Zone

RR-8 (Rural Residential (Country))

Zoning bylaw

Elk Valley Zoning Bylaw No. 829, 1990

Homes allowed

One house or one duplex, plus a secondary suite, and a farm-hand dwelling; a dwelling for a relative needing care is possible

Main uses

House or duplex; farming, produce stand, veterinary clinic, kennel, guest ranch, riding stable and equestrian centre, shooting range, fish pond, rural retreat, hostel, gravel extraction and processing, forestry and Christmas trees, portable sawmill, private airstrip and helipad, wildland use, government services, landfill; bulk water storage and distribution from a source on the lot; cabins and backcountry lodges with wildland use; home occupation

Smallest lot for a subdivision

8 ha

Lot coverage

10%

Height limit

House 10 m, accessory buildings 12 m

Setbacks

House and farm-hand dwelling 7.5 m from every lot line. Accessory buildings: front 7.5 m, rear and sides 1.5 m (4.5 m beside a road)

Heritage conservation area

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

Fewest homes provincial law requires

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

Transit-oriented area (provincial minimum)

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

Short-term rentals (provincial rule)

The Province's principal residence requirement doesn't apply in Electoral Area A of the Regional District of East Kootenay (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.

The Approving Officer can allow a smaller lot (over 1 ha) for a retiring farmer who will live on it.

Kennel buildings and runs stay 60 m from every lot line.

Shooting ranges stay 50 m from lot lines along a road and 100 m from neighbours' houses; concrete and asphalt plants at gravel pits 100 m from lot lines; landfills and sewage treatment 1,000 m from homes in residential zones.

Portable sawmills: lots of 8 ha or more, 50 m from lot lines, at most 50 m³ a day, with a 15 m fireguard. Guest ranches keep their cabins and buildings on one 2 ha part of the lot. Water storage and bulk distribution on at most 0.8 ha, with buildings up to 185 m².

A secondary dwelling for farm hands is an accessory use here.

Secondary suite (s. 4.16): one per lot, at most 49% of the house's living space, or above the first storey of a detached garage (70 m² on lots under 0.4 ha, 90 m² on 0.4 ha or more; the garage up to 7.5 m tall, 7.5 m from the front, 3 m from the rear and 1.5 m from the sides, 4.5 m beside a road). On approved sewage disposal, never strata-titled, and not in a manufactured home; no garage suite on a lot with a duplex or another extra dwelling.

A dwelling for a relative who needs care (s. 4.13): one mobile home up to 9 m wide on a temporary foundation, with a housing agreement to remove it later, a doctor's letter if asked, and a $3,000 deposit.

Home occupation (s. 4.05): run by the family living on the lot with at most one outside helper, inside the house or an accessory building, and at most 185 m² in all. On lots of 2 ha or more it can also use up to 185 m² outdoors, away from the front yard. The bylaw defines a bed and breakfast (up to four guest rooms) as a kind of home occupation (s. 3.04).

The bylaw doesn't list vacation or short-term rental as a use; a bed and breakfast is allowed as a home occupation. Where zoning doesn't allow commercial accommodation, the RDEK's route to a short-term rental is a Temporary Use Permit, which it issues in Electoral Areas A, B, C, E, F and G: one per dwelling unit (never a cabin, RV, park model trailer, tent or yurt), at most 10 guests on a lot, with extra parking for guests, valid for up to three years and renewable once (the RDEK's short-term rental page, checked October 3, 2026). Ask the RDEK before renting a home short term.

While a new house is being built under a building permit, one extra dwelling or an RV may be lived in on the lot; it goes once the house is occupied (s. 4.04A). Otherwise an RV or park model trailer can't be used as a home (s. 4.04).

A duplex built before the bylaw (1990) may be split into two strata lots.

No vehicle wrecking or repair, and at most one derelict vehicle, kept out of the front yard.

Every zone also allows public utilities, parks, roads and conservation areas (s. 4.03).

Inside the ALR, farm uses the Agricultural Land Commission allows are permitted, and the Commission's rules also apply to suites and second dwellings (ss. 4.13, 4.14 and 4.16).

Our summary of Section 7.11 of Elk Valley Zoning Bylaw No. 829, 1990, consolidated to 2026-04-10. Site-specific exceptions listed in the bylaw by legal description can add or change uses for one property.

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

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

Clear of steep slope and water setbacks

45 ha (85%)

In or within 30 m of mapped water

0%

Steeper than 30%, outside that strip

15%

15 to 30% slope

54%

On designated floodplain (counted as clear)

0%

Median slope

19%

Main slope direction

Mostly faces south-east (99% of the lot faces within 45° of it); measured by us on NRCan's 30 m elevation model

Which way it faces

30% south (SE to SW), 0% north (NW to NE), 0% flat; the rest east or west

Terrain stability (Cranbrook)

Over the lot, the Province's reconnaissance terrain stability mapping gives no stability class, so it says nothing either way

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

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

December 21 (shortest day)

5 h 50 min of possible direct sun; 8 h on open ground

March 21 (about the same on September 21)

10 h; 12 h on open ground

June 21 (longest day)

13 h 50 min; 16 h 10 min on open ground

Noon sun on December 21

17° above level; the hills due south rise to 7°, 7.5 km away

Highest hills in the winter sun's path

12° above level to the south-east, 4.4 km away

Measured at

The middle of the lot, ground at about 1,128 m, from head height

Water the ground lets you see (16 km)

Elk River to the southeast, from about 1.2 km away, across about 145° of the horizon

Highest skyline

21° above level to the northwest, 2.6 km away

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

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

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

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

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

Capability class (1 best, 7 none)

Class 5: about 60% of the lot; Class 4: about 40% of the lot

What limits it

slope, stones

Map scale

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

Mapped

1960s to 1990s (digitised 2015)

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

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

Dams nearby

None within 1 km on the Province's list of dams

Dike: Hosmer (Boyd Hill)

About 20 m from the lot line, along Elk River; an orphan dike: no local authority is responsible for it; crest surveyed 2003

These maps were drawn mostly in the 1980s and 1990s and cover only some rivers and lakes. Not being on one doesn't mean the land can't flood: ask the local government whether it has newer flood mapping, and whether its bylaws set a flood construction level or floodplain setback here.

A dike lowers the chance of flooding on the land behind it, up to the flood it was built for; it doesn't make that land safe from every flood. Dikes can be overtopped or breached, as on the Sumas Prairie in November 2021, and land behind one is often still on the floodplain map, with the local government's flood construction level still applying. Ask the diking authority which flood the dike is built for and its last inspection, and the local government whether the lot is in the area the dike protects.

An orphan dike has no local authority responsible for maintaining it, so nobody may be keeping it to a standard: ask the regional district and the Province's Inspector of Dikes what is known about it.

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

0.14 g

Peak ground acceleration, 10% in 50 years

0.048 g

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

0.34 g

The same value in city centres

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

Tsunami

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

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

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

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

On record on the lot or within 100 m

0

On record within 1 km

0

On record within 5 km

4

Nearest

2.6 km from the lot: a rock slide, date not recorded

Kinds within 5 km

rock slide 4

With a date

none of the 4

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

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

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

Health region (regional figure, not this lot)

East Kootenay

Homes tested here

105

At or above 200 Bq/m³ (the guideline)

20 (19%)

At or above 600 Bq/m³

3

Across BC

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

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

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

Federal sites within 2 km

0

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

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

Confirm with the local government and a qualified environmental professional.

At-risk species or ecosystems on the parcel

None recorded

Within 500 m

None recorded

Wide-ranging species mapped over it

American Badger (Red-listed)

Secured records in the wider area

No

Wildlife Habitat Area over the parcel

No

Ungulate winter range over the parcel

moose

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.

Wildlife Habitat Areas and ungulate winter ranges are set under the Forest and Range Practices Act and mainly limit logging and range use on Crown land; on private land they don't stop building by themselves, but they show what uses the land.

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

Nearest railway (2 km)

A main railway line (Cranbrook Subdivision, Canadian Pacific Kansas City), about 950 m from the lot line

Nearest highway or major road (2 km)

Crowsnest Highway (Highway CN 3), a highway, about 190 m from the lot line

Nearest airport or airstrip (2 km)

None mapped within 2 km

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.

Wells within 2 km

38

Median depth

17 m

Median tested yield

76 L/min (34 wells tested)

Median water level below ground

4 m

Aquifer 1090 under the lot

South of Hosmer: confined sand and gravel (glacial); productivity moderate, vulnerability low, demand low; 11 wells linked, median depth 17.8 m

Aquifer 1094 under the lot

West side of Elk River Valley: fractured sedimentary rock; productivity low, vulnerability low, demand low; 12 wells linked, median depth 81.5 m

Groundwater level trend

No provincial observation well still measured in the aquifer under the lot or within 10 km

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

Water licences on springs and drinking-water diversions (300 m)

Mott Creek: a drinking-water diversion under an incidental domestic licence, on the lot; Mott Creek: a drinking-water diversion under an incidental domestic licence, on the lot; Mott Creek: a drinking-water diversion under an incidental domestic licence, on the lot; Mott Creek: a drinking-water diversion under an incidental domestic licence, on the lot; Mott Creek: a drinking-water diversion under an incidental domestic licence, on the lot; and 1 more

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.

These are the Province's open maps of licensed springs and of points where drinking water is diverted from a stream for two or more homes or a water system. Other water licences (a creek diverted for one house, irrigation, storage) are only in the Province's water rights databases, which aren't open data, so no licence listed here doesn't mean none is held on or near the lot (our reading). All water in BC belongs to the Crown. Taking water from a creek, spring or lake needs a water licence, except household use of water no licence or reservation already holds (Water Sustainability Act, s. 6 (3)); a well for the house needs none (s. 6 (4)). A licence lets its holder divert and use the quantity it names and build the works for it (s. 7), and when water runs short, licences on the same stream or a connected aquifer take precedence by their priority date, earliest first (s. 22). A licence tied to land passes with it when the land is sold, and the seller must tell the Province in writing before the sale completes (s. 25). The holder pays a yearly rental, must make beneficial use of the water (s. 30), and can lose a licence not used for 3 years in a row (s. 94). Ask the seller whether a water licence comes with the land, its number and what it allows, and look it up by number or by the creek's or spring's name in the Province's Water Licence Search; FrontCounter BC (1-877-855-3222) answers questions about licences. Our summary of the Water Sustainability Act, checked 2026-10-11.

Recorded water-supply wells within 30 m

None recorded within 30 m

Mapped water within 30 m

None mapped

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

16.1 ha (31%)

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

38.8 ha (74%)

Within the setbacks, under 45% slope (trenches)

50.4 ha (96%)

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

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

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

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

Nearest hospital

Elk Valley Hospital, Fernie: 9.4 km

Next nearest hospital

East Kootenay Regional Hospital, Cranbrook: 56 km

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

Fernie Secondary: 9.2 km

Nearest public secondary school

Fernie Secondary: 9.2 km

Independent schools within 10 km

0

Nearest grocery store

Ann's Your Independent Grocer: 9.1 km

Grocery stores within 10 km

1

Nearest fire station

Hosmer Firehall: 1.7 km, on the Province's list

Nearest ambulance station

Ambulance station 406, Fernie: 9.6 km

Nearest transit stop

None within 1 km; the nearest is 9th Ave at 18th St: 9.1 km, route 41; 3 departures on a weekday, none on Saturday, none on Sunday (BC Transit's schedule, week of October 19, 2026)

Nearest park or protected area

Elk Valley Park, a provincial park: 4.1 km from the lot line

Nearest recreation site or trail

Hartley Lake, on Recreation Sites and Trails BC's list: 5.3 km from the lot line

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Grocery stores are from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers: one may be missing, closed or mapped in the wrong place.

Confirm services with the local government.

Best speed recorded within about 1 km

50/10 Mbps or faster

Over a wired line (cable, fibre or DSL)

50/10 Mbps or faster

Over fixed wireless

25/5 Mbps

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nearest climate station at about the lot's elevation

Sparwood, 19 km away

Station elevation

1,138 m

Lot elevation (estimated, middle of the lot)

1,127 m

January mean temperature (1991-2020)

−6.4 °C

July mean temperature (1991-2020)

16.5 °C

Yearly precipitation, rain and snow as water (1991-2020)

614 mm*

Yearly snowfall (1991-2020)

280 cm*

Frost-free period (1991-2020)

98 days a year*

Average last spring frost (1991-2020)

May 30*

Average first fall frost (1991-2020)

September 7*

Days with snow on the ground, 1 cm or more (1991-2020)

117 days a year, 29 days of them in January*

Lowest temperature recorded, 1991-2020

−37.9 °C (1998)

Period

1991-2020

Plant hardiness zone (regional)

5a

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.

Fernie is nearer (12 km) but sits at 1,001 m, 126 m below the lot; we use Sparwood because it is at about the lot's elevation.

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.

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

Recent years have run warmer than the 1991-2020 averages in much of BC. Ask neighbours or the local government about snow on the road and who clears it.

Collected by

The Province (rural area), for East Kootenay, Electoral Area A

Rate every home pays, 2026

3.31836 per $1,000

Regional district (the electoral area's share)

0.71747 per $1,000

Regional hospital district

0.44039 per $1,000

School (set by the Province)

1.6449 per $1,000

Provincial rural tax

0.3861 per $1,000

Police tax

0.0912 per $1,000

Other

0.0383 per $1,000

Local service areas

Unclear for this lot: they cover parts of the area, up to 1.65768 per $1,000 each

Full rate for this lot

Unclear

The Province's rural rates don't say which local service areas (fire protection, recreation, street lighting, water, improvement districts, the Islands Trust) cover which lots, so they're left out of the rate above. Ask the Province's Surveyor of Taxes, or the seller for the latest tax notice.

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.

Police service

The Fernie RCMP detachment (rural; inferred)

Crime severity index, 2025

48 (BC 92)

Violent / non-violent index

64 / 42 (BC 98 / 91)

Crime severity index, 2015

54 (BC 93)

Break and enter, per 100,000 people, 2025

34 (BC 281)

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

34 (BC 138)

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

0 (BC 441)

Violent crime, per 100,000 people, 2025

1,188 (BC 1,531)

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

3,122 (BC 6,943)

Inferred: the nearest RCMP rural detachment Statistics Canada publishes figures for, about 10 km away. BC's police boundaries aren't open data, so the detachment that actually polices this spot may be another.

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.