RR-60: Rural Resource

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

One house or one duplex, plus a secondary suite, and a farm-hand dwelling; a dwelling for a relative needing care is possible

Main uses

House or duplex; farming, produce stand, veterinary clinic, kennel, guest ranch, riding stable and equestrian centre, shooting range, fish pond, rural retreat, hostel, gravel extraction and processing, forestry and Christmas trees, portable sawmill, private airstrip and helipad, wildland use, government services, landfill, wireless towers; cabins and backcountry lodges with wildland use; home occupation

Smallest lot for a subdivision

60 ha

Lot coverage

10% (the consolidation reads "shall exceed 10%", almost certainly a slip for "shall not exceed"; unclear, so ask the RDEK)

Height limit

House 10 m, accessory buildings 12 m

Setbacks

House and farm-hand dwelling 7.5 m from every lot line. Accessory buildings: front 7.5 m, rear and sides 1.5 m (4.5 m beside a road)

The Approving Officer can allow a smaller lot (over 1 ha) for a retiring farmer who will live on it.

Kennel buildings and runs stay 60 m from every lot line.

Shooting ranges stay 50 m from lot lines along a road and 100 m from neighbours' houses; concrete and asphalt plants at gravel pits 100 m from lot lines; landfills and sewage treatment 1,000 m from homes in residential zones.

Neighbours in this zone can run gravel pits, sawmills, shooting ranges and landfills.

A secondary dwelling for farm hands is an accessory use here.

Secondary suite (s. 4.16): one per lot, at most 49% of the house's living space, or above the first storey of a detached garage (70 m² on lots under 0.4 ha, 90 m² on 0.4 ha or more; the garage up to 7.5 m tall, 7.5 m from the front, 3 m from the rear and 1.5 m from the sides, 4.5 m beside a road). On approved sewage disposal, never strata-titled, and not in a manufactured home; no garage suite on a lot with a duplex or another extra dwelling.

A dwelling for a relative who needs care (s. 4.13): one mobile home up to 9 m wide on a temporary foundation, with a housing agreement to remove it later, a doctor's letter if asked, and a $3,000 deposit.

Home occupation (s. 4.05): run by the family living on the lot with at most one outside helper, inside the house or an accessory building, and at most 185 m² in all. On lots of 2 ha or more it can also use up to 185 m² outdoors, away from the front yard. The bylaw defines a bed and breakfast (up to four guest rooms) as a kind of home occupation (s. 3.04).

The bylaw doesn't list vacation or short-term rental as a use; a bed and breakfast is allowed as a home occupation. Ask the RDEK before renting a home short term.

While a new house is being built under a building permit, one extra dwelling or an RV may be lived in on the lot; it goes once the house is occupied (s. 4.04A). Otherwise an RV or park model trailer can't be used as a home (s. 4.04).

A duplex built before the bylaw (1990) may be split into two strata lots.

No vehicle wrecking or repair, and at most one derelict vehicle, kept out of the front yard.

Every zone also allows public utilities, parks, roads and conservation areas (s. 4.03).

Inside the ALR, farm uses the Agricultural Land Commission allows are permitted, and the Commission's rules also apply to suites and second dwellings (ss. 4.13, 4.14 and 4.16).

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: Elk Valley Zoning Bylaw No. 829, 1990 (summarised in our words); zone map: Open Government Licence – Regional District of East Kootenay.