VR2: Village Residential 2

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

One home (s. 5.2.2); a cottage on a lot of 0.4 ha or more (s. 5.2.3); or a secondary suite instead of a cottage, on a lot of 0.4 ha or more (s. 2.28)

Main uses

Homes, cottages, home occupations, a secondary suite (s. 5.2.1); horticulture (s. 2.1.6)

Smallest lot for a subdivision

0.6 ha on community water and sewer, 0.8 ha otherwise (s. 5.2.9)

Lot coverage

25% (s. 5.2.4)

Height limit

9 m; accessory buildings 5 m and one storey, cottages 9 m (s. 5.2.5, ss. 2.5, 2.6)

Setbacks

7.5 m from the front and rear lot lines, 6 m from the interior sides (3 m beside a commercial, industrial or VR2 lot), 4.5 m from a side along a road (s. 5.2.6)

The zone is for homes in and near Galiano's village areas (our reading of its name and lot sizes).

Buildings for farm animals or poultry: 7.5 m from the front lot line, 30 m from the rear and interior sides, 6 m from a side along a road (s. 5.2.7), and 30 m from the sea, water and wells (s. 2.16).

Cottage: a detached accessory home for guests, household members or tenants, up to 80 m² (s. 2.9) and 9 m high (s. 2.5).

Secondary suite (s. 2.28): one on a lot of 0.4 ha or more, inside the building that holds the house, up to 60 m² and 40% of that building, with its own outside door; never strata-titled; on a lot over 0.4 ha a suite or a cottage, not both; outside a water service area, an 18,000 L rainwater system first.

Short-term vacation rental (under a month) of the house, a cottage or a suite is a home occupation (its definition, s. 17), and a home occupation needs the premises lived in at the same time (s. 3.2); on a lot with a cottage or suite only one unit may be rented short term at once, with up to three bedrooms and four beds for paying guests counting any bed and breakfast (s. 3.13).

Bed and breakfast (s. 3.10): a home occupation with up to two guest bedrooms, counting any in a cottage; breakfast the only meal served (s. 3.7).

Home occupations (Part 3): run by someone living there, indoors, up to three people employed with at least one living on the lot, nothing showing outside but a small nameplate, no noise, glare or extra groundwater use beyond a home's.

A new home or cottage outside a water service area needs an 18,000 L cistern (s. 2.29).

Water (ss. 2.14, 2.15): buildings 7.5 m from the sea and 15 m from a lake, swamp or watercourse; septic fields 30 m from them and from any well. Homes outside the Agriculture zone stay 15 m from its edge (s. 2.17).

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 5.2 of Galiano Island Land Use Bylaw No. 127, 1999 (summarised in our words, checked 2026-10-11); zone map: Open Government Licence – Islands Trust.