C-3: 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 business, with its own outside door (s. 1.18(4))

Main uses

Services to farms, veterinary clinic, kennel; vehicle repair and rental, 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 (no drive-ins or drive-throughs) and assembly halls; recycling depot; horticulture; wholesale (no scrap)

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.

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 fence or screen at least 2 m tall 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).

New lots also need at least 1,670 m² of usable land (695 m² on a community water system): one piece averaging 15% slope or less, with no land slip, avalanche, rock fall, flooding or high water table hazard (ss. 2.03, 3.3).

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 or in Moyie townsite (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 and farm-hand dwellings (ss. 1.20 to 1.22, 1.31).

Floodplain (Schedule B): the floor of any living or business space sits at least 3 m above the high water mark of the Moyie and St. Mary rivers and 1.5 m above any other stream, lake, marsh or pond (in the Special Policy Area mapped on Schedule B2, such as alluvial fans, 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 the Moyie and St. Mary rivers and Lamb and Braunagel creeks, 15 m from other streams, and 7.5 m from Moyie Lake, Monroe Lake and any other 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: Electoral Area C South Zoning & Floodplain Management Bylaw No. 2913, 2019 (summarised in our words); zone map: Open Government Licence – Regional District of East Kootenay.