R1: Rural Residential

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

One house and one guest cottage per lot (s. 5.3(a), (b)); the cottage only on a lot of 0.8 ha or more, and on a lot under 1.6 ha only for occasional stays, not as anyone's residence (s. 5.1(e)); no secondary suite (our reading)

Main uses

Residential; home occupations, keeping livestock and poultry for the owner's own use, and a guest cottage on 0.8 ha or more (s. 5.1); agriculture isn't a listed use in this zone (s. 5.1's table)

Smallest lot for a subdivision

0.8 ha (s. 5.5(a))

Lot coverage

35% (s. 5.3(g))

Height limit

11 m for all buildings and structures (s. 5.4(a))

Setbacks

7.5 m from the front lot line, 6 m from the rear, 3 m from the interior sides, 4.5 m from a side along a road (s. 5.4(b)); 7.6 m from the sea (s. 2.2.6)

The zone is for homes on rural-residential lots (our reading of its uses and lot size).

Short-term rental (s. 2.3.5 and its definition in s. 1.1: renting a guest cottage for under 30 days) is allowed in the R-2 zone only, so not here. The bylaw doesn't say whether the house itself may be rented by the night; that's unclear, so ask the Islands Trust.

Guest cottage (s. 1.1): a home of up to 65 m² of floor area, not counting an open sleeping loft over half the floor below at most.

The bylaw makes no provision for a secondary suite, and a home is defined as a building with one set of cooking facilities (s. 1.1), so a suite in the house isn't allowed (our reading).

Bed and breakfast (s. 2.3.4): a home occupation inside a home, up to three guest bedrooms and four people a room, breakfast only and only for overnight guests, a parking space per guest room and one sign up to 0.7 m².

Home occupations (s. 2.3.1): run by someone living in the home, with up to three more full-time-equivalent workers, inside the home or an accessory building (kilns and day care play areas may be outdoors, screened), with all their parking on the lot.

Home occupations may not store more flammable materials than a household would, or be feed lots, boarding kennels, fur farms, restaurants or cafes (s. 2.3.3).

Water (s. 2.2.6): no building but a boathouse or pumphouse within 7.6 m of the sea, or within 30.5 m of any other watercourse or source of water supply. Where the lot is in the bylaw's riparian Development Permit Area No. 1, building, clearing, paving or subdividing there needs a development permit first (s. 11.1).

Never allowed in any zone: campgrounds, storing or wrecking derelict vehicles, moorage of float homes, renting out personal watercraft (s. 2.1.3).

Subdividing for a relative's residence under the Local Government Act needs a lot of 20.2 ha unless it's in the ALR (s. 2.6.6).

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 Thetis Island Land Use Bylaw, 2011 (Bylaw No. 89) (summarised in our words, checked 2026-10-11); zone map: Open Government Licence – Islands Trust.