RR: Rural Residential

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

One house; on a lot of 0.6 ha or more, a cottage too (s. 5.1(2), (3)); the bylaw has no secondary suite

Main uses

A house, a cottage, agriculture; accessory uses, buildings and structures such as home occupations (s. 5.1(1), s. 3.6)

Smallest lot for a subdivision

0.8 ha, and 4 ha on average (s. 5.1(10), (11))

Lot coverage

25% (s. 5.1(4))

Height limit

9.7 m for houses and cottages, 6 m for accessory buildings (s. 3.4(1), (2)); farm buildings up to 9.2 m in the ALR or on a lot with farm status, 7.6 m from every lot line (s. 3.7)

Setbacks

6 m from every lot line (s. 5.1(5)); buildings and pens for farm animals 7.6 m (s. 5.1(6)); 15 m from watercourses, wetlands and lakes, and a development permit within 15 m of the sea (s. 3.3)

The zone is for homes on the associated islands' rural lots (our reading of its uses and lot sizes).

Cottage: up to 70 m² on a lot of 1.2 ha or less, 93 m² on a larger one (s. 5.1(7), (8)).

A building within 200 m of the National Park (NP) zone, under a building permit issued since the bylaw's adoption, is screened from the park by a band of trees and shrubs at least 10 m wide (ss. 3.9(1), 5.1(9)).

Where the map marks RR(a), on one island the bylaw names, a house and five cottages are allowed instead (Table 5.1), so that variant isn't read as this zone.

Short-term rental: the bylaw defines short-term vacation accommodation (a house or cottage rented for less than a month at a time to people who live elsewhere) and leaves it, bed and breakfasts and other visitor accommodation out of home occupations (s. 3.6(1)); no zone summarised here lists it as a use, and only listed uses are allowed (s. 3.2), so renting by the night isn't allowed (our reading). Ask the Islands Trust.

Home occupations (s. 3.6): crafts, repairs, a professional practice or services, run with the owner or an employee living on the lot, inside a home or a permitted accessory building, up to 65 m² in all, up to four employees besides the residents, no noise heard at the lot line or the shore, one sign; sales only of what is made, processed or repaired there.

Water (s. 3.3): no building or structure, septic fields included, within 15 m of a watercourse, wetland or lake (s. 3.3(4)); within 15 m of the sea a development permit under the Official Community Plan is needed first, unless exempt (s. 3.3(3)'s information note); agricultural waste 15 m from lot lines and water (s. 3.3(5)).

Living on the lot while building: an accessory building or a recreational vehicle may be lived in before the house is built, with a building permit for the house, a permitted septic system and water, and only until the house is occupied (ss. 3.5(3), 3.10).

Subdivision (Part 8): the average is the new lots' total area over their number, with parkland over 5% counted in (s. 8.1); frontage at least 20 m (and 10% of the perimeter unless the committee exempts it), no deeper than three times the width (s. 8.6); a lot of the maximum count that is twice the average or more gets a covenant against further subdivision (s. 8.3); a lot for a relative only from 8 ha, unless all in the ALR (s. 8.5).

Parking: two spaces per house and one per cottage, plus one per home occupation, on a lot reached by a road (s. 7.4).

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 North Pender Associated Islands Land Use Bylaw No. 148, 2003 (summarised in our words, checked 2026-10-11); zone map: Open Government Licence – Islands Trust.