RR-1(A): Single Family Residential (Small Lot)

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

One house, with a secondary suite inside it

Main uses

House; home based business

Smallest lot for a subdivision

400 m²

Lot coverage

35%

Height limit

House 9 m, accessory buildings 9 m

Setbacks

House: front 5 m, rear 6 m, sides 1.2 m (4.5 m beside a road). Accessory buildings: front 7.5 m, rear and sides 2 m (4.5 m beside a road)

In Strata Plan NES3720, setbacks are measured from the common access lot as if it were a road (s. 4.7(4)).

Secondary suite (s. 1.21): one, inside the house only, at most 49% of its habitable floor space, in a house that isn't a manufactured home (a building with a suite isn't a duplex), built to the BC Building Code, on approved sewage disposal and never strata-titled.

Fences up to 2 m (s. 1.15).

A home based business sign is unlit and at most 1 m² (s. 1.13).

The bylaw doesn't list vacation or short-term rental as a use; a bed and breakfast (up to four guest rooms in a house, breakfast for those guests only) is allowed as a home based business (ss. 1.8(9), 3.3). Section 1.28 also allows one bed and breakfast cabin on residential lots in part of the Wardner townsite (its Figure 3), but this zone doesn't list cabins (though s. 1.8(9) counts a cabin as part of a bed and breakfast, a home based business), so whether one is allowed here is unclear. Ask the RDEK before renting a home short term.

One kitchen per home (s. 1.22).

Home based business (ss. 1.8, 3.3; a preschool or child care for up to seven children, and a bed and breakfast, count too): run by people living in the home, with at most two helpers from elsewhere. On lots under 2 ha it stays inside the house or an accessory building (at most 150 m² of floor space), with no outdoor storage or other outside sign of it beyond two work vehicles, and at most five clients or students at a time (not counting bed and breakfast guests). On 2 ha or more it may store and park outdoors, just not in the front or a side yard beside a road, with its buildings and storage 10 m from lot lines and at most 1% of the lot or 400 m², whichever is less (150 m² inside the ALR). Either way, one heavy commercial vehicle at most; it sells only what is made on the lot, or items that go with its service, from at most 10 m² of display.

While a home is being built or rebuilt under a building permit, one extra dwelling (meeting every zone rule but the number of homes) or an RV may be lived in on the lot, with proof that a septic system can be built for it. Once the new home is occupied, the dwelling goes or becomes an accessory building cut off from water and sewer; the RV is cut off and left empty then, or when the original permit expires if that comes first (s. 1.5).

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.

No outdoor wrecking or repair of vehicles other than the household's own (or a home based business that follows the rules), and at most one derelict vehicle outside a building, kept out of the front yard (ss. 1.17, 3.3).

A new lot on its own well and septic system must be at least 1,670 m² (s. 2.3); the bylaw sets no larger size for lots with community water or sewer. New lots need usable land equal to the zone's minimum lot size: 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).

On an existing lot under 1,670 m², a building permit for a home needs a septic permit first (s. 1.2).

Parking (s. 3.2(4)): two spaces per home, one for a secondary suite, one per bed and breakfast room or cabin, and up to two for a home based business's clients (s. 3.1(9)).

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.