F1: Forestry 1

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

One house (s. 3.11.1); a seasonal cottage on a lot of 1.2 ha or more (s. 3.14); a secondary suite where the lot is in the Schedule I area (s. 3.16); a duplex only if built before July 31, 1990 (s. 3.11.2)

Main uses

Forestry (growing and harvesting timber and other forest products), a house, forestry research and education, agriculture, public services; a seasonal cottage and home-based business (s. 9.6.1)

Smallest lot for a subdivision

8 ha, with its own septic system and enough drinking water (s. 9.6.3)

Lot coverage

10% (s. 9.6.2)

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 where agriculture is a principal use (s. 3.8.3)

Setbacks

7.5 m from the front and rear lot lines and from a road access easement, 3 m from the interior sides, 4.5 m from a side along a road (s. 4.3.1)

The zone is for working forest land, with a house allowed (our reading of its uses and lot size).

Lettered variants (s. 9.6.4): F1(a) allows lots down to 0.6 ha and 2 ha on average, and F1(z) and F1(a)(z) share a cap of 72 lots with other (z) lands, so they aren't read as this zone.

Roads built for a subdivision may not cut through a forestry operation in this zone (s. 5.15.2).

Seasonal cottage (s. 3.14): only on a lot of 1.2 ha or more, up to 56 m², detached and 6 m from other buildings, with no basement or attached garage, and not on a lot that already has two homes. It is for temporary stays by people who live elsewhere, never rented as guest accommodation apart from a bed and breakfast. A cottage built before March 21, 1979 on a lot of 0.6 to 1.2 ha may stand beside a house (s. 3.14.7).

Secondary suite (s. 3.16): one per lot, only where the lot is in the shaded area of the bylaw's Schedule I map; inside the building that holds the house, with its own outside door, up to 90 m², the owner or a resident manager living in the house or the suite, never strata-titled, and enough water shown for it.

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.

On a lot classified as a farm, extra farmworkers' homes up to the lot's subdivision potential, each up to 186 m², under a covenant against subdividing the lot (s. 3.17); in the ALR more than one home needs the Agricultural Land Commission's permission (its note).

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 9.6 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.