R4: Residential 4

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

Up to 6 homes: a house, a house with a residential suite, a duplex, or small-scale multi-unit housing, which by definition holds 3 or 4 homes, or 5 or 6 where the zone allows (s. 2.2); 5 homes need 557 m² and 6 homes 650 m², each with a lane giving vehicle access (s. 8.4.3)

Main uses

House, house with a residential suite, duplex, small-scale multi-unit housing (up to six homes); home-based business; short-term rental or boarders in a house, house with suite or duplex; home daycare and licensed home care only on a lot with just one house

Smallest lot for a subdivision

For 5 homes, 557 m², 15 m wide and 15 m of frontage, with 15 m along a lane giving vehicle access; for 6 homes, 650 m² and 18 m of each

Lot coverage

40% of the lot for all buildings (55% with three or more homes); non-habitable accessory buildings 12% of the lot up to 112 m²; hard (impermeable) surfaces 60%

Height limit

Main buildings 2 storeys, or 3 storeys and 11 m with three or more homes; structures 12 m; accessory buildings 5 m (3 m under 10 m²)

Setbacks

Front 4.5 m (6 m where a driveway or parking space is in front, s. 4.11); sides 1.5 m; rear 6 m; side or rear street 4.5 m (6 m with a driveway or parking space). Accessory buildings over 10 m²: sides and rear 1 m (1.5 m beside a lane); under 10 m², 1.5 m from a street yard that isn't the front. 3 m between homes, 1.5 m from a home to an accessory building; a duplex reached from a lane and built to carriage suite height and size may be 1.5 m from the rear (s. 8.4.5)

The smallest lot for fewer than five homes: the zone sets lot sizes only for 5 and 6 homes (s. 8.4.3) and no maximum count in its own table (s. 8.4.4), so whether 3 or 4 homes need a minimum lot or a lane is unclear; ask the City of Kamloops.

No manufactured homes (s. 8.4.6).

A duplex or row house can be split into side-by-side lots smaller than the zone's minimums if the parent lot meets them; each new lot gets an equal share of the parent lot's homes, shared walls need a party wall agreement, accessory buildings on all the new lots together stay within the parent lot's coverage, and on a new subdivision a covenant bars further subdivision (s. 8.4.7).

Homes in two or more separate buildings, or three to six homes on a lot, need an Intensive Residential development permit (s. 2.2).

Residential suites (s. 3.4): a secondary suite inside a house, half of a duplex, a townhouse or a row house (never strata-titled apart from it), a one-storey garden suite or a two-storey carriage suite; each has at most 90 m² of living space, and none is allowed in the Red Zone or Foreset Area of the Silt Bluff hazard development permit area.

A garden or carriage suite needs an Intensive Residential development permit before its building permit, stands 4.5 m from a front or side street and 1 m (garden) or 1.5 m (carriage) from side and rear lot lines (a carriage suite 4.5 m from the rear on a lot without a rear lane), and is at most 5 m (garden) or 7 m (carriage) tall (s. 3.4, Table 4).

Short-term rental (stays under 30 days) or boarders are allowed only with a house, a house with a residential suite or a duplex, not in small-scale multi-unit housing of three or more homes: the home must be the registered owner's principal residence (s. 2.2); one booking at a time on the property and in each home; residents, boarders and guests together stay within one household (a family alone; otherwise five people at most, or a family of more than three with at most two boarders or guests); never combined with a home daycare or a licensed home care facility (s. 3.20).

Home-based businesses (s. 3.3): up to 50 m² or 20% of the home, whichever is less; at most two helpers from outside (one in multi-unit or small-scale multi-unit housing, none for a business clients come to); no clients on the lot except music, art or tutoring lessons for up to two students, or, on a lot with only one house or one duplex (or a manufactured home on its own lot), a listed set of services for one client at a time and nine visits a day, with an extra parking space and no residential suite on that lot; no vehicle repair or sales; a nameplate of 0.28 m² at most; closed 10 pm to 7 am.

Wherever the water main can't supply 67 L/s of fire flow, a lot holds at most 2 homes, and in the Rayleigh Waterworks District service area (Figure 16) at most 1 (s. 3.19).

Parking (Table 5): 1 space per house, duplex unit or small-scale multi-unit home and 1 per suite, but none for one suite on a street where residents can get a parking permit; no residential minimum on a lot in a transit-oriented area (s. 4.5.2).

Accessory buildings can't hold a shower, bathtub, bedroom or other sleeping space, deck, balcony or wet bar, and have at most two plumbing fixtures and a 3 m² bathroom (s. 3.1.8); under 10 m² they need no setback from rear or interior side lot lines (s. 3.1.4).

No repair, sale or salvage of vehicles other than the residents' own (s. 3.8), and on a lot with one or two homes no more than five vehicles parked outside (s. 3.9).

Fences and hedges up to 1.2 m in a required front or side-street yard and 2 m elsewhere; no barbed or razor wire (ss. 5.7, 5.8).

No permanent shipping containers; only during construction under a building permit or for up to 30 days of a move (s. 3.11).

Beside a provincial highway, buildings and structures stand at least 4.5 m from that lot line (3 m where a public lane gives secondary access); less needs the Ministry of Transportation's consent and a variance (s. 3.15).

Below the 200-year flood level, floors used for living, business or storing goods in multi-unit or small-scale multi-unit housing and in garden or carriage suites sit above that level (s. 3.16).

A lot registered before this bylaw that is smaller or narrower than the zone's minimum may still be developed to the zone's density (s. 2.1.1).

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 City of Kamloops' planning and development department before you buy or build.

Source: City of Kamloops Zoning Bylaw No. 55, 2021 (summarised in our words); zone map: Open Government Licence – Kamloops.