Zone

Unclear: ask the CRD's planning department

Zoning bylaw

Central Cariboo Area Rural Land Use Bylaw No. 3503, or Williams Lake Fringe and 150 Mile House Area Zoning Bylaw No. 3502 around Williams Lake and 150 Mile House

Where it applies

Two bylaws zone Electoral Areas D, E and F: No. 3502 the land around the City of Williams Lake it names (Esler, Chimney Valley, Pine Valley, Commodore Heights, Wildwood, Fox Mountain, Borland Valley, 150 Mile House and Dog Creek), No. 3503 the rest, Horsefly and the Beaver Valley among it. Their rural zones differ in a few figures, so both are shown; other parts of the district have bylaws of their own.

Our summary

The rural and lakeshore zones only, checked against the bylaws on 2026-10-04 (No. 3503 revised to 2020-12-15, No. 3502 revised to 2024-06-20)

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).

Short-term rentals (provincial rule)

The Province's principal residence requirement doesn't apply in Electoral Area F of the Cariboo Regional District (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.

Ask the CRD's planning department which zone this lot is in, or find it on the CRD's planning map: the rules shown apply only in that zone, and the bylaws have other zones we haven't summarised.

Zoning is only one layer: the ALR, development permit areas, the official community plan, building and septic permits and provincial housing rules can add limits or allow more. Confirm with the CRD'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.

December 21 (shortest day)

5 h 40 min of possible direct sun; 7 h 30 min on open ground

March 21 (about the same on September 21)

10 h 40 min; 12 h on open ground

June 21 (longest day)

16 h; 16 h 30 min on open ground

Noon sun on December 21

14° above level; the hills due south rise to 5°, 0.3 km away

Highest hills in the winter sun's path

10° above level to the south-east, 0.2 km away

Measured at

The middle of the lot, ground at about 773 m, from head height

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.

Capability class (1 best, 7 none)

Class 3: about 65% of the lot; Class 5: about 35% of the lot

What limits it

climate (cold, short season), several minor limits together

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.

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.

Fires on the parcel

0

Fires within 2 km

4

Within 2 km in the last 30 years

0

Most recent nearby

1937 (78 ha, caused by people)

Largest nearby

1930 (153 ha, caused by people)

Causes on record within 2 km

4 caused by people

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.

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

0.079 g

Peak ground acceleration, 10% in 50 years

0.027 g

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

0.18 g

The same value in city centres

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

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

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.

Health region (regional figure, not this lot)

Thompson Cariboo Shuswap

Homes tested here

109

At or above 200 Bq/m³ (the guideline)

7 (6.4%)

At or above 600 Bq/m³

None

Across BC

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

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

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

Open sites (active or suspected) within 500 m

0

Open sites within 2 km

0

Closed sites within 2 km

1

Horsefly River Spawning Channel

On the lot. Closed: no further action needed. Historical review completed. No further action required. Federal custodian: Fisheries and Oceans Canada; site 00020974.

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.

Confirm with the local government and a qualified environmental professional.

Wells within 2 km

50

Median depth

37 m

Median tested yield

26 L/min (33 wells tested)

Median water level below ground

20 m

Aquifer 379 under the lot

Horsefly, BC: confined sand and gravel (glacial); productivity low, vulnerability low, demand low; 20 wells linked, median depth 31.7 m

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.

Recorded water-supply wells within 30 m

1, nearest about 25 m outside it; well tag 130604

Mapped water within 30 m

Horsefly River (on the parcel) and 4 unnamed streams

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

14.7 ha (49%)

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

15.3 ha (51%)

Within the setbacks, under 45% slope (trenches)

15.5 ha (52%)

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

Cariboo Memorial Hospital and Health Centre, Williams Lake: 55 km

Next nearest hospital

100 Mile District General Hospital, 100 Mile House: 78 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

Horsefly Elem-Jr Secondary: 700 m

Nearest public secondary school

Horsefly Elem-Jr Secondary: 700 m

Independent schools within 10 km

0

Nearest grocery store

Save-On-Foods: 55 km

Grocery stores within 10 km

0

Nearest fire station

Horsefly Volunteer Fire Department: 700 m, on the Province's list

Nearest ambulance station

Ambulance station 348, Williams Lake: 54 km

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.

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

5/1 Mbps

Over a wired line (cable, fibre or DSL)

none recorded

Over fixed wireless

5/1 Mbps

LTE mobile within about 1 km

not recorded

Nearest place with 50/10 Mbps or faster

none within 10 km

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

Horsefly Lake Gruhs Lake, 4.3 km away

Station elevation

777 m

Lot elevation (estimated, middle of the lot)

774 m

January mean temperature (1981-2010)

−7.0 °C*

July mean temperature (1981-2010)

15.8 °C*

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

614 mm*

Yearly snowfall (1981-2010)

184 cm*

Period

1981-2010

Plant hardiness zone (regional)

4b

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 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.

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.

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.

Collected by

The Province (rural area), for Cariboo, Electoral Area F

Rate every home pays, 2026

4.84608 per $1,000

Regional district (the electoral area's share)

1.15017 per $1,000

Regional hospital district

1.06401 per $1,000

School (set by the Province)

2.0551 per $1,000

Provincial rural tax

0.3861 per $1,000

Police tax

0.1524 per $1,000

Other

0.0383 per $1,000

On buildings only

0.21686 per $1,000 of the buildings' value

Local service areas

Unclear for this lot: they cover parts of the area, up to 1.60626 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 Williams Lake RCMP detachment (rural; inferred)

Crime severity index, 2025

47 (BC 92)

Violent / non-violent index

61 / 42 (BC 98 / 91)

Crime severity index, 2015

49 (BC 93)

Break and enter, per 100,000 people, 2025

126 (BC 281)

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

164 (BC 138)

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

52 (BC 441)

Violent crime, per 100,000 people, 2025

959 (BC 1,531)

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

2,617 (BC 6,943)

Inferred: Statistics Canada publishes figures for no RCMP detachment within 40 km of here; the nearest it does is about 55 km away, so these figures are for that detachment's area, which may not include this spot. BC's police boundaries aren't open data; the local RCMP can say who polices it.

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.