SRR: Small Lot Rural Residential

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

One home per lot (s. 5.1(2)); an accessory building may be a sleeping cabin for non-paying guests, not a home (s. 3.5(1))

Main uses

Residential use of a home; accessory uses, buildings and structures, among them home occupations and recreational uses such as camping and picnicking (s. 5.1(1)); horticulture, on-lot water, septic and power works, as in every zone (s. 3.1)

Smallest lot for a subdivision

No subdivision (s. 5.1(10))

Lot coverage

25% (s. 5.1(3)); the home's floor area at most 0.20 times the lot's area (s. 5.1(4))

Height limit

9 m for the home (s. 5.1(7)); accessory buildings one storey and 5.2 m (s. 5.1(8))

Setbacks

6 m from a lot line along a road or private road, 1.5 m from the sides, 7.5 m from the rear (s. 5.1(6)); 7.5 m from the sea (s. 3.3(3)); 30 m from streams and wetlands (s. 3.3(4))

The zone is for the small-lot residential areas of North Thormanby Island (s. 5.1's information note).

Two accessory buildings per lot (s. 5.1(5)); a septic tank above ground is screened from the neighbouring lot (s. 5.1(9)).

Where the map marks SRR(a), buildings may stand 4 m from the road and 1 m from the rear lot line (s. 5.1(11), Table 5.1).

Short-term rental (s. 3.6(1)(f), (2)(b) and the definitions of residential and commercial visitor accommodation): renting a home for under 30 days in a row isn't a home occupation, and residential use leaves out renting a home for less than a month, so a whole home rented by the night isn't allowed (our reading). The one route is commercial visitor accommodation, a bed and breakfast: paying guests given a bed and meals for up to seven days, at most four guests in two bedrooms, inside the principal home, with the owner or an employee living on the lot (s. 3.6(1)(f), (5)).

Home occupations (s. 3.6): crafts, repairs, a professional practice, services to clients or making a product, plus the bed and breakfast above; inside a home or a permitted accessory building on a lot someone lives on, 47 m² in all, one employee besides the residents, storage only indoors and no sound heard at the lot line or the shore; no commercial campground, food service or sale of goods not made there.

Accessory buildings (s. 3.5): never a home, but one may be a sleeping cabin for non-paying guests, with no kitchen (s. 3.5(1) and the definition of sleeping cabin); before the house is built, only a boathouse, picnic shelters and washrooms for recreational use, a utility shed, one storage building and dock steps, the rest once a building permit for the house is issued (s. 3.5(3), (4)).

Sea (s. 3.3(3)): nothing within 7.5 m of the natural boundary of the sea but one boathouse of up to 18.5 m², stairs or walkways up to 2.5 m wide to the shore or dock, a low deck of up to 10 m², propane tanks, utility lines and lifting gear. Streams and wetlands (s. 3.3(4)): nothing within 30 m, septic fields, paving and retaining walls included. A private float or dock stays within the lot's side lines projected seaward, 3 m in from them (s. 3.3(6)); the marine zone in front sets what may be built there (Part 5).

No mobile home or recreational vehicle as a home (ss. 3.2(4), 3.9), no living aboard a moored vessel (s. 3.2(5)), no dog kennels (s. 3.2(10)); no bridge, causeway, or water or power line to another island or the mainland, bar established easements to four named islands (s. 3.2(7), (8)).

Development permit areas the Official Community Plan maps for riparian areas (DP-1) and streamside protection (DP-2) need a permit before soil, vegetation or buildings are changed or land is subdivided there (Part 9).

Parking: one space per vehicle, only on an island with a road and vehicles (s. 7.1).

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 Islands Trust's office for the island before you buy or build.

Source: Section 5.1 of Gambier Associated Islands Land Use Bylaw, 2013 (Bylaw No. 120) (summarised in our words, checked 2026-10-11); zone map: Open Government Licence – Islands Trust.