R-3: Multiple Family Residential

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

Apartments and senior citizen housing up to 70 homes per hectare; townhouses and other buildings of three or more homes up to 35 per hectare

Main uses

Apartments, townhouses and other multi-family buildings, senior citizen housing; amenity areas, professional offices on up to a third of an apartment's ground floor, preschool, home based business with no outside employees or customers

Smallest lot for a subdivision

900 m² for up to 4 homes, 1,000 m² for 5 or more; 30 m of frontage

Lot coverage

60% for apartments and senior housing, 45% for other buildings, accessory buildings included

Height limit

Apartments and senior housing 15 m, other buildings 12 m, accessory buildings 5 m

Setbacks

Front 7.5 m, interior sides 6 m, exterior side 4.5 m, rear 6 m; accessory buildings front 7.5 m, interior sides 1.5 m, exterior side 4.5 m, rear 1.5 m

Amenity space (s. 8.3.4): 100 m² of shared space, at least 6 m across, for 10 or more homes on a lot; 15 m² outdoors beside each townhouse; 5 m² (a patio, deck or balcony will do) for each apartment.

Site-specific (s. 8.3.3): duplexes with no interior side setback in the bare land strata of Plan EPS2429, where single family dwellings are also allowed on strata lots 3 to 32 (400-484 and 488 Lytton Crescent); up to 80 homes per hectare (59 homes), with a smaller amenity area (3.34 m² for three units), at 240 Park Drive (Bylaw 301).

Parking (Table 3): apartments 1.3 spaces per home plus 0.2 for visitors; townhouses 1.5 plus 0.2; senior housing 0.5 plus 0.2; one loading space for apartments of more than 20 homes (s. 6.7.3).

Fences up to 1.2 m in the front yard and the street side of the side yard in front of the house, 2 m elsewhere; at a street corner nothing over 1 m in the 6 m sight triangle (ss. 5.10, 5.11).

Besides residents' own cars: one RV, camper or trailer, one boat and one commercial vehicle driven by someone who lives there; no commercial vehicle repairs or wrecks (s. 5.6).

No one may live or do business in an RV except in a campground (s. 5.1.2); while a lot is built on under a building permit, a temporary building or RV may be used for up to a year, or two with the District's extension (s. 5.4).

The bylaw doesn't mention short-term rental and lists no bed and breakfast in this zone; a use the bylaw doesn't list isn't permitted (s. 5.1.1). Ask the District before renting a home short term.

A landscape plan by a landscape architect, designer or certified arborist comes with any building or development permit worth $50,000 or more (s. 5.12.1); garbage bins of 1 m³ or more are screened 2.5 m tall (s. 5.12.5).

Nothing but a sign within 4.5 m of a provincial controlled access highway (s. 5.8.1).

Development within a riparian assessment area of a stream follows the provincial Riparian Areas Regulation's setbacks (s. 5.8.3).

On ALR land, the Agricultural Land Commission's rules come first: no extra home, duplex, carriage suite or garden suite without its approval, and agri-tourism lodging of up to four rooms (s. 4.4). Licensed cannabis production is allowed on ALR land in any zone, on a lot of 8 ha or more (s. 5.23.1).

Every zone also allows community gardens, municipal parks, utilities, rooftop solar and accessory uses of the zone's main uses, off ALR land (s. 5.2); beekeeping under the Animal Control Bylaw (s. 5.28).

Height is measured from the average finished grade to the highest point, leaving out chimneys, antennas and rooftop equipment (s. 2.2).

Minimum lot sizes apply to new lots. A lot for a relative's home under s. 514 of the Local Government Act is 8,000 m² (s. 5.3(e)).

Site-specific exceptions listed in the bylaw by legal description can add or change uses for one property, and development permit areas, the ALR and building rules apply on top. Confirm with the District of Clearwater's planning department before you buy or build.

Source: District of Clearwater Zoning Bylaw No. 133, 2016 (summarised in our words); zone map: Open Government Licence – Thompson-Nicola Regional District.