C-1: Local Commercial

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

One dwelling, accessory to a business on the lot: a manufactured home on a non-permanent foundation, or a self-contained unit built into the main building above the first storey or behind the main use, with its own outside door (the zone; s. 1.18(3))

Main uses

General and convenience stores, liquor store, personal services, professional offices, gas station with auto repair and body shop, restaurants and neighbourhood pub, gift shop, bus depot, postal outlet, tourist information, sporting goods store; light industry (signs, secondary wood processing, contractors, machinery and equipment repair and rental, machine and welding shops, small engine repair, printing, landscaping)

Smallest lot for a subdivision

0.3 ha

Lot coverage

60%

Height limit

10 m

Setbacks

Front 7.5 m; rear 6 m beside a residential or institutional zone (4.5 m otherwise); sides 4.5 m

The business runs inside an enclosed building, apart from parking, loading, driveways, storage yards and display, rental or sales areas (up to 300 m² outdoors), which have a dust-free surface.

Outdoor storage is screened by a solid board fence or evergreen hedge at least 2 m tall on every side not facing a building on the lot; fences up to 2 m along a lot line next to a residential or institutional zone or a lot with a home (s. 1.15).

New lots also need at least 1,670 m² of usable land: one piece averaging 15% slope or less, with no land slip, avalanche, rock fall, flooding or high water table hazard, and above 750.11 m in elevation (ss. 2.2, 3.3).

Heights are measured from finished grade to halfway between the eaves and the ridge; a flat roof to its top; the walls under a single-pitch roof may reach 1.5 m above the limit (ss. 3.2(6), 1.11(6)).

Every zone also allows parks, public utilities, highways and railways, surface parking, heritage sites and conservation areas (s. 1.3). Buildings stay 22 m from a controlled access highway unless the lot is on a frontage road (s. 1.6).

Inside the ALR, farm uses and those the Agricultural Land Commission approves are permitted, as is cannabis production under the ALR Use Regulation; the Commission's rules also apply to suites, farm-hand dwellings and dwellings for a relative needing care (ss. 1.14, 1.20, 1.21, 1.25, 1.27).

Floodplain (Schedule B): the floor of any living or business space sits above 751 m beside Lake Koocanusa, and 1.5 m above the high water mark of any other stream, lake, marsh or pond (in a Special Policy Area, such as an alluvial fan, the highest of 1 m above the ground, 0.6 m above anything that could pond water, or an engineer's level); no basement floor below 751 m; buildings with living space or goods that flood water would damage stay upland of the 750.11 m contour of the reservoir; fill and supports stay 15 m from streams and 7.5 m from any lake, marsh or pond.

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 RDEK's planning department before you buy or build.

Source: South Country Zoning & Floodplain Management Bylaw No. 2320, 2011 (summarised in our words); zone map: Open Government Licence – Regional District of East Kootenay.