RU3: Rural 3

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

One single detached house with a secondary suite inside it (s. 6.3.12)

Main uses

Home with farming (not intensive farming), hobby kennel, greenhouses, minor day care; major home business, short-term rental

Smallest lot for a subdivision

1 ha, with 30 m of frontage

Lot coverage

10%

Height limit

3 storeys and 9 m; accessory buildings 5 m

Setbacks

Front 6 m, sides 3 m (4.5 m beside a road), rear 3 m; hobby kennels, buildings housing animals overnight and greenhouses 15 m from lot lines; 15 m from the A1 zone or ALR (9 m with a buffer)

The zone is for rural homes with some farming and home industry on lots of 1 ha or more outside the ALR (s. 6.3). The house is at least 5.5 m wide (s. 6.3.13).

Secondary suite (s. 3.26): one per lot, inside the single detached house (not joined to it by a breezeway or carport), up to 100 m² of floor area, never strata-titled, and not on a lot with an accessory home. It needs community water or a private water source (with a water licence where one is required), and community sewer or a septic system that an Authorized Person confirms can take both homes, with room for a backup field.

Major home business (s. 3.21): in the house and one accessory building, up to 100 m² of floor area plus 50 m² of indoor storage, and one screened outdoor storage area of up to 50 m² kept 15 m from lot lines; two workers from elsewhere, up to 3 clients at a time, noise under 55 dBA at the lot line; no salvage or storage of derelict vehicles.

Short-term rental (stays under 90 days in a row) is a listed use since Bylaw 1586 (May 14, 2026; s. 3.23): one per property, in all or part of the house or in its secondary suite but not both, never in an accessory home; at most 4 bedrooms and 8 guests overnight, one parking space set aside for it, and an RDCO business licence. It is allowed only inside a fire protection area (a Fire Protection Boundary set by an RDCO service bylaw): each lot's report says whether the RDCO's fire protection area map puts it inside one.

Next to a residential (R or R3) zone, a structure exempt from the height limit (barn, silo, antenna and the like) keeps a side and rear setback of its height minus 6 m (s. 6.3.9).

Fences: the bylaw's 2 m limit doesn't apply in this zone (s. 3.10.3), but a fence on a retaining wall stays within 1.3 m (s. 3.10.6); no tarps, razor wire or unfinished sheet metal (s. 3.10.11).

On an A1 or RU lot of 5,000 m² or more, up to 2 pieces of logging, industrial, commercial or construction equipment may be kept outside (under 150 m², 15 m from side and rear lines and from water), and up to 4 on 3.8 ha or more (under 300 m²). On a smaller lot: no commercial vehicle over 4,000 kg, at most two lighter ones, no RV over 12.2 m and no logging or construction equipment. At most four unlicensed vehicles outside on any lot (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 come 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 unless it is an accessory home (s. 3.17).

The house stays 15 m from land in the A1 zone or the ALR; in RU and R zones 9 m with a level 1 buffer (3 m wide: a 2 m solid screen, an evergreen hedge and trees) along that line (s. 3.11).

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).

A lot cut off for a relative must meet the zone's minimum lot size too (s. 3.3).

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 6.3 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.