RM1: Multi-Unit 1 - Low Density

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

Houses and duplexes built as one multi-unit development (a strata or bare land strata, for instance), up to 25 homes per hectare, with residential suites

Main uses

Multi-unit housing made of houses and duplexes; residential suites, short-term rental or boarders, home-based business; home daycare and licensed home care in an existing house

Smallest lot for a subdivision

3,000 m², 30 m wide

Lot coverage

40% of the parent parcel, accessory buildings included; on a bare land strata lot, accessory buildings 12% up to 80 m²

Height limit

Houses and duplexes 2 storeys; structures 15 m; accessory buildings 4 m (3 m under 10 m²)

Setbacks

4.5 m from every edge of the parent parcel; 3 m between main buildings, 1.5 m from an accessory building

No manufactured homes (s. 9.1.7).

Site-specific (ss. 9.1.3, 9.1.6): two triplexes at 770 Hugh Allan Drive; up to 42 homes at 2000 Qu'Appelle Boulevard and 1939 Coldwater Drive; 16 homes per hectare at 8855 Dallas Drive (at most 40% in duplexes) and at 1799 Babine Drive (40 homes).

Accessory buildings: any size for shared parking, storage, assembly or recreation; one of up to 10 m² per home in its rear or side yard; none nearer an internal road than the home's wall, nor in a yard beside a City street (s. 9.1.8).

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 as an accessory use: 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).

No repair, sale or salvage of vehicles other than the residents' own (s. 3.8).

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.