PlaceDossier / Zoning / Zone codes
RU-3 zoning in BC
RU-3 (also written RU3) means whatever the bylaw that zones the lot says: there is no provincial RU-3 zone. 6 bylaws we've summarised use it, from 6 local governments. It goes by 6 names: Residential Sub-Urban, Rural, Rural 3, Rural Agriculture and 2 more. What it allows is below, bylaw by bylaw.
RU-3 in each bylaw
| Local government | Homes allowed | Smallest lot for a subdivision | Lot coverage | Height limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regional District of Central Okanagan Rural 3 · Regional District of Central Okanagan Zoning Bylaw No. 871 | One single detached house with a secondary suite inside it (s. 6.3.12) | 1 ha, with 30 m of frontage | 10% | 3 storeys and 9 m; accessory buildings 5 m |
| Strathcona Regional District Rural Three · Quadra Island Zoning Bylaw, 1990 (No. 1213) | A house and a secondary suite; or a house, suite and accessory dwelling unit on a lot of 4,000 m² or more on community sewer, or 1 ha or more without (s. 11.3A.2) | 100 ha; a subdivision for a relative only from a lot of 200 ha or more (ss. 9.1.1, 11.3A.3) | 1% (s. 11.3A.5) | 10 m (s. 10.2.1(f)) |
| Sunshine Coast Regional District Rural Agriculture · Sunshine Coast Regional District Electoral Area A Zoning Bylaw No. 337 | One house; a second house on a lot over 3,500 m² (s. 1081). A secondary suite is allowed where the zone allows only one house or a duplex; a lot can have one secondary suite or one auxiliary dwelling, not both, and neither counts toward the zone's limit on homes (ss. 502, 506). On SCRD sewer a suite needs the SCRD's sign-off on capacity first. | Set by the lot's subdivision district, not its zone (ss. 401, 407): from 640 m² to 100 ha; a lot's report gives its district in "What you can build (zoning)", under "The record", as "Subdivision district (smallest new lot)". Lots on Ruby, Sakinaw, Hotel, Garden Bay and Mixal lakes in the larger districts need 60 m of lakeshore (s. 408) | 35% on a lot of 2,000 m² or less, 15% above; greenhouses not counted | 11 m (s. 512) |
| City of Kelowna Small Lot Housing · City of Kelowna Zoning Bylaw No. 12375 | Up to 4 homes on a lot (s. 11.6): houses, semi-detached or duplex homes, townhouses or stacked townhouses, secondary suites and carriage houses all count. More than one home needs community water, more than two community sewer (s. 11.3 notes .6, .7) | 255 m², 8.5 m wide (10 m on a corner), 27 m deep; new lots need access to a side or rear lane (s. 11.4) | 40% of the lot for buildings (55% with three or more homes); 70% for buildings, structures and hard surfaces (75% with three or more homes) | Main buildings 11 m and 3 storeys, with no rooftop living space on a 3-storey building (with a walkout basement, 9 m at the front and 12.5 m at the rear); a third storey at most 70% of the second; accessory buildings 4.8 m |
| Township of Langley Rural · Township of Langley Zoning Bylaw 1987 No. 2500 | Up to 2 houses or mobile homes on a lot, subject to the Agricultural Land Commission Act (s. 201.2); each house may hold a secondary suite (the bylaw's definition of a house, s. 102; our reading). Besides these: a temporary mobile home for family or a farm employee on 8,094 m² or more, seasonal farm worker housing on 4 ha or more, housing for full-time farm help on a working farm, and migrant farm worker housing on 4 ha or more (ss. 201.3 to 201.5) (RU-3 allows every RU-1 use, homes on RU-1's terms: our reading) | 8.0 ha; 0.2 ha for a veterinary clinic in the ALR on municipal water and sewer (s. 110.1) | 33% (66% with commercial greenhouses, other buildings still 33%); accessory buildings not used for farming at most 200 m² of ground floor in all | House 9 m; other buildings not used for farming 9 m or 2 storeys, whichever is less; the zone sets no height for farm buildings |
| District of Summerland Residential Sub-Urban · Zoning Bylaw No. 2000-450 | Up to four homes inside the Urban Containment Boundary, three outside it (s. 10.3.5); at most two main homes, both in one building (a duplex), the rest secondary suites or carriage houses (s. 10.3.7) | 800 m², 18 m wide and 30 m deep (half for each side of a side-by-side duplex) (s. 10.3.4) | 40%; floor area up to 0.8 times the lot area | The lesser of 9.5 m or 2 storeys; accessory buildings 4.5 m or 1 storey |
Listed by local government, not ranked. "Not set" means the zone itself sets no figure; general rules elsewhere in its bylaw may still apply. Each zone's page has its uses, setbacks and the bylaw's sections.
Two lots both zoned RU-3 under different bylaws can allow quite different things, and provincial law sets a floor of homes on most house zones in towns (how many homes can I build?). Site-specific exceptions, development permit areas and the ALR apply on top. Find the lot's own zone with the search above, then confirm with the local government before you buy or build.
Sources: each zone's bylaw, linked from its page, summarised in our words. Other councils' zones aren't here: the zoning we cover.