R3B: Multiple Housing (Medium Density)

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

Duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, townhouses and apartments, up to 60 homes per hectare (s. 10.2.3)

Main uses

Multi-family housing, major group home, minor day care, shared recreation and storage for the residents; minor home business

Smallest lot for a subdivision

1,600 m², with 30 m of frontage

Lot coverage

35%

Height limit

3 storeys and 12 m; accessory buildings 5 m

Setbacks

Front 6 m, sides 4.5 m (6 m beside a road), rear 9 m; 15 m from the A1 zone or ALR, 18 m for the part of a building above 6 m (a third storey) (s. 3.11.9)

The zone is for medium-density multi-family housing (s. 10.1). Each home has private amenity space: 7.5 m² for a bachelor unit, 15 m² for one bedroom, 25 m² for more (s. 10.2.12), a quarter of it at grade (s. 3.30). Parking is paved (s. 3.6).

Along land in the A1 zone or the ALR, a 6 m level 2 buffer (screen, hedge, trees and shrubs) is required (s. 3.11.6-8).

Minor home business (s. 3.20): inside the home or suite only, using at most 25% of it up to 20 m², no workers from elsewhere, one client at a time, no sign and no outdoor storage.

Short-term rental isn't listed in this zone, and uses the zone doesn't list aren't allowed (s. 4.5.1).

No commercial vehicle over 4,000 kg, at most two lighter ones, no RV or park model over 12.2 m and no logging or construction equipment parked on the lot; at most one unlicensed vehicle outside (s. 3.14).

On a lot without a home, no outdoor storage yard and no parking of an RV or park model trailer (s. 3.13.1).

Accessory buildings: up to 100 m² of floor area in all and three buildings (pump houses and pools aside), after the main building, never in the front or corner side setback; in a side or rear setback one over 2 m tall stays 1 m from the line; nobody lives in one (s. 3.17).

Fences up to 1.3 m in the front and corner side setbacks and 2 m elsewhere, with no barbed, razor or electric wire (s. 3.10); retaining walls up to 2.5 m and 2 m apart.

Heights of houses and of accessory buildings up to two storeys are measured from the centre line of the road in front (on a flat lot or one sloping down from the road) or the average level of the rear lot line (on a lot sloping up), not from the ground at the building (Part 15). Barns, silos, grain bins, chimneys, antennas and similar are exempt from height limits, most of them up to 20 m (s. 3.9).

Floodplain (s. 3.28): floors for living, business or storing goods sit above 343.66 m (geodetic) beside Okanagan Lake, 3 m above the natural boundary of Mission Creek and 1.5 m above any other watercourse; fill to raise them stays 15 m from Okanagan Lake and other watercourses, 30 m from Mission Creek and 7.5 m from other lakes, swamps and ponds. Garages, carports, entrance foyers and most farm buildings are exempt; the RDCO may grant exemptions on a geotechnical report.

Only the uses the zone lists are allowed (s. 4.5.1). Licensed day cares for up to 8 and care homes for up to 10 people are outside the bylaw and allowed anywhere (note to s. 3.12).

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 RDCO's planning department before you buy or build.

Source: Section 10.1 of Regional District of Central Okanagan Zoning Bylaw No. 871 (summarised in our words, checked 2026-10-04); zone map: Open Government Licence – Regional District of Central Okanagan.