CD01-RC: Comprehensive Development – Residential Commercial

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

One house and one detached secondary dwelling (up to 65 m²) per lot, up to 90 house lots; multi-unit buildings up to 40 homes per hectare and 200 in all

Main uses

Houses with a detached secondary dwelling, multi-unit buildings, a hotel of up to 125 suites, home-based businesses, parks and playgrounds, public utility buildings and towers

Smallest lot for a subdivision

8,000 m² for a house; 3 ha for multi-unit buildings or a hotel

Height limit

12 m (no limit set for the hotel); accessory buildings 6 m

Setbacks

Front 6 m, sides 4.5 m, rear 6 m; accessory buildings 1.5 m from side and rear lot lines

The bylaw text calls this zone CD1-RC; the zoning map labels it CD01-RC.

Everything connects to City water and sewer; no outside storage or repair garages; one accessory building per lot, up to 65 m², and no shipping containers; up to two horses per lot (s. 7.28.5).

Home-based businesses here (s. 7.28.5(h)): up to 20 m² of the house, one per home, one employee from outside, one sign up to 0.19 m²; in multi-unit buildings an office only, up to 10 m², with no clients, deliveries or employees.

Whether a bed and breakfast is allowed. Section 7.28.5(h) sets rules for one (two guest rooms, four guests, stays up to 10 days), but the zone's uses don't list it, so this is unclear; ask the City of Merritt.

Parking (s. 7.28.6): 2 spaces per house plus 1 for a detached secondary dwelling; 1.5 per multi-unit home plus 0.5 for visitors and RVs; 1 per bed and breakfast room; 1.25 per hotel unit.

The bylaw doesn't allow short-term rental (stays under 30 days) in this zone (s. 4.34.1).

Fences and hedges up to 1.25 m between the street and the front of the house and within 3 m of the front lot line, 2 m elsewhere; no barbed wire. A 6 m sight triangle at a corner stays clear above 1.25 m (ss. 4.14, 4.15).

On a lot averaging a 15% slope or more, buildings rise no higher than 7 m above the street centreline's level at the middle of the lot (lots below the street) or above the middle of the rear lot line (lots above it), and no wall rises more than 9 m from the lowest finished grade (s. 4.21).

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.