P-2: Parks and Open Space

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

One dwelling, accessory to a use 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

Parks and park reserves, sports fields, conservation areas and wildlife sanctuaries, heritage and archaeological sites, agricultural, forestry and wildlife research; farming only on the part of the lot inside the ALR, with no confined livestock areas

Smallest lot for a subdivision

None set in the zone

Height limit

10 m

Setbacks

Front 7.5 m, rear and sides 6 m

The zone sets no lot coverage.

Fences up to 2 m (s. 1.15).

Farm buildings (s. 1.20): dairy, livestock, fur and poultry buildings 15 m from lot lines (confined livestock areas 30 m) and 30 m from a well or spring; mushroom barns 7.5 m; buildings with boilers or fan walls 15 m; other farm buildings 4.5 m. Livestock and poultry barns, stables, milking buildings, mushroom barns and confined livestock areas stay 15 m from a lake or stream (30 m for confined livestock areas of more than 10 animal units), and manure storage 30 m from wells and springs and 15 m from lakes and streams. Farm buildings have no height limit (s. 1.11(4)).

While a house is being built or rebuilt under a building permit, one extra dwelling or an RV may be lived in on the lot, with proof that a septic system can be built for it; it goes, or becomes an accessory building cut off from water and sewer, once the new house is occupied (s. 1.05).

No vehicle wrecking or repair outdoors, and at most one derelict vehicle, kept out of the front yard (s. 1.17).

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.