AR1: Agricultural

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

One house or mobile home, plus one detached secondary dwelling and secondary suites

Main uses

Farming, greenhouses, winery, animal boarding, house or mobile home; bed and breakfast, detached secondary dwelling, home-based business, produce stand, mobile vendor, secondary suite, short-term rental

Smallest lot for a subdivision

8 ha in the Agricultural Land Reserve, 1 ha outside it; 40 m wide

Lot coverage

75%

Height limit

Houses 12 m or 2.5 storeys; farm buildings 14 m; detached secondary dwellings 10.5 m or 2 storeys

Setbacks

Homes: front 6 m, sides 3 m, rear 9 m (detached secondary dwellings 3 m). Farm buildings: front 6 m, sides 3 m, rear 9 m; for livestock, fur-bearing animals or poultry, front 25 m, sides 10 m, rear 15 m and 12 m from homes

On land in the Agricultural Land Reserve, the Agricultural Land Commission's rules come first (s. 4.2.4).

Mobile homes and modular buildings meet CSA Z240 or A277 and sit on a foundation built to that standard (s. 7.2.6).

No building between the east end of the airport runway and the City boundary (s. 7.2.7).

Secondary suites and detached secondary dwellings together (s. 4.36): up to 3 on a lot of 280 m² or less; on a bigger lot 4, or one per main home if that is more.

Secondary suites (s. 4.37) sit inside a house, half of a duplex or a townhouse behind a vertical fire separation, are no bigger than the home they belong to, and are rented a month or more at a time; not in the same building as a bed and breakfast or short-term rental. One more parking space for up to two accessory homes, half a space for each more (Table 5.18).

Detached secondary dwellings (s. 4.38) are smaller than the main building, stand 3 m from it and from each other, share its City water and sewer connections, and are lived in only once the main building has its occupancy permit. A suite in the main building is registered with the City before one is built.

Bed and breakfast (s. 4.33), in a house: up to four guest rooms, the owner or operator living there at least 180 days a year, guests staying up to 30 days in a row and 90 a year, and not in a building with a suite or short-term rental. One more parking space per guest room (Table 5.18).

Short-term rental (stays under 30 days) is allowed (s. 4.34), with a business licence shown on site, written permission from the strata council in a strata, guests staying up to 30 days in a row and 90 days a year, and not in a home with an occupied suite or a bed and breakfast.

Home-based businesses (s. 4.32), with a business licence: up to 40% of the home's floor area (25% with a bed and breakfast), run by people who live there with at most one outside employee, no outside storage, no deliveries by commercial vehicle and at most two clients at a time.

Shipping containers for storage, vented and labelled, screened and kept in the back yard: one per 2 ha (s. 4.19).

Buildings stand 3 m apart (s. 7.2.5).

An accessory building can't be a home, a suite or a short-term rental (s. 4.16), and goes up only with or after the main building.

Section 4.14 sets no fence height for this zone; a 6 m sight triangle at a corner stays clear above 1.25 m (s. 4.15).

Minimum lot sizes apply to new lots; an existing smaller lot stays lawful (s. 4.6).

Every zone also allows public utilities, electric vehicle charging, and temporary site buildings and containers during construction (s. 4.2).

Floodplain (s. 4.30, Schedule B): land below the Province's 200-year flood level of the Nicola and Coldwater rivers, or less than 1.5 m above any other watercourse, is floodplain. Floors of homes, businesses and storage there sit at least 0.6 m above that level, and fill stays 30 m from the rivers and other watercourses unless a riparian assessment allows it. Setbacks from streams follow provincial and federal rules (s. 4.24).

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 Merritt's planning department before you buy or build.

Source: City of Merritt Zoning Bylaw No. 2284, 2020 (summarised in our words); zone map: Open Government Licence – Thompson-Nicola Regional District.