A1: Agriculture 1

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

One house and a secondary suite (s. 9.1.1, s. 3.16); on a lot classified as a farm, a second home: one built before February 22, 2019, a manufactured home built from July 4, 2019 to the end of 2021, or a farmworker's home up to 56 m² on 1.2 to 2 ha, 90 m² over 2 ha and 186 m² over 40 ha (s. 9.1.1); the zone doesn't list a seasonal cottage

Main uses

Agriculture with farm buildings and structures, a house; a secondary suite, home-based business; a campground for paying guests on a lot classified as a farm with an agri-tourism activity (s. 9.1.1)

Smallest lot for a subdivision

8 ha, with a well and septic (s. 9.1.4); in the ALR only where the Agricultural Land Commission approves or exempts it (s. 5.1.2)

Lot coverage

35% leaving out greenhouses, 75% counting them; a campground 5% (s. 9.1.2)

Height limit

7.6 m and two storeys (s. 3.8.1); accessory buildings 6 m on a lot of 1.2 ha or less, 7 m on a larger one (s. 3.8.2); farm buildings 10.7 m (s. 3.8.3)

Setbacks

7.5 m from the front, 4.5 m from the rear (s. 9.1.2), 3 m from the interior sides and 4.5 m from a side along a road (s. 4.3.1); animal housing, troughs and manure 7.5 m, farm buildings with boilers or exhaust fans 15 m, livestock areas for over 4,550 kg of animals 30 m (ss. 4.3.4 to 4.3.6)

The zone is for farming; most of its land is in the Agricultural Land Reserve, where uses beyond farming need the Agricultural Land Commission's approval too (s. 9.1.1's note).

Bed and breakfast bedrooms and campsites: at most 10 together on a lot (s. 9.1.2).

Farm buildings, structures and pavement over 3,500 m² or 10% of the lot need an engineer's stormwater design (s. 9.1.3).

Secondary suite (s. 3.16): one per lot, inside the building that holds the house, with its own outside door, up to 90 m², the owner or a resident manager living there, never strata-titled; the Agriculture zones don't need the Schedule I map (s. 3.16.1's note).

Renting to travellers (commercial guest accommodation) isn't a use this zone lists, and a seasonal cottage may be rented to guests only as part of a bed and breakfast (s. 3.14.6); the bylaw's note to s. 3.16 says short-term vacation rentals aren't permitted in residential areas. Ask the Islands Trust before renting a home by the night.

Bed and breakfast (ss. 3.13.7, 3.13.8): a home-based business, one per lot, in the house or a seasonal cottage, with up to three guest bedrooms on a lot of 1.2 ha or less and four on a larger one, guest space up to half the floor area and 100 m², breakfast the only meal.

Home-based business (s. 3.13): run by someone living there, indoors, up to half the homes' floor area and 70 m² on a lot of 1.2 ha or less (150 m² on a larger one), with up to three outside employees (four on a larger lot) and nothing showing outside but a sign.

No home over 500 m² of floor area (s. 3.11.5), with one kitchen per home and all its rooms joined inside, so a house can't work as two (ss. 3.11.3, 3.11.4).

Accessory buildings: at most 70 m² in all on a lot of 1.2 ha or less and 185 m² on a larger one (one under 25 m² not counted), with no kitchen, shower or bath (ss. 3.12.4, 3.12.5); none may be lived in unless the bylaw allows it (s. 3.12.3).

Water (ss. 4.4, 4.5): no building within 15 m of the sea, a lake or a stream (10 m from the sea where an engineer certifies the shore won't erode), habitable floors 1.5 m above any water within 30 m; septic fields 30 m from the sea and most water, 60 m from ten named lakes such as St. Mary, Cusheon and Maxwell and the streams feeding them.

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 9.1 of Salt Spring Island Land Use Bylaw, 1999 (Bylaw No. 355) (summarised in our words, checked 2026-10-11); zone map: Open Government Licence – Islands Trust.