P-3: Public Works and Utility

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

None: the zone lists no dwelling

Main uses

Cemetery and crematorium, public works and vehicle and equipment storage yards, landfill with recycling depot, airport or heliport, government services, farming, wireless towers

Smallest lot for a subdivision

None set in the zone

Height limit

10 m

Setbacks

Front 7.5 m, rear and sides 6 m; a landfill and its facilities 1,000 m from any home on another lot (and, as printed, from any building on the same lot)

The zone sets no lot coverage.

Parks, public utilities, landfills and waste transfer sites are exempt from the lot size and usable land rules (s. 2.1(3)).

Fences at least 2 m tall (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 in this zone, which permits farming (s. 1.11(4)).

An RV or park model trailer can't be used as a home (s. 1.4). At most two RVs may be placed and occupied on a lot, hooked to an approved septic system and sited like a building in the zone; in and around the Wardner townsite (the bylaw's Figure 2), only while a home is being built (s. 1.19). How long an RV may be occupied isn't set, so ask the RDEK.

Section 1.17 bans vehicle wrecking, outdoor repair and stored derelict vehicles, allowing one derelict vehicle out of the front yard in the residential, rural, P-1 and P-2 zones; whether the ban reaches this zone at all is unclear, so ask the RDEK.

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. 2.4, 3.3).

Heights are measured from finished grade (on lots under 1,670 m², the natural ground) 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), 3.3). Chimneys, antennas, silos, solar collectors, spires and the like are exempt (s. 1.11(2)).

Every zone also allows parks, public utilities, highways and railways, heritage sites, conservation areas and reserves (s. 1.3). Billboards and third-party signs are banned everywhere (s. 1.13). Buildings stay 22 m from a controlled access highway unless the lot is on a frontage road (s. 1.6). Section 1.29 adds uses on four named lots: a solar farm, indoor RV storage, a residential treatment centre, and three guest ranch cabins with kitchens.

Inside the ALR, farm uses and those the Agricultural Land Commission approves are permitted, as is cannabis production under the ALR Use Regulation (its buildings 15 m from the front and inside side lot lines and 30 m from the rear and a side beside a road); the Commission's rules also apply to suites, farm-hand dwellings and dwellings for a relative needing care (ss. 1.10(6), 1.14, 1.20, 1.21, 1.25, 1.27).

Floodplain (Schedule B): the floor of any living or business space, or space for goods that flood water would damage, sits 3 m above the high water mark of the Kootenay, St. Mary, Wild Horse and Bull rivers, and 1.5 m above that of any other stream, lake, marsh or pond; fill and supports stay 30 m from those four rivers, 15 m from other streams and 7.5 m from a lake, marsh or pond. In the Special Policy Area on Schedule B1 (the Bull River hazard area: alluvial fans and fast water), the floor sits at the highest of 1 m above the ground, 0.6 m above anything that could pond water, or an engineer's level. Renovations, small additions, carports, garages and entrance foyers are among the exemptions (Schedule B2).

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: Steeples Zoning & Floodplain Management Bylaw No. 2615, 2015 (summarised in our words); zone map: Open Government Licence – Regional District of East Kootenay.