RR1: Rural Residential 1

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

One house, one secondary suite and one cottage at most (s. 5.1(2)); the cottage only on a lot of 1.2 ha or more (s. 5.1(3))

Main uses

A house, a cottage, a secondary suite; home business, raising rabbits and poultry (not on a lot beside a lake or reservoir used for drinking water) (s. 5.1(1), (12))

Smallest lot for a subdivision

0.4 ha, or 0.25 ha on community water or sewer; 0.6 ha on average (s. 5.1(14), (15))

Lot coverage

25% (s. 5.1(8))

Height limit

Homes and cottages 9.7 m (s. 3.4(1)); other buildings 4.6 m and one storey (s. 3.4(3))

Setbacks

7.6 m from the front and rear lot lines, 3 m from the interior sides, 4.5 m from a side along a road (s. 5.1(5)); 3 m more from a lot line beside the Agricultural zone (s. 5.1(6))

The zone is for houses on rural-residential lots (our reading of its uses).

Where the map marks RR1(a), the Trincomali Improvement District's area, secondary suites aren't allowed (Table 5.1).

Where a home of 56 m² or less stood on September 23, 1999 on a lot of 0.6 ha or more, one more house is allowed (s. 5.1(4)).

Cottage: up to 80 m² (s. 5.1(10)).

Floor area caps (s. 5.1(9)): all buildings but a suite 500 m² on a lot under 0.4 ha, 1,000 m² on 0.4 to 1.2 ha, 3,000 m² on a larger lot; the house 325, 372 and 418 m² in the same bands. An older, larger house may be rebuilt to its size.

A lot of 2.4 ha or more keeps a 3 m strip of native vegetation along two lot lines (s. 5.1(13), s. 3.9(3)).

Secondary suite (s. 3.10): one per lot, inside the building that holds the house, up to 90 m² and 40% of the house, with its own outside door; never strata-titled, never a short-term rental or a bed and breakfast; off a community water system, an 18,000 L rainwater system first.

Short-term vacation rental (under a month) of the house or the cottage is a home business (its definition; s. 3.7): one of them per lot at a time, with the operator or someone responsible for it living in a home on the lot (s. 3.7(4), (11)).

Bed and breakfast (s. 3.7(8)): a home business in the house or cottage, up to six guests in three bedrooms, one parking space per guest bedroom.

Home businesses (s. 3.7): indoors, up to 65 m² besides a short-term rental (100 m² in the ALR), up to four outside employees with one of the employees living on the lot, no noise heard at the lot line.

A new home or cottage off a community water system needs an 18,000 L cistern (s. 3.11).

Water (s. 3.3): no building, structure or fill within 15 m of the sea or 1.5 m above it, nor 7.6 m of a lake, wetland or stream.

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 Island Land Use Bylaw No. 224, 2022 (summarised in our words, checked 2026-10-11); zone map: Open Government Licence – Islands Trust.