RM5: Multi-Unit 5 - High Density

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

Multi-unit housing at a floor area ratio of up to 5.0 (6.0 with the density bonus); no cap on homes per hectare; rooming houses

Main uses

Multi-unit housing, commercial conversions (offices and personal services), rooming house; ground-floor offices, personal services, restaurants and shops in a multi-unit building; home-based business; home daycare and licensed home care in an existing house

Smallest lot for a subdivision

1,000 m², 30 m wide

Lot coverage

70%

Height limit

Not set for buildings; rooftop structures up to 4.5 m above the main roof

Setbacks

Front 6 m; sides 4.5 m; rear 6 m. Townhouses of up to 3 storeys: front 2.5 m, sides 2.5 (no unit printed), rear 4.5 m

The zone sets no building height and no homes per hectare: floor area ratio and coverage limit the size (s. 9.5.5).

Density bonus (s. 3.18): the higher figures need every added home kept as market rental, or 40% of them as affordable rental, or 20% of all homes as social housing, under a housing agreement that bars strata-titling them; in RM3, RM4 and RM5 the lot must also be within 200 m of a mixed-use centre in the official community plan.

Shops and services (s. 9.5.9) only with multi-unit housing, only on the ground floor, each at most 200 m².

Commercial conversion (ss. 9.5.8, 3.7): an existing house can hold offices or personal services, with homes inside it, keeping to R2's height, setbacks and coverage, with parking reached from the rear, none in the front yard and no more than 30% of the lot paved for it, additions of at most 50% of the floor area, and the commercial development permit guidelines.

Site-specific (ss. 9.5.3, 9.5.6): up to 32 hotel or motel units at 559 Nicola Street; at 142 and 154 Vernon Avenue up to 53 seniors homes, a floor area ratio of 2.0 and 5 storeys; a floor area ratio of 3.25 at 653 and 683 1st Avenue and 116 and 136 Columbia Street.

Accessory buildings: any size for shared parking, storage, assembly or recreation; none in a yard beside a street (s. 9.5.7).

The zone doesn't list short-term rental (stays under 30 days), so homes here are let for 30 days or more (ss. 1.3.1, 2.2).

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.