C-4: Service 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

Services to farms, veterinary clinic, kennel; vehicle repair and rental, gas station, electronics repair, labs, security services, manufactured home and prefab building sales, auctions, machinery and equipment sales and rental, tack shop, trailer sales, welding, gunsmith and small engine repair, building services, taxidermy, landscaping; bakery, woodworking, clothing, furniture, printing, machine shop, boat sales and building, signs; offices and storage for construction and logging; storage and warehousing (RVs too); trucking, transit and taxis; laundry; restaurants; horticulture; wholesale (no scrap or salvage); campground, hotel and motel; a food, gift, general or sporting goods store on the side (150 m² in all)

Smallest lot for a subdivision

4,000 m²

Lot coverage

50% (75% for greenhouses with closed waste and storm water systems)

Height limit

12 m

Setbacks

Front 7.5 m; rear 6 m beside a residential or institutional zone (4.5 m otherwise); 7.5 m on a side beside a road; without a developed lane, at least one side yard of 4.5 m

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

Campgrounds follow the RDEK's Campground Bylaw No. 2403, which also lists what may go with them (s. 1.16).

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, and a 2 m fence or screen runs along a lot line next to a residential or institutional zone or a lot with a home (s. 1.15).

Kennel buildings and runs stay 60 m from every lot line (s. 1.10(7)).

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 (ss. 2.02, 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, heritage sites and conservation areas (s. 1.03). Buildings stay 22 m from a controlled access highway unless the lot is on a frontage road (s. 1.06).

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 772 m (geodetic) beside Wasa Lake, at least 3 m above the high water mark of the Kootenay and Lussier rivers, Skookumchuck Creek, the St. Mary River and Perry Creek, and 1.5 m above any other stream, lake, marsh or pond (on the Lussier River fan mapped in Schedule B1, the highest of 1 m above the ground, 0.6 m above anything that could pond water, or an engineer's level); fill and supports stay 30 m from those five rivers and creeks, 15 m from other streams and 7.5 m from any lake, marsh or pond. On the Argyle Creek hazard area (Schedule B2) the setbacks apply and an engineer assesses the site (Schedule B, Part 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 RDEK's planning department before you buy or build.

Source: Electoral Area E Zoning and Floodplain Management Bylaw No. 2502, 2014 (summarised in our words); zone map: Open Government Licence – Regional District of East Kootenay.