RM2: Multi-Unit 2 - Low Density

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

Multi-unit housing (apartments, townhouses, row houses, stratas of houses and duplexes), up to 33 homes per hectare and a floor area ratio of 0.55; no cap per hectare in a transit-oriented area

Main uses

Multi-unit housing; home-based business; short-term rental or boarders in a house, house with suite or duplex; home daycare and licensed home care in an existing house

Smallest lot for a subdivision

910 m², 24 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

3 storeys and 10 m; in a transit-oriented area 10 storeys within 200 m of a transit exchange, 6 storeys at 201 to 400 m; structures 15 m; accessory buildings 4 m (3 m under 10 m²)

Setbacks

Front 4.5 m; sides 3 m; rear 7.5 m (6 m beside a lane; accessory buildings over 10 m², 1 m, or 1.5 m beside a lane); side or rear street 4.5 m; 1.5 m between accessory and main buildings

Floor area ratio 0.55; in a transit-oriented area 3.5 within 200 m of a transit exchange and 2.5 at 201 to 400 m (s. 9.2.5).

Transit-oriented areas are the land within 400 m of a prescribed transit exchange, mapped in Figures 18 to 18.3 (Downtown, North Kamloops, Thompson Rivers University) (s. 4.5.5); there the figures given for 200 m and for 201 to 400 m from the exchange apply, and no cap on homes per hectare does.

Site-specific densities (s. 9.2.6): 42 homes per hectare at 411 Aberdeen Drive (Strata Plan KAS1653); 36 per hectare at 1850 Grasslands Boulevard; 60 homes at 2025 Hugh Allan Drive; 38 per hectare (20 homes, floor area ratio 0.69) at 2648 Tranquille Road; 25 per hectare on Lot 1, Plan KAP82157 (Mt. Dufferin); 4 homes on 945 m² at 225 Schubert Drive; 38 per hectare at 282–288 Park Street; 14 homes at 870 McQueen Drive; 30 homes (ratio 0.60) at 1395 Prairie Rose Drive; 28 homes at 1385 Rockcress Drive; 10 homes at 1923 and 1929 Parkcrest Avenue; 20 homes (ratio 0.92) at 2686 Tranquille Road; 20 homes at 2468 Qu'Appelle Boulevard. Up to 34 homes plus 11 flex suites at 1940/1950 Pacific Way (s. 9.2.3).

On the RM2 lots bounded by 1st Avenue, St. Paul Street, 3rd Avenue and Columbia Street, s. 9.2.3(b) allows a house or a house with a secondary suite under "Division 8, Section 8.1, RS1" rules; RS1 was renamed R2 (s. 8.2, Table 1) while s. 8.1 is now R1, so which zone's rules apply is unclear; ask the City of Kamloops.

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. 9.2.7).

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 apartments or townhouses: 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): 0.75 spaces per studio and 1 per home with a bedroom, plus 15% for visitors; less in the reduced parking area (s. 4.7) and for rental, social or seniors housing under a housing agreement; no residential minimum on a lot in a transit-oriented area (s. 4.5.2).

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.