R4-S: Small-Scale Multi-Unit Residential: Small Lot

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

Up to 4 homes on a lot: houses, duplexes, townhouses or a small apartment building, secondary suites and carriage houses counting toward the 4

Main uses

Houses, duplexes (side-by-side, back-to-back or stacked), townhouses, apartments, congregate housing; carriage house, secondary suite, minor and major home occupation, short-term rental

Smallest lot for a subdivision

280 m², 9.1 m wide (10.5 m on a corner)

Lot coverage

50%

Height limit

Main buildings 11 m and 3 storeys; accessory buildings 4.5 m; carriage houses 7 m and 2 storeys with a lane or on a double-fronting lot, otherwise 5 m and 1 storey

Setbacks

Front 4.5 m; interior sides 1.5 m (accessory buildings 1.2 m); exterior side 3 m (accessory buildings 1.2 m); rear 6 m (accessory buildings and carriage houses 1.5 m)

Secondary suites and carriage houses count toward the 4 homes: the cap is 4 dwelling units, the bylaw defines both as dwelling units (s. 3.2), and the zone's purpose counts them among its up to 4 units.

Accessory buildings together cover at most 75 m² (s. 10.2.2).

Where there's a rear lane, vehicles must use it, and a 1.2 m hard-surfaced path runs from the front of the lot to each home's main door (s. 10.2.3).

A major home occupation only in a house or accessory building, on a lot with no more than two homes (s. 10.2.3).

Amenity space: 10 m² per home, a quarter of it at ground level, and at most a fifth of it indoors (s. 10.2.4).

New development plants at least one tree per home (secondary suites not counted), one of them in the front yard (s. 5.3.1).

A bed and breakfast isn't a use of this zone except on the lots named in s. 10.2.5.

Site-specific (s. 10.2.5): a bed and breakfast at 434 Lakeshore Drive West (Lot 1, DL 4, Plan 35081) and 1112 Syer Road (Lot B, DL 2710, Plan EPP109914); a major day care for up to 25 children, open 7 am to 6 pm, at 187 Wyles Crescent (Lot B, DL 115, Plan KAP49954); an office at 264 Wade Avenue West (Lot 3, DL 4, Plan 2580).

Lots in the Transitional Neighbourhood Overlay in the A, RM2, C1, C3, C7, C9, CT1 and P1 zones may also be developed under this zone's rules.

Secondary suites (s. 8.1): one per home, inside it with its own door to the outside; needs a community sewer connection unless the lot is at least 830 m² and meets the provincial sewerage rules; never titled or strata-lotted apart from the home; 5 m² of private outdoor space; no parking space required (Table 6.6).

Carriage houses here (s. 8.2): only with or after the house; floor area up to 135 m²; 7 m and two storeys with a lane or on a double-fronting lot, otherwise 5 m and one storey; no closer to the front than the house; the house's setbacks except 1.5 m at the rear; no decks, balconies or rooftop patios; 5 m² of outdoor space and a 1.2 m hard-surfaced path to the street; never titled or strata-lotted apart; side windows within 1.5 m of a neighbour are opaque; no parking space required.

Bed and breakfast (s. 7.2): only in a single detached house, with the licensed operator living there; up to four guest rooms of two guests each; the house keeps its residential look; one guest room counts as a minor home occupation. Parking: one space per guest room up to three, plus one for the home (Table 6.6).

Minor home occupations (s. 7.3): in the home, a suite, carriage house or accessory building; residents only; up to 25% of the home's floor area and 20 m²; one client visit and one commercial vehicle visit (8 am to 6 pm) a day; no outdoor storage or work; no vehicle repair, welding, cabinet making, manufacturing and similar uses.

Major home occupations (s. 7.4): as minor ones, but up to 25% of the home and 50 m² with any accessory building used, one employee from outside, two clients at a time, and one per property; parking: one space per business (Table 6.6).

Short-term rental is a permitted use. The bylaw counts any stay of 90 days or less as short-term (s. 3.2), and requires a City business licence; only the property's principal resident may rent it out; at most two guests per bedroom and eight in all; no alterations that change the home's residential look; on a lot with a house and a secondary suite or carriage house, only one of the homes may be rented this way (ss. 3.2, 7.6).

Urban hens only on a lot with one single detached house (s. 7.7).

Parking (Table 6.6): 1 space per house or duplex unit; 1 per apartment, townhouse or cluster home plus 0.2 for visitors; none for a secondary suite or carriage house; 0.5 per non-market home.

Transit-oriented areas (Schedules C to E, around the bus exchanges at Penticton Plaza, Peachtree Square and Cherry Lane Mall; Area 1 within 200 m, Area 2 200 to 400 m, s. 3.2): residential buildings, and mixed-use ones at least half residential, need no parking for homes and may reach 6 storeys and 2.5 FAR in Area 1 or 4 storeys and 1.5 FAR in Area 2, or the zone's own figures where higher (s. 4.16).

Accessory buildings go up only with or after the main building, stand behind its front face (those of 10 m² or less anywhere behind it), and can't be lived in except as a carriage house where allowed (ss. 4.2.1 to 4.2.4).

A garage or carport reached from the street stands 6 m from the curb or sidewalk, as does a driveway gate over 1.2 m (ss. 4.2.7, 4.2.8).

Fences and walls up to 1.2 m, or 1.8 m behind the front yard setback and in side and rear yards, or 2.4 m beside a controlled-access highway; nothing over 1.2 m in a corner visibility triangle; no barbed, electric or razor wire (ss. 4.3, 5.4.1). Retaining walls 1.2 m in required yards, 2.4 m elsewhere (s. 5.4.2).

Living in an RV on a lot is limited to 10 days in any 30 (s. 4.8.2).

One recreational vehicle may be parked outside per home, more only inside a building, and no vehicle over 5,600 kg unless it is enclosed (s. 6.1.1).

Metal storage containers only during construction under a building permit (s. 4.8.4).

No development within 30 m of a watercourse, or the smaller distance a Qualified Environmental Professional sets under the Riparian Areas Protection Regulation and the official community plan's development permit areas (s. 4.14).

No building inside an existing or future collector or arterial road right-of-way shown in the official community plan; setbacks from those roads are measured from the future road line (s. 4.6).

Nothing, cranes included, may rise above the Horizontal Surface of the federal Penticton Airport Zoning Regulations without federal approval (s. 4.5).

Every zone also allows public parks, utility services, urban agriculture, cultural exhibits and a minor day care (up to 8 children) (s. 4.12).

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 Penticton's planning department before you buy or build.

Source: City of Penticton Zoning Bylaw No. 2024-22 (summarised in our words); zone map: Open Government Licence – City of Penticton.