R1: Low Density Residential

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

A house with a secondary suite and an accessory dwelling unit, a duplex, or a semi-detached pair; at most 3 homes per lot

Main uses

House, duplex, semi-detached home, community care facility; secondary suite, accessory dwelling unit, home-based business

Smallest lot for a subdivision

350 m², 12 m wide (6.5 m for each half of a semi-detached pair on its own lot)

Lot coverage

50% (60% with an accessory dwelling unit)

Height limit

12 m

Setbacks

Front 5 m, sides 1.5 m (3 m beside a street), rear 6 m; accessory buildings front 5 m, sides 1.5 m (1.5 m beside a street), rear 1.5 m; one main building per lot

Manufactured homes aren't a permitted use in R1 (s. 16.2); they are allowed in A2, R3 parks and R4.

Where a shared wall of a semi-detached pair or strata units sits on the lot line, there's no side setback along it (s. 4.8.4).

New lots in this zone connect to community water and sewer (s. 4.5.1).

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.

At most one secondary suite and one accessory dwelling unit per lot (ss. 6.2.4 and 6.14.3).

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).

Fences in residential zones: 1.2 m in the front yard, 2 m in side and rear yards, with see-through deer fencing allowed above that along the sides and rear, up to the 3.5 m cap (ss. 5.1.1 to 5.1.3). A pool is fenced at least 2.5 m high with a childproof lock (s. 5.1.4), the stricter of two rules (s. 6.12.2 sets 1.07 m, and s. 1.6.2 applies the stricter one).

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).

Livestock, where allowed, are housed 1.5 m from every lot line without nuisance (s. 4.7.1); in a residential zone their pens are in the rear or interior side yard, screened (s. 4.7.3). No roosters, geese, peafowl or other crowing fowl outside A1 (s. 4.7.4).

In a residential zone, on a lot with up to two homes, at most five vehicles (cars, RVs, boats) parked outside, and no commercial vehicle over 5 tonnes unless it's in a building (ss. 5.5.2 and 5.5.3).

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).

Shipping containers count as accessory buildings: at most 1 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).

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).

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.