RH: Recreational Home

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

One dwelling per parcel and one guest cottage up to 65 m² (s. 5.2.5); no secondary suite (our reading)

Main uses

A single residence, a guest cottage, open land recreation, home occupations, accessory buildings and structures (s. 5.2.5); trails and public parks (s. 4.1.1)

Smallest lot for a subdivision

1 ha (s. 5.2.5)

Lot coverage

5%, the house, cottage and accessory buildings together (s. 5.2.5)

Height limit

8 m for a dwelling, 6 m for accessory buildings and structures (s. 4.1.4); barns and water tanks aren't limited (s. 4.1.5)

Setbacks

3 m from every lot line, 4.5 m from the front and from a side along a road (s. 4.1.3(b)); 7.5 m from the sea (15 m on an unprotected shore) and 15 m from a lake, watercourse or wetland (s. 4.1.3(c))

The island is mainly a seasonal community reached by water, with low-density homes meant to keep its rural character (ss. 1.3, 3.4(j).2).

Short-term rental: the bylaw names no vacation rental use, and the guest cottage is only for guests who don't pay (s. 6.1), so it can't be rented by the night. Home occupations run by the resident are allowed (ss. 4.1.6, 6.1), and Part One's policy counts a bed and breakfast among them (s. 3.4(j).5), so rooms let to guests by someone living there fit (our reading); a whole house rented by the night with nobody living there isn't among the zone's uses (our reading). Ask the Islands Trust.

Guest cottage (s. 6.1): a second dwelling, with or without a kitchen and bathroom, for the owner's non-paying guests only.

A dwelling unit may hold one kitchen (s. 6.1) and each zone allows one per parcel, so a suite in the house isn't allowed (our reading); accessory buildings may not be lived in (s. 6.1's definition of accessory buildings).

Home occupations (ss. 4.1.6, 6.1): work done for gain by the resident, from the dwelling, an accessory building or the parcel, kept on the premises and keeping the place's residential look.

Water (s. 4.1.3(a), (c)): no building but a boathouse or sauna within 7.5 m of the sea or less than 1.5 m above its natural boundary, 15 m where the shore isn't protected from erosion by bedrock or engineered works; 15 m from a lake, watercourse or wetland; no septic field within 30 m of the sea's high water mark.

Subdivision (s. 4.1.7): frontage on a road at least a tenth of the parcel's perimeter unless the committee exempts it, no parcel narrower than a fifth of its depth, roads only to the access-by-water-only standard; a parcel for a relative only from a parcel of 8 ha or more outside the ALR, once.

A parcel smaller than the zone's minimum, if on a plan deposited before the bylaw was adopted, may still be used as the zone allows (s. 4.1.2).

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 5.2.5 of Valdes Island Rural Land Use Bylaw, 1998 (Thetis Island Bylaw No. 42) (summarised in our words, checked 2026-10-11); zone map: Open Government Licence – Islands Trust.