away
Farthest ground in view: About 22 km to the west: Mount Sutton
Most relief in one direction: To the south-southeast: from about 165 m, 0.1 km away, up to about 981 m, 4.7 km away
Town centres in line of sight: None within 150 km, over the bare ground
City lights in direct line (150 km): None over the bare ground: the lit towns within 150 km are behind the hills or the curve of the earth (our reading)

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 16% of the direct sun on December 21 and about 11% 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.

Peaks, towns and the farthest ground are read by us out to 150 km on the same elevation model, coarser past 16 km (cells of 240 m to 60 km, 480 m beyond), with the curve of the earth and the usual bending of light: summits read lower than they are at that scale, so a peak only counts when it clears the ground before it, and one at the very edge of the skyline may be left out. It's what the bare ground allows on a perfectly clear day: haze, smoke, cloud, trees and buildings aren't counted. Peak names are BC Geographical Names'; peaks outside BC aren't named.

City lights in direct line are our reading: the satellite's lit cells (15 nW/cm²/sr and up, the brightness of a town centre or more) within 150 km, each named after the nearest town centre within 8 km, and a town counted when one of its brightest cells, taken 10 m above the ground, clears the bare ground before it on the same elevation model as the long view. It says where lights are in a straight line, not how bright they look: the glow a town throws over a ridge isn't modelled, so a town behind the hills can still light the sky above them, and haze, trees and buildings aren't counted.

Sources (7)

Medium Resolution Digital Elevation Model (MRDEM-30), Natural Resources Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Solar position: General Solar Position Calculations (NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory; Spencer, 1971) (Public domain); Daily average solar irradiance on tilted surfaces for all of Canada (1998-2022), Natural Resources Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Photovoltaic Potential and Solar Resource Maps of Canada (performance ratio), Natural Resources Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Freshwater Atlas lakes and rivers, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); BC Geographical Names (mountains, peaks and summits), Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); VIIRS Nighttime Lights, 2024 annual composite, Earth Observation Group, Payne Institute for Public Policy, Colorado School of Mines (Elvidge et al. 2021, Remote Sensing 13(5):922), via Hengl, OpenGeoHub, Zenodo doi 10.5281/zenodo.7750174 (CC BY 4.0).

Winter sun: how the hills around a lot are read, and what the hours leave out →

Solar panels: what the yearly figure means, and what tilt and the hills change →

Background for this place 10

§15Earthquake shaking For reference

The building code's design shaking here is 0.69 g peak ground acceleration on firm ground, about 1.5 times Vancouver's. An M4.9 earthquake was recorded about 45 km away in June 2001.

Ground	Peak acceleration	Sa(0.2), low buildings
Firm ground (C)	0.69 g	1.62 g
Stiff soil (D)	0.71 g	1.63 g
Soft soil (E)	0.71 g	1.57 g

The 2020 building code's design shaking at the lot's centre, 2% in 50 years, by site class. Which class the lot's ground is comes from the building official or a geotechnical engineer.

The record

Peak ground acceleration, 2% in 50 years (the code's design level): 0.69 g
Peak ground acceleration, 10% in 50 years: 0.35 g
Short-period shaking Sa(0.2), the value the code uses for houses and other low buildings: 1.62 g
Peak ground acceleration, 2% in 50 years, on softer ground: 0.71 g on stiff soil (site class D), 0.71 g on soft soil, about the same as on firm ground
The same value in city centres: Victoria 0.81 g, Vancouver 0.47 g, Kelowna 0.089 g, Prince George 0.064 g
Earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more recorded since 1985: 11 within 50 km and 119 within 100 km
Largest within 100 km: M4.9 in June 2001, about 45 km away (NRCan: West coast Vancouver Island, BC)
Nearest of magnitude 3 or more: M3.1 in September 2025, about 30 km away (NRCan: 16 km SSW of Duncan, BC, felt)
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), with the values the code gives stiff soil (D) and soft soil (E) beside them. Which class the lot's ground is isn't on any open map: the site class and the values a building is designed for come from the building official or a geotechnical engineer. Very soft ground, peat or fill that can liquefy (site class F) needs a site-specific assessment.

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.

Past earthquakes are those Natural Resources Canada's National Earthquake Database records within 100 km of the lot's middle since 1985, the start of its digital record, at magnitude 2.5 and up; blasts, mining events (tremors set off in a mine) and slides are left out. The seismograph network has grown much denser since then, so smaller quakes found today would have gone unrecorded in the 1980s, and positions are good to a few kilometres. A count of past quakes isn't a measure of the hazard: the building code's values above are.

Sources (3)

2020 National Building Code of Canada seismic hazard values (CanadaSHM6), Natural Resources Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); National Earthquake Database, Earthquakes Canada, Natural Resources Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Freshwater Atlas coastline, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).

What the building code's shaking values mean →

§16Landslide records For reference

No landslides on record within 5 km. That doesn't rule one out: this is a list of known slides, not a hazard map.

The record

On record within 5 km: 0

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.

Source: Preliminary Canadian Landslide Database, version 14.0 (May 2026), Brideau et al. (CC BY 4.0).

What a landslide record means, and what it doesn't →

§17Federal contaminated sites For reference

3 federal contaminated sites listed within 2 km, all closed; the nearest, Cowichan Waterlot 82 - SURPLUSED, is 490 m from the lot.

The record

Open sites (active or suspected) within 500 m: 0
Open sites within 2 km: 0
Closed sites within 2 km: 3
Cowichan Waterlot 82 - SURPLUSED: 490 m from the lot. Closed: no further action needed. Initial testing completed. No further action required. Federal custodian: Fisheries and Oceans Canada; site 00021171.
Cowichan Waterlot 102 - SURPLUSED: 760 m from the lot. Closed: no further action needed. Initial testing completed. No further action required. Federal custodian: Fisheries and Oceans Canada; site 00021150.
Cowichan Lake Fishway - Unassessed: 1.4 km from the lot. Closed: no further action needed. Historical review not required. Federal custodian: Fisheries and Oceans Canada; site 00021197.
Unexploded ordnance (UXO) sites DND lists for this place: One site we place in Lake Cowichan by name (our reading): Cowichan Lake (in assessment). DND publishes no locations, so whether one reaches the lot is unclear: ask DND (uxocanada@forces.gc.ca).

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.

Closed means the custodian found no further action needed after testing, cleanup or risk management; it doesn't always mean nothing is left in the ground. The priority class is the federal ranking of its own sites for funding and action, not a measure of risk to neighbours.

DND's list gives each site's name, province and status only: no map, outline or coordinates. So a report can't say whether a site reaches a lot; we place each site in a place by the name DND gives it (our reading), and a site named for a town may lie outside its limits. If you see something that could be UXO, don't touch it: remember where it is, leave the area and call 911 or the local police. DND asks anyone planning to build, demolish, work the ground or extract resources in a former military area to contact it first; some work needs UXO-qualified people on site or on call. (Our summary of DND's UXO pages, read 2026-10-13.)

Confirm with the local government and a qualified environmental professional.

Sources: Federal Contaminated Sites Inventory, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (reported for 2025-2026) (Open Government Licence – Canada); Unexploded Explosive Ordnance (UXO) Sites in Canada, Department of National Defence (updated 2026-06-26) (Open Government Licence – Canada).

What a contaminated site record means, and what it leaves out →

Old military sites where unexploded ordnance may lie, by place →

Old heating oil tanks: finding one, removing it, and who pays for a leak →

§19Services nearby For reference

Cowichan District Hospital is the nearest hospital, 25 km away in a straight line; the nearest fire station is Lake Cowichan Fire Hall And Ambulance Station, 400 m; the nearest grocery store 300 m, public elementary school 500 m and transit stop 180 m.

The record

Nearest hospital: Cowichan District Hospital, Duncan: 25 km
Next nearest hospital: Lady Minto/Gulf Islands Hospital, Salt Spring Island: 40 km across the water on Salt Spring Island
Nearest emergency department: Cowichan District Hospital, Duncan: 25 km. Hours on HealthLink BC's list: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Nearest walk-in clinic: None within 30 km on HealthLink BC's list, which leaves many clinics out: ask the health authority or a local pharmacy
Nearest pharmacy: Island Pharmacy, Lake Cowichan: 100 m. Hours on HealthLink BC's list: Mon to Fri 09:00 to 17:00
Nearest late-night or 24-hour pharmacy: Shoppers Drug Mart, Nanaimo: 37 km. Hours on HealthLink BC's list: Mon to Fri 08:00 to 22:00, Sat and Sun 09:00 to 21:00
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: Lake Cowichan Elementary: 500 m
Nearest public secondary school: Ladysmith Secondary: 25 km
Nearest public school with early French immersion: Ecole Mount Prevost Elementary, North Cowichan: 24 km
Nearest francophone school (Conseil scolaire francophone): Des Cascades, Duncan: 27 km
Independent schools within 10 km on Vancouver Island: 0
Nearest licensed group child care: Creative Angels Daycare: 400 m
Licensed group child care within 1 km: 4: by the ages their operators list, 2 under 36 months, 3 for 30 months to 5 years and 1 school age (1 lists none); all take part in the fee reduction (CCFRI)
Licensed group child care within 2 km: 4: by the ages their operators list, 2 under 36 months, 3 for 30 months to 5 years and 1 school age (1 lists none); all take part in the fee reduction (CCFRI)
Licensed family child care within about 2 km: 2, in the providers' homes
Nearest grocery store: Country Grocer: 300 m
Grocery stores within 10 km on Vancouver Island: 1
Nearest fire station: Lake Cowichan Fire Hall And Ambulance Station: 400 m, on the Province's list
Nearest fire hydrant: Not said: we have no open hydrant map of the Town of Lake Cowichan; ask its fire department where the nearest hydrant is
Nearest ambulance station: Ambulance station 119, Lake Cowichan: 400 m
Nearest police detachment or station: Lake Cowichan RCMP: 200 m
Nearest transfer station or landfill: Regional Landfill: 35 km
Nearest post office: Lake Cowichan: 300 m
Postal area: V0R: Canada Post marks it a rural postal area (a 0 as the second character): mail mostly goes to a post office box or a rural route box, not to the door, and couriers often add a charge for rural postal codes (our reading).
Nearest gas station: Tipton's Gas Bar: 300 m
Nearest Service BC office: Service BC - Duncan: 26 km
Nearest airport with screened airline flights: Nanaimo airport (YCD): 29 km
Nearest airport with flights to the US or abroad: Victoria airport (YYJ): 50 km
Vancouver International Airport (YVR), BC's main airport for flights abroad: 75 km
Nearest transit stop: South Shore & King George: 180 m, route 7; 15 departures on a weekday, 5 on Saturday, 3 on Sunday (BC Transit's schedule, week of October 19, 2026)
Transit stops within 500 m: 5
Nearest park or protected area: Cowichan River Park, a provincial park: 650 m from the lot line
Nearest recreation site or trail: Spring Beach, on Recreation Sites and Trails BC's list: 5 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; emergency departments and walk-in clinics from HealthLink BC's lists, with the hours they give. Not every hospital has a 24-hour emergency department, and a small town's emergency department can close for a shift when it's short of staff: the health authority posts these as service changes, so check before you rely on one. In an emergency, call 9-1-1.

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 13, 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, ambulance stations and police 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.

A detachment is where police are based; it isn't always the force that covers the lot, and a community policing office is often volunteer-run with no officers on hand. Ask the local government which police serve the lot. In an emergency, call 9-1-1.

Pharmacies are from HealthLink BC's list, with the hours it gives: a few pharmacies are in clinics or programs for their own patients, and hours change, so call ahead.

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).

The lot is on Vancouver Island, by our reading of the Province's island outlines. Where the lot's own island has a service, its nearest one is named first; one marked "across the water" is a ferry or boat ride away, however short the straight line.

The postal area is Statistics Canada's outline of where a postal code's first three characters are used, drawn from postal code points, so near its edge the lot may fall in the next one. It doesn't say how this lot's mail is delivered: ask Canada Post, and give a courier or online store the full postal code to see what they charge.

Airports with screened airline flights are the ones the CATSA Aerodrome Designation Regulations list, where the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority screens passengers, kept where OurAirports also lists scheduled flights (Dawson Creek is designated but has none listed). Smaller airports and floatplane bases with scheduled flights aren't screened and aren't on this list, so a nearer one may have flights: check with the airlines. Distances are straight lines; the drive, or a ferry, is longer.

Flights to the US or abroad: airports where Statistics Canada counted at least 5,000 transborder and other international passengers in 2025. Some are seasonal or charter flights; check with the airlines.

Confirm services with the local government.

Sources (17)

How school catchments work in BC →

Transit: what the schedules count, and what they leave out →

Child care: what the Province's list counts, and the fee programs →

Parks next door: what a park beside a lot means →

§20Internet For reference

Within about 1 km of the lot, ISED's broadband data records 50/10 Mbps or faster over a wired line and over fixed wireless. LTE mobile coverage is recorded there too.

<5/15/110/225/550/10+ WiredFixed wireless

Best band recorded within about 1 km, Mbps down/up. 50/10 is ISED's top band and the CRTC's target for every home. LTE mobile: recorded.

The record

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 100 m)
Data: ISED National Broadband Data, May 2026
Mobile carriers listed in the area around the lot (about 25 km²): Bell and Telus (one shared network), Rogers (ISED, reported, not a guarantee at the lot)
Nearest FM radio transmitter: CJSU-FM, 89.7 MHz FM, 3 kW, at Duncan, about 22 km to the east; hills about 5.5 km away rise to 8.1° in its direction, above the line to the antenna: likely blocked by the bare ground (our reading)
Nearest TV transmitter: None in operation within 50 km on ISED's list
Bell satellite TV dish sightline: 82° W sits 21° up to the south-east, clear of the hills by 19°; 91.1° W sits 26° up to the south-east, clear of the hills by 22° (terrain only; our reading)
Shaw Direct satellite TV dish sightline: 107.3° W sits 32° up to the south-south-east, clear of the hills by 22°; 111.1° W sits 33° up to the south-south-east, clear of the hills by 24° (terrain only; our reading)
Starlink: sky hidden by the hills: The hills stay under 20° all round, so terrain shouldn't block it (trees and buildings not counted; our reading)

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.

Mobile carriers are those Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) lists for mobile service in its hexagon of about 25 km² holding the lot's middle; ISED counts LTE and 5G together and doesn't say how much of the hexagon a carrier covers, so a listed carrier may not reach the lot, the house or the valley floor. Cell tower positions aren't open data. Ask the carriers, or try a phone on site.

Broadcast transmitters are from ISED's Spectrum Management System extract: the nearest FM and TV transmitters in operation within 50 km of the lot's middle, with their effective radiated power. Whether the bare ground blocks the line is our reading on the elevation model the Winter sun section reads (out to 16 km round the lot; hills beyond it aren't counted); trees, buildings and an antenna's height on the house aren't, and reception also depends on power, distance and the receiver.

Satellite sightlines are our reading: each geostationary satellite's place in the sky from the lot's middle (Telesat's orbital slots, read 2026-10-13) set against the skyline the Winter sun section reads on NRCan's elevation model, in 72 directions out to 16 km. Trees and buildings, which most often decide whether a dish sees its satellite, aren't counted, and a dish can sit higher or elsewhere on the lot. Starlink asks for a clear view of the sky from about 20° above the horizon and picks its own direction: its app's obstruction check on site is the real test.

Sources (6)

National Broadband Data (May 2026), Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Pseudo-Household Demographic Distribution (2021), ISED (Open Government Licence – Canada); National Broadband Data, mobile providers by hexagon (2026-05-05), Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Spectrum Management System Authorization Data Extract: Broadcast Service (2026-10-05), ISED (Open Government Licence – Canada); Geostationary fleet and orbital slots, Telesat (facts from the page, read 2026-10-13); Medium Resolution Digital Elevation Model (MRDEM-30), Natural Resources Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada).

What the internet figures mean, and what to ask a provider →

§23Climate For reference

At Lake Cowichan, 500 m from the lot, January averages 3.5 °C and July 17.8 °C, with 72 cm of snow and 2,048 mm of rain and snow a year (1981-2010 normals, based on fewer years than the WMO standard). Summer days pass 30 °C on 12 days a year at the station*. The lot is at about the same elevation as the station. At the Duncan College Street station, 25 km away, fine particles passed the level of BC's air objective on a median of 4 days a year (2018 to 2025).

The record

Nearest climate station: Lake Cowichan, 500 m away
Station elevation: 171 m
Lot elevation (estimated, middle of the lot): 165 m
January mean temperature (1981-2010): 3.5 °C*
July mean temperature (1981-2010): 17.8 °C*
Yearly precipitation, rain and snow as water (1981-2010): 2,048 mm*
Yearly snowfall (1981-2010): 72 cm*
Days a year over 30 °C (1981-2010): 12 days, 1.5 days of them over 35 °C*
Wettest day in the station's record to 2010: 181.9 mm of rain and melted snow, December 21, 1967
Most snow in a day in the station's record to 2010: 52 cm, December 12, 1975
Deepest snow on the ground in the station's record to 2010: 42 cm, February 18, 1986
Heating degree days, below 18 °C (1981-2010): 3,050 a year*
Growing degree days, above 5 °C (1981-2010): 2,049 a year; 940 above 10 °C*
Period: 1981-2010
Plant hardiness zone (regional): 8a
By the 2050s, days a year over 30 °C (model projection, SSP2-4.5): About 2 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 40 days longer than in the same models' 1971-2000
By the 2050s, winter precipitation falling as snow (model projection, SSP2-4.5): About 22 percentage points less of winter's precipitation falling as snow than in the same models' 1971-2000
Days with fine particles over BC's air objective level: A median of 4 days a year at the Duncan College Street station, 25 km away (2018 to 2025); the most was 12 days in 2020, most in September
Lightning near the lot (1998-2025 average): A cloud-to-ground flash within 10 km on about 2 days a year; 0.04 flashes per km² a year

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 or 15 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.

The records are single days measured at the station: the most rain, snow and wind it saw in its record up to 2010 (ECCC's 1981-2010 sets give records over the station's whole history, so some dates are older than 1981). Each is one event, not what to expect in a year, and the lot can get more or less than the station.

ECCC's 1981-2010 normals for this station don't include the frost-free period, 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 2 days over 30 °C a year in 2041-2070 (range 1 to 6 across the models), against about under 1 in 1971-2000; a longest frost-free run of about 210 days (range 195 to 265), against about 170; and about 20% of winter's precipitation falling as snow (range 10% to 26%), against about 42%. The range runs from the 10th to the 90th percentile of the models' 2041-2070 figure; it isn't a range of the change.

At the Duncan College Street station, 25 km away, fine particles passed the level of BC's 24-hour objective (25 µg/m³) on a median of 4 days a year over the 8 years with a full record, 2018 to 2025; the most was 12 days in 2020, most of them in September. These days fell both in the wildfire season and in winter (our reading: wildfire smoke in summer, wood smoke held in by still air in winter).

The days are counted by us from the Province's verified hourly readings: a day counts when the station has 18 or more valid hours and their mean is over 25 µg/m³, the level of BC's Ambient Air Quality Objective for fine particles over 24 hours (the Province judges the objective itself on a year's 98th percentile of daily averages, not on single days), and a year counts when the station ran most of it, July to September included. They are the station's days, not this lot's: smoke drifts unevenly, and a lot up a valley or across a lake from the station can be clearer or smokier.

BC's air quality advisories and the Air Quality Health Index say what the air is like now; a HEPA filter and a home with a ventilation system that can recirculate help on smoky days.

Lightning is the Canadian Lightning Detection Network's cloud-to-ground flashes, averaged over 1998-2025, on Environment and Climate Change Canada's grid of 0.1 degrees (about 11 km north to south and 7 km east to west in BC): it is the area's lightning, not the lot's. A day counts when a flash fell in a grid cell whose middle is within 10 km of the middle of the lot's cell, by the Pacific standard time day (our reading); flashes per km² are for the lot's own cell. Set among BC's homes by Statistics Canada's 2021 dwellings on ISED's points. Lightning starts fires and can damage a well pump, panels or wiring on high open ground; ask an electrician about surge protection.

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.

Sources (7)

Canadian Climate Normals 1981-2010, Environment and Climate Change Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Medium Resolution Digital Elevation Model (MRDEM-30), Natural Resources Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Plant hardiness zones of Canada (2025 map), Natural Resources Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Statistically downscaled climate indices from CMIP6 global climate models (CanDCS-M6), Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium, via the Canadian Centre for Climate Services (Open Government Licence – Canada); Air Quality and Climate Monitoring: Verified Hourly Air Quality and Meteorological Data (fine particulate matter, PM2.5), BC Ministry of Environment and Parks (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Canadian Lightning Detection Network cloud-to-ground flashes (CanCPLDv1), Environment and Climate Change Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Lake Cowichan: climate, land and census facts (PlaceDossier area page).

What a plant hardiness zone means →

Climate projections for the 2050s: what the models say, and what they can't →

Wood stoves and wood heat: the Province's rules, local bylaws and winter air →

§24Radon For reference

Radon isn't mapped lot by lot. In the Central Vancouver Island health region, 1 of the 109 homes tested (0.9%) in Health Canada's 2009–2011 survey was at or above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline; across BC, 143 of 1,817 (7.9%).

The record

Health region (regional figure, not this lot): Central Vancouver Island
Homes tested here: 109
At or above 200 Bq/m³ (the guideline): 1 (0.9%)
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.

Sources (5)

Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011), Health Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Health Service Delivery Area Boundaries, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Radon guideline, Health Canada (summarised in our words, read 2026-10-02); Testing your home for radon, Health Canada (summarised in our words, read 2026-10-02); Radon in real estate, Health Canada (summarised in our words, read 2026-10-02).

Radon and buying a home in BC →

§25Property tax For reference

Lake Cowichan's 2026 residential rate is $6.47 per $1,000 of assessed value, above the middle of BC's 160 municipalities ($6.24): about $6,467 a year on a $1,000,000 home at 2026 rates, before the home owner grant. Confirm with the municipality.

Municipal $2.69
Regional district $1.73
Regional hospital district $0.39
School (set by the Province) $1.38
Other $0.27
Middle of BC's municipalities $6.24

Where each $1,000 of assessed value goes, 2026.

Price or assessed value$

On $500,000: about $3,234 a year; on $1,000,000: about $6,467, at 2026 rates, before the home owner grant.

The record

Local government: Lake Cowichan
Residential rate, 2026: 6.46704 per $1,000
Municipal: 2.68673 per $1,000
Regional district: 1.73183 per $1,000
Regional hospital district: 0.39448 per $1,000
School (set by the Province): 1.3812 per $1,000
Other: 0.2728 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.

Sources: Town of Lake Cowichan's 2026 tax rates bylaw, as compiled by the Province (Local Government Statistics Schedule 702, 2026) (the rates only: facts set in public bylaws, not open data); Home owner grant, Province of BC (summarised in our words, read 2026-10-04).

How property tax works in BC, and what else goes on the bill →

Property transfer tax: what you pay when you buy, and the exemptions →

§26Speculation and vacancy tax For reference

Lake Cowichan is in the Province's speculation and vacancy tax area. An owner of a home here declares each year by March 31 and owes the tax unless an exemption applies: the main ones are living in it as your principal residence, or renting it to a tenant for at least six months of the year. For 2026 it is 1% of the assessed value a year for Canadian citizens and permanent residents, 3% for foreign owners and untaxed worldwide earners (4% from 2027).

The record

Place: Lake Cowichan
In the taxable area: Yes
Rate, 2026: 1% of the assessed value for Canadian citizens and permanent residents, 3% for foreign owners and untaxed worldwide earners (4% from 2027)
Declare by: March 31 each year, for the year before

The tax applies to property BC Assessment classes as residential; exemptions also cover a newly bought home in its first year, a home being built or rebuilt, a home reached only by water and over 100 m from a road, and a property assessed at $150,000 or less, among others. Every owner on title declares separately, each year, even when exempt. Confirm a given property with the Province's speculation and vacancy tax office.

Reserve and treaty lands, and islands reached only by air or water (Vancouver Island aside), are outside the taxable areas.

Sources: Taxable areas for the speculation and vacancy tax, Province of BC (page updated December 8, 2025) (summarised in our words); Speculation and vacancy tax rates and exemptions, Province of BC (summarised in our words, read 2026-10-04).

Where the speculation and vacancy tax applies, and who pays →

§27Crime For reference

Inferred from the town's name: the Lake Cowichan RCMP detachment (rural) reported a crime severity index of 54 in 2025, below BC's 92; down 26% since 2015 (BC unchanged).

Lake Cowichan 54
BC 92

Crime severity index by year, 2011 to 2025, police-reported (Canada in 2006 = 100).

The record

Police service: The Lake Cowichan RCMP detachment (rural; inferred)
Crime severity index, 2025: 54 (BC 92)
Violent / non-violent index: 74 / 47 (BC 98 / 91)
Crime severity index, 2015: 73 (BC 93)
Break and enter, per 100,000 people, 2025: 96 (BC 281)
Theft of a vehicle, per 100,000 people, 2025: 68 (BC 138)
Theft from a vehicle, per 100,000 people, 2025: 68 (BC 441)
Violent crime, per 100,000 people, 2025: 1,719 (BC 1,531)
All Criminal Code offences (not traffic), per 100,000 people, 2025: 5,101 (BC 6,943)

Inferred: the RCMP detachment named for this town. BC's police boundaries aren't open data, and a detachment's figures cover the countryside it polices as well as the town.

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.

Sources: Statistics Canada, Table 35-10-0063-01, Crime severity index and weighted clearance rates, police services in British Columbia (Statistics Canada Open Licence); Statistics Canada, Table 35-10-0184-01, Incident-based crime statistics, by detailed violations, police services in British Columbia (Statistics Canada Open Licence).

What police-reported crime figures say about a place, and what isn't public →

Nothing found4

Checked, and nothing on the record here.

§01Road access Nothing found

A mapped public road runs along or through the parcel: Riverside Drive (local road, paved) and Lakeview Avenue (local road, paved).

The recordroads on the plan

Roads along the parcel: Riverside Drive (local road, paved); Lakeview Avenue (local road, paved)
Nearest public road: Along the parcel
Who maintains the road: Unclear whether the Province maintains the road along the lot: the nearest road on the Ministry of Transportation's road inventory, Rte 18 EB - South Shore Road (service area 1, Vancouver Island district), is mapped about 89 m from the lot line, and the two maps can sit apart. Ask the Ministry's district office or the Town of Lake Cowichan who clears the road to the lot in winter.
Snow clearing priority: The Town of Lake Cowichan clears its own streets in winter, but publishes no snow-clearing priority map we can use. Ask the Town of Lake Cowichan which priority the street along the lot has, and how soon after a snowfall it is usually cleared.

Worked out by us from OpenStreetMap road lines: a road whose centreline is within 25 m of the lot line is counted as running along it. The map isn't proof of legal access: a road can be private, unbuilt or not maintained in winter, and reaching a lot across someone else's land needs a registered easement. The title search and the local government (or the Ministry of Transportation outside towns) confirm both.

Sources: OpenStreetMap road data as of 2026-10-13, © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL); Ministry of Transportation Road Features Inventory and District Boundaries, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).

What a road on the map does and doesn't prove →

§06Evacuation orders and alerts Nothing found

No evacuation order or alert has covered this lot since the Province's record began in April 2017.

The record

Events with an order over the lot since April 2017: 0
Events with only an alert: 0

The Province's record of lifted orders and alerts starts in April 2017: evacuations before then aren't in it, and no record doesn't mean nothing happened. Each area is drawn by the local government or First Nation that issued it; we check whether it covers any part of the lot. Where the record's own dates disagree (an order dated before the event began), only the month and year are given. Confirm with the local government.

Sources: Historical Orders and Alerts, Emergency Management and Climate Readiness (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Evacuation Orders and Alerts, Emergency Management and Climate Readiness (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).

What an evacuation order or alert on the record means →

§10Farmland reserve (ALR) Nothing found

Not in the Agricultural Land Reserve, nor within 250 m of it.

The record

In the ALR: No
Nearest ALR land: None within 250 m

Source: Agricultural Land Reserve polygons, Agricultural Land Commission (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).

What the ALR means for a buyer →

§11Mineral and placer titles Nothing found

No mineral or placer titles on or within 1 km of the parcel.

The record

Over the parcel: None
Within 1 km: None
Mineral reserves over the lot: None on the Province's map: new titles can be registered here as anywhere else

Titles change often; this is the record when checked. Mineral Titles Online shows the current map.

Sources: Mineral, placer and coal tenures, Mineral Titles Branch (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Mineral Reserve Sites, Mineral Titles Branch, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).

What a claim over private land means →

Not covered here2

What these public records can't answer for this lot.

§02What you can build (zoning) Not covered here

We can't name this lot's zone: the Town of Lake Cowichan isn't among the local governments whose zoning maps we read, which are those published under an open licence.

The recordthe lot on the plan

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: If the lot is zoned for only detached houses (unclear here), Lake Cowichan must allow at least one secondary suite or detached accessory home (a garden suite or carriage house) next to a house. The 3-to-6-home floor comes with more than 5,000 people, and Lake Cowichan had 3,325 in the 2021 census, so it applies only if the lot is inside an urban containment boundary drawn in a regional growth strategy (unclear here).
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 Lake Cowichan 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 Lake Cowichan (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.

We cover local governments that publish their zoning map under an open licence, in the Thompson-Nicola, Columbia Shuswap, East Kootenay, North Okanagan, Central Okanagan, Nanaimo and Sunshine Coast regional districts and cities from Surrey to Fort St. John (list on the Data sources page). Ask the local government which zone applies here.

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.

Sources (7)

Heritage Conservation Areas of BC, Heritage Branch, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Local Government Act, ss. 481.3 and 481.4 (small-scale multi-family housing), BC Laws (summarised in our words, checked 2026-10-04); Local Government Zoning Bylaw Regulation, B.C. Reg. 262/2023, BC Laws (summarised in our words, checked 2026-10-04); Small-scale, multi-unit housing, Province of BC (page updated January 20, 2026), and its Provincial Policy Manual (summarised in our words); Local Government Transit-Oriented Areas Regulation, B.C. Reg. 263/2023 (consolidated to September 29, 2026), BC Laws (summarised in our words, checked 2026-10-06); Local Government Act, s. 481.01 (zoning in transit-oriented areas), BC Laws (summarised in our words, checked 2026-10-06); Principal residence requirement, Province of BC (page updated September 21, 2026) (summarised in our words).

Short-term rental rules in BC →

Work done without a permit: what it means for a buyer →

Official records on a property: what's public, and how to look them up →

What a seller must tell you, and what you have to find out yourself →

§22Soil for farming Not covered here

The province's farm soil capability maps don't cover this lot; they cover the valleys and plateaus surveyed for farming, not most forest, mountain or northern land.

The record

Capability class: Not mapped here

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

Source: Agriculture Capability mapping, Province of BC (1960s to 1990s maps, digitised 2015) (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).

What the soil capability classes mean, and what they leave out →

§28Questions to ask

Built from what these records found, plus the basics for any purchase. Tick them off as you go (this browser remembers them; nothing is sent to us), or print the page.

For what we found

For what this report flags under Look into: what it found, then the questions it raises and whom to ask. Start here.

The report On a provincially designated floodplain map (Cowichan Lake). Floodplain

Has the property or any building on it ever flooded or had water in the basement or crawlspace?Ask the seller or their agent
What are the flood construction level and the setback from the water for this lot, and is there newer flood mapping?Ask the local government
Can I get overland flood coverage here, and at what cost?Ask your insurer

The report Nearest fire station: Lake Cowichan Fire Hall And Ambulance Station, 400 m, on the Province's list (in a straight line). Services nearby

Is the property in a fire protection area, how far is the nearest fire hall, and what does that do to the premium?Ask your insurer

The report No recorded fire on the parcel; 3 recorded within 2 km, most recently in 2019. Wildfire history

What FireSmart work has been done around the buildings (clearing, roofing, gutters)?Ask the seller or their agent
Is the lot in a wildfire development permit area, and are there FireSmart requirements for building?Ask the local government

The report Mapped water within 30 m of the parcel: Cowichan River. Water and streamside setbacks

Has any work been done in or near the stream, lake or wetland, and was it approved?Ask the seller or their agent
Does the Riparian Areas Protection Regulation or a local setback apply to this lot, and would building, clearing or a dock need an environmental professional's assessment?Ask the local government

The report Within 1 km: 1 application for Crown land (commercial). What's planned nearby

What is planned nearby: rezonings, development applications, and the Crown land applications on the province's Applications, Comments and Reasons for Decision site?Ask the local government

Worth confirming

The report has a lead on these, quoted above the questions it bears on: ask to confirm it holds for this lot.

The report We have no open map of the Town of Lake Cowichan's water and sewer service, but most lots in town are on it (our reading). Water wells nearby

Is the property on a well or community water, and on a septic system or sewer? For a well, can I see a recent flow test and water quality test; for septic, its permit and last pump-out?Ask the seller or their agent

The report Within about 1 km of the lot, ISED's broadband data records 50/10 Mbps or faster over a wired line and over fixed wireless. Internet

If there's a home, what internet service does it have now (provider, speed and monthly cost), and is it reliable enough for video calls?Ask the seller or their agent

No answer yet

The public records don't answer these: ask.

The seller or their agent

Were all buildings, suites and additions built with permits, and is any use on the property non-conforming?why
If there's a home, has it had a long-term radon test (3 months or more), what did it show, and is there a radon reduction system?why

The local government

Which zone applies to this lot, and are there site-specific rules, development permit areas or official community plan policies that affect what I want to build?why

Your lawyer or notary

What does the title search show: easements, covenants, rights of way, liens and the surveyed area?

Your home inspector or a specialist

Can the well and septic system be inspected and tested before subjects are removed?why

The school district

Which schools is the lot in the catchment of, is there room in them for my children's grades, and is there school bus service on this road?why

Find the people

Official public registers: find someone near you, or check that the one you've found is licensed. No one pays to be listed.

Lawyer · title search, conveyancing, easements and covenants
Law Society of BC lawyer directory
Notary · conveyancing and title search
Society of Notaries Public of BC roll of notaries
Land surveyor · lot lines, building locations, a survey certificate
Association of BC Land Surveyors member directory
Well driller or pump installer · a new well, a flow test, pump work
BC register of well drillers and well pump installers
Septic practitioner · septic inspection, design and installation
ASTTBC registrant directory (pick ROWP under Sub Class)
Agrologist · soil, farm capability and ALR applications
BC Institute of Agrologists directory of registrants

Buying from outside Canada or through a company, or working out the property transfer tax: AcreScout sets out who can buy land in BC and what the transfer tax comes to. Confirm with your lawyer or notary.

§29The parcel record

Parcel type: Subdivision
Owner type: Private
Plan: VIP1231
Mapped area: 796 m² (0.2 acres)

Mapped area is from ParcelMap BC and can differ from the surveyed area on title. Owner names, assessed values and title charges aren't public data; a title search at the Land Title and Survey Authority shows easements, covenants and liens.

Source: ParcelMap BC parcel fabric (Open Government Licence – British Columbia), updated 2026-08-07.

§30Names on the map

13 official place names within 5 km of the lot; the nearest community is Lake Cowichan.

The names (13)

Oliver Creek, 250 m northwest · official since 1952
Lake Cowichan, town, 300 m west · official since 1997
Beaver Creek, 750 m southwest · official since 1978
Stanley Creek, 900 m east · official since 1952
Kwassin Lake, 1.2 km east · official since 1978
Ts'uubaa-asatx, municipality, 1.3 km west · official since 2023
Cowichan Lake, reserve, 1.5 km west · official since 1998
Grant Lake, 1.6 km southeast · official since 1978
Beaver Lake, 2.4 km southwest · official since 1952
Golding Brook, 3.2 km east · official since 1983
Josiah Creek, 3.2 km east · official since 1983
Fairservice Creek, 4 km southeast · official since 1952

And 1 more within 5 km.

Old newspapers mentioning Lake Cowichan: UBC's BC Historical Newspapers.

Official names from the Canadian Geographical Names Database, measured by us from each name's point to the lot's middle; a creek's or a range's point is one spot on it. Many BC names have origin notes (who or what a name recalls, when it was adopted) on BC Geographical Names: each linked name opens its page there. Old newspapers on UBC's BC Historical Newspapers can be searched for the nearest community; its terms allow research or private study.

Source: Canadian Geographical Names Database (Natural Resources Canada), via the GeoNames API (OGL-Canada).

Land for sale nearby

The 5 nearest listings on AcreScout within 25 km, nearest first.

Listing	Asking price	Size	Per acre	From the lot
Lot B Cowichan Lake RdLake Cowichan, listed 113 days ago	$674,900	9 acres	$74,989 an acre	700 m
144 Edgewood DrLake Cowichan, listed 65 days ago	$286,000	0.18 acres	–	1.2 km
350 Carnell DrLake Cowichan, listed 42 days ago	$149,900	0.11 acres	–	1.2 km
7248 Indian RdLake Cowichan, listed 221 days ago	$890,000	2.67 acres	$333,333 an acre	1.2 km
474 Point Ideal DrLake Cowichan, listed 163 days ago	$259,900	0.29 acres	–	1.6 km

Distances are straight lines from the lot's middle to the listing's pin. Where AcreScout places a listing only roughly, no distance is given, only the place it's near. Per acre is left out under about an acre. Asking prices are what sellers ask, not what land sells for.

Listings: AcreScout (our sister site), active listings as of 2026-10-19. Asking prices set by the sellers; not a valuation.

Checked 2026-10-18 (the Province's parcel map is only partly loaded today, so it wasn't checked again). General information from public records, not an inspection, survey, appraisal or legal advice. Confirm with the local government and a professional before you buy or build.