R3: Small Parcel Residential

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

Houses, duplexes, townhouses or apartments: up to 3 homes on a lot of 280 m² or less; on a bigger lot 4, or 60 per hectare (90 for townhouses and apartments) if that is more. Secondary suites and detached secondary dwellings on top, within s. 4.36

Main uses

House, duplex, townhouses, apartments; detached secondary dwelling, home-based business, secondary suite, urban agriculture; short-term rental with the City's approval

Smallest lot for a subdivision

112.5 m², 7.5 m wide (135 m² and 9 m on a corner) for a house; 180 m², 12 m wide for a duplex; 225 m², 15 m wide (270 m² on a corner) for townhouses or apartments; 15 m deep

Lot coverage

85%

Height limit

Main buildings 14 m or 3 storeys; detached secondary dwellings 10.5 m or 2 storeys

Setbacks

Main buildings: front 5 m (3 m with lane access), interior sides 1.2 m, exterior side 2.8 m, rear 3 m (5 m with lane access, but 3 m for townhouses or apartments on a lane-access corner); 5 m to any lot line with a driveway when a lot has more than one; back-to-back townhouses front 5 m, rear 5 m. Detached secondary dwellings: no closer to the front than the main building, interior sides 1.2 m, exterior side 2.8 m, rear 1.2 m

Coverage can rise to 95% with permeable driveways or paths on 10% of the lot.

Whether a bed and breakfast is allowed. Section 4.33.1 allows one in a house in R3, but the zone's list of uses (s. 7.6.4) leaves it out, so this is unclear; ask the City of Merritt.

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.

Short-term rental (stays under 30 days) needs the City's approval as a discretionary use first (ss. 4.5, 4.34), then 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. A detached secondary dwelling may hold one (s. 4.38.5).

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.

Duplex and townhouse units that share a lot line need no side setback there, and their lane garages none where they share one; a townhouse lot for separate ownership can be as small as 58.5 m² and 3.9 m wide; corner units face the side street.

Townhouses and apartments get private outdoor space (10 m² for three or more bedrooms, 7.5 m² for two, 5 m² for one) and 5% of the lot as open space.

More homes are allowed for community amenities or affordable housing kept for 20 years under a covenant (s. 4.26, Table 4.26).

Backyard hens and, with the neighbours' written consent, up to 2 to 6 beehives by lot size are allowed (ss. 4.39, 4.40).

No shipping containers for storage (s. 4.19.4).

Accessory buildings: no closer to the front than the main building, 1.2 m from side and rear lot lines, 5 m or 1.5 storeys tall.

Parking (Table 5.18): 1 space per home, or none with a valid street parking permit.

More than one main building may stand on a lot, 3 m apart (s. 4.35).

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.

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).

Driveways are at most 3 m wide at the lot line (no limit off a lane), slope at most 15%, and a lot has one front access plus one from a lane, or one per home for duplexes, townhouses and detached secondary dwellings (s. 4.8).

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).

Modular buildings built to CSA A277 can be homes or other buildings (s. 4.46).

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

Building and bare land stratas are allowed; suites and detached secondary dwellings follow the strata's bylaws (s. 4.44).

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.