A1: Agriculture

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

One house (a single detached home or a mobile home), with a secondary suite and a carriage house, which may be a mobile home; on Agricultural Land Reserve land another home only where the Agricultural Land Commission allows it (s. 10.3 notes .6, .8, .13)

Main uses

Agriculture (intensive included), aquaculture, cannabis cultivation, forestry, greenhouses and plant nurseries, kennels, stables, urban agriculture, a house or mobile home; agri-tourism, alcohol production (wineries, cideries and the like), farm retail stands, on-farm processing (cannabis included), temporary farm worker housing, bed and breakfast, carriage house, secondary suite, child care for up to 8 children, home-based businesses (minor, major and rural), short-term rental by a resident; the Agricultural Land Commission Act may limit any of these

Smallest lot for a subdivision

4 ha (40,000 m²), 40 m wide, with or without sewer; each lot needs a 150 m² building envelope (s. 10.4)

Lot coverage

35% of the lot for all buildings, structures and hard surfaces (75% for greenhouses and nurseries with closed waste and storm water systems); the house at most 500 m² of floor area (s. 10.5)

Height limit

House 10 m; carriage house 5.4 m; farm buildings 16 m; non-farm accessory buildings 6 m; kennels and alcohol production 10 m; farm stands 6 m

Setbacks

House and carriage house: front and flanking 6 m, sides 3 m, rear 10 m. Non-farm accessory buildings 6 m, 3 m, 3 m. Farm buildings: 4.5 m front, 3 m sides and rear; livestock and poultry housing, confined livestock areas, compost, kennels and stables 15 m from every lot line (livestock 30 m next to a residential, commercial, core area or centre zone); manure storage and incinerators 30 m; 15 m to 100 m from the edge of the ALR depending on the building (s. 10.5)

On a lot of 8,000 m² or more, a farm protection development permit registers a residential footprint of up to 2,000 m² on title, and up to 1,000 m² more for a carriage house (s. 10.5 note .1).

Carriage house: up to 90 m² of floor area (186 m² on lots of 40 ha or more); needs community sewer and water unless the lot is at least 10,000 m²; may be a mobile home in A1 (ss. 10.3 note .8, 10.5).

On Agricultural Land Reserve land the Agricultural Land Commission Act and its regulations also limit uses, homes, floor areas and site coverage (ss. 10.3 note .10, 10.5 note .5).

Farm stands selling only the farm's own produce have no size limit; selling anything else, the sales area is at most 300 m², half of it for the farm's products (s. 10.5 note .2). Greenhouses and nurseries may sell non-farm garden products on up to 150 m² (s. 10.3 note .4).

Kennels need a lot of at least 2 ha (s. 10.3 note .5) and have a footprint of up to 250 m² and 500 m² of floor (s. 10.5).

Temporary farm worker housing goes in temporary structures without concrete pads or foundations, or in a building permitted at least two years before (s. 10.3 note .7).

Outdoor crush pads stand 15 m from lot lines (s. 10.5 note .9).

Secondary suites (s. 5.3): inside a house, a semi-detached or duplex home or a townhouse (never an apartment or a boarding house), built to the BC Building Code with an occupancy permit, on a lot with community water, and never titled apart from the home; at most 90 m² of floor area.

A carriage house is a home in a separate building subordinate to the main one, never strata-titled (s. 5.3).

Bed and breakfast (s. 9.3): only in a single detached house and only where it's the lot's one home; up to four guest rooms of two guests each, at least 11 m² each; the licensed operator lives there and is on site while guests stay; never combined with short-term rental; guest parking screened from neighbours; one space per guest room (Table 8.3.1).

Home-based businesses (s. 9.2) are run by a resident who lives there more than 240 days a year, with no outdoor storage or work, no nuisance and no commercial vehicle over 5,500 kg. Minor: inside the home, residents only, one client at a time, up to 20 m² and 25% of the home. Major: in the home or one accessory building, one outside worker, two clients at a time, up to 50 m² and 25% of the home (no fixed cap, but at most half the home, in a ground-oriented home on a transit supportive corridor or in an urban or village centre); one parking space.

Rural home-based businesses (s. 9.2): on lots of 4,000 m² or more, two outside workers, two clients at a time, up to 100 m² with any accessory building.

Child care for up to 8 children (minor) is run by a resident who lives there more than 240 days a year (s. 5.3).

Short-term rental (stays under 90 days, s. 5.3) is allowed as a minor use only: run by a principal resident who lives in the home more than 240 days a year (a suite or carriage house by a resident of the same lot); one booking per home at a time; up to three bedrooms of two adults each; on a lot with a house and a suite or carriage house, at most two homes and five bedrooms let this way (s. 9.10).

On Agricultural Land Reserve land, short-term rental must also follow the Agricultural Land Commission Act (s. 9.10).

Cannabis production facilities stand 60 m from any lot whose main use is residential (s. 9.9).

Section 7.5.2 sets no fence height for agricultural zones; razor wire isn't allowed (s. 7.5.6); fences within 1.4 m of a building are metal, masonry or concrete, not wood or vinyl (s. 7.5.8).

Site-specific rules in Section 10.7 (zone not named): an animal clinic on a lot under 2 ha at 2605 O'Reilly Road; a café of 25.3 m² indoors at 700 Highway 33 East; a bed and breakfast of up to 8 guest rooms with a guests-only winery, restaurant and lounge at 380 Lochview Road; a carriage house on a lot under 10,000 m² at 2261-2265 James Road; temporary shelter at 212 Valley Road North; alcohol production at 3640 Hilltown Drive.

Accessory buildings may have one half bathroom of up to 3 m² (a full one only in a pool house) and no bedroom, and can't be a home (s. 6.9).

Steps, decks, porches, balconies and eaves may reach 0.6 m into required setbacks, and up to 2.5 m into the rear yard (s. 6.2).

On a lot beside Highway 97 or Highway 33, buildings and structures stand 4.5 m from that lot line (s. 6.4).

Setbacks from streams and lakes are those of the official community plan's riparian management areas, measured from the top of bank (s. 6.5).

No new lot under 1.0 ha unless it's served by a community sewer (s. 6.6).

Sections 6 to 9 of the bylaw (general rules, landscaping and fences, parking, specific uses) also apply.

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 Kelowna's planning department before you buy or build.

Source: City of Kelowna Zoning Bylaw No. 12375 (summarised in our words); zone map: Open Government Licence – City of Kelowna.