A2: Rural

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

One residential building (a house, manufactured home or duplex), with a secondary suite (in a house only) and an accessory dwelling unit; at most 3 homes per lot

Main uses

Farming, campground, daycare, house, manufactured home, duplex, forestry, kennel, outdoor market; agri-tourism, secondary suite, accessory dwelling unit, home-based business, microbrewery and craft distillery, outdoor recreation, retail sales tied to a non-residential main use

Smallest lot for a subdivision

4 ha

Lot coverage

30% (40% with an accessory dwelling unit)

Height limit

12 m

Setbacks

Front 6 m, sides 1.5 m (4.5 m beside a street), rear 6 m; accessory buildings front 6 m, sides 1.5 m (4.5 m beside a street), rear 1.5 m

A home-based business may have no outside storage and no repair garage (s. 9.5.1); for other uses, outside storage and repair garages only where incidental to the main use, such as hay, firewood or a garage for your own vehicles (s. 9.5.2). Forestry processes timber grown on the lot plus up to 500 m³ a year grown elsewhere (s. 9.5.3).

The zone allows 3 homes per lot but one residential building (s. 9.4.1), so the second and third homes are a suite and an accessory dwelling unit.

Secondary suite (s. 6.14): only inside a single detached house, no bigger than the house it's in, with its own entrance and one parking space. Accessory dwelling unit (s. 6.2): a home in a detached accessory building, which it may fill, no bigger than the house, never in an RV or manufactured home, on the lot's water and sewer where the lot has them, with one parking space.

Whether an accessory dwelling unit may go with a duplex, a semi-detached pair or a manufactured home. The zone lists them, but s. 6.2.1(d) measures the unit against "the Single Detached Dwelling located on the same Parcel", so this is unclear; ask the Village of Clinton.

A manufactured home (CSA Z240) is not a single detached dwelling under this bylaw (s. 3), so it can't hold a secondary suite.

Renting a home by the night. The bylaw has no short-term rental use. A bed and breakfast (a home used for temporary overnight stays, s. 3) counts as a home-based business, with at most six guests at a time and a business licence (ss. 6.9.1 and 6.9.4). Whether renting a whole house or a suite by the night counts as a bed and breakfast is unclear; ask the Village of Clinton.

Home-based business: inside the home or a permitted accessory building, run mainly by the people who live there, with a business licence, no change to the lot's residential look, nothing that gives off flammable or explosive vapours, no noise, smoke, dust, odour or vibration that bothers the neighbours, no more traffic than the street already has, and its parking on the lot (ss. 6.9.1 and 6.9.2). A daycare of up to seven children counts as one.

No accessory building before the main building is built or going up at the same time (s. 6.1.1(a)); an attached one counts as part of the main building (s. 6.1.2). Accessory buildings are held to the zone's height, coverage and setbacks (s. 6.1.3), and no one lives in one except in a permitted accessory dwelling unit (s. 6.1.1(b)).

An RV may be lived in for up to six months while a house is built under a building permit, 2 m from every lot line, never a park model trailer (s. 6.15).

On a corner lot, nothing over 1 m above the street's grade within the triangle reaching 7.5 m along each street line from the corner (s. 4.3).

Nothing built within 4.5 m of a lot line on an arterial highway, including the Cariboo Highway (Highway 97) (s. 4.2).

New homes on a lot next to the CN Railway stand 30 m from the shared lot line (s. 4.4).

No building within 30 m of the natural boundary of Clinton Creek, Cutoff Valley Creek or any other watercourse (the toe of any fill too), and the floor of living or storage space at least 1.5 m above that boundary (s. 4.6.1). Changes to a watercourse need the Ministry of Environment's approval, and the developer answers for added runoff (ss. 4.6.2 and 4.6.3).

In every zone: no wrecked or dismantled vehicles or equipment in the front yard, and outside a wrecking yard none kept in the side or rear yard more than 30 days; s. 5.5.4(c) also bars storing machinery, equipment or vehicles in disrepair outside at all, and the stricter rule applies (s. 1.6.2).

Outdoor garbage bins and storage areas are screened from highways and neighbours (s. 5.3.1).

Steps, and eaves, chimneys and bay windows up to 1 m, may reach into a setback; balconies, porches and canopies up to 1.5 m or half the setback, whichever is less; an uncovered pool stays out of the front yard and 3 m from every lot line (s. 4.8). Height is measured from the average finished grade to the highest point (s. 3); chimneys, domes, spires, antennas and towers, rooftop equipment, farm structures, water tanks and a few others listed in s. 4.9 are exempt.

Parking (s. 20.3): 2 spaces per house, duplex, semi-detached or multi-unit home (1.5 plus 0.5 for visitors in a comprehensive site development), 1 per secondary suite or accessory dwelling unit, 1 per manufactured home. Parking in R and P zones is for private, non-commercial vehicles (s. 20.3.10).

Fences are at most 3.5 m tall in every zone (s. 5.1.1); a pool is fenced at least 2.5 m high with a childproof lock (s. 5.1.4).

With agriculture as a permitted use, any number of livestock may be kept, housed 1.5 m from every lot line without nuisance (ss. 4.7.1 and 4.7.2). No roosters, geese, peafowl or other crowing fowl outside A1 (s. 4.7.4).

Junk materials kept for reuse or recycling stay 30 m from residential and park zones, inside a building or a fence at least 2.5 m tall (s. 5.2).

Kennels and animal shelters stand 30 m from every lot line, with outdoor runs behind a solid fence 2 to 2.5 m tall (s. 6.3).

Shipping containers count as accessory buildings: at most 2 per lot, 12.1 m long, one plain colour that suits the main building, unstacked, never lived in and screened from Highway 97 (ss. 5.4.1, 5.4.2 and 5.4.5).

Parking for a campground (s. 20.3): 1 space per campsite.

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 Village of Clinton's office before you buy or build.

Source: Village of Clinton Zoning Bylaw No. 607, 2025 (summarised in our words); zone map: Open Government Licence – Thompson-Nicola Regional District.