Building on a lot in rural Strathcona.

For anyone buying a lot in SRD Area D, on subjects, or planning a suite, a second home, a shop or a shed: the short version of the rules that decide what you can build. Everything here comes from the SRD’s Campbell River Area Zoning Bylaw No. 1404 (consolidated to Amendment 78, October 2024, with every amendment since traced), Building Bylaw 158 and Floodplain Bylaw 2782, read in September 2026. Where a rule couldn’t be confirmed from the document itself, this page says so rather than guess.

This page covers Electoral Area D (Oyster Bay–Buttle Lake), the area south of Campbell River to Oyster Bay, from the Strait of Georgia to Buttle Lake. Its zoning bylaw is Campbell River Area Zoning Bylaw No. 1404. Areas A, B and C have their own rules; in Area A there’s no zoning or building bylaw outside Menzies Bay.

Area D has R (residential), CR (country residential), RU-1 rural, RRC-1, RM, MHP and UR upland resource zones. Two rules apply across all of them:

• Every residential and rural zone allows a house plus a secondary suite, on any lot. The suite has to be inside the house and can’t be stratified.
• A detached second home (ADU) depends on lot size and water. In Country Residential Four (CR-4), for example: any lot gets a house and suite, or a duplex; a lot over 4,000 m² on a community water system can add an ADU; a lot over 1 hectare can have two houses with a suite each (s.4.6.7).

That water test matters. A “community water system” means one run by an improvement district, the regional district, a mobile home park or a strata — a private well doesn’t count, so a well-served lot never reaches the ADU tier however big it is. Other zones follow their own thresholds; check yours.

Because every zone already allows a suite, the SRD hasn’t needed a provincial housing amendment.

• Height and fences — houses up to 10 m, accessory buildings 7 m; fences 2.0 m in any yard (s.4.5).
• Decks — no building permit for a roofless deck 600 mm or less above grade (Building Bylaw 158 s.8(d)).
• Sheds — the building permit exemption follows the Building Code; ask the building official for the size they apply. On a vacant lot, one storage building up to 50 m² is allowed (s.4.5.1c).
• Retaining walls — no permit if the wall doesn’t hold up a building or structure.
• Trees and soil — no tree bylaw and no soil bylaw; fill in a floodplain falls under the floodplain bylaw.
• Living on site while you build — there’s no permission to live in an RV. You can stay in the old house while building its replacement, with a covenant to remove it within 2 years and a $1,500 security (s.4.5.8).
• Home business — on lots up to 4,000 m², up to 20 m² or 25% of the home, one outside employee, with written approval; on bigger lots, up to 50 m².
• B&Bs — up to 2 bedrooms in residential zones, 3 in rural, with prior written approval (s.4.5.10).
• Short-term rentals — allowed in every zone that allows a home, with one extra parking space. Area D is exempt from the provincial principal-residence rule; provincial registration still applies, and there’s no SRD business licence.
• Hens — up to four chickens or ducks, no roosters, in all upland zones (s.4.3.3).

This page covers the rules across Electoral Area D, south of Campbell River. A report reads them against one lot. The free check gives you the lot’s size, its zone, the units the provincial housing rules allow, and flags for floodplain, farmland, streams and wildfire.

A LotSimple report ($50) adds setbacks and buildable area sketched on your lot, the permit areas on it and what each triggers, a LotSimple score, and 12 months of alerts if the rules change. See a sample of every tier.

Buying in the Strathcona Regional District with a subject to remove? Answer these first:

• Which zone is the lot actually in? Check the zoning map, not the listing.
• Is it in a permit area, floodplain or stream setback? Each adds steps and cost.
• Is it on community water, or a well and septic? That decides what you can add.
• What’s on title? Covenants and rights-of-way can limit a lot more than zoning does.
• Anything you’ll spend money on: confirm it with the SRD planning department.

• River and lake setbacks. Floodplain Bylaw 2782 keeps buildings 60 m from the Oyster River’s natural boundary, 30 m from major watercourses, and 15 m from other watercourses, the sea, lakes and wetlands. Flood levels are set for Campbell Lake (181.0 m) and Upper Campbell and Buttle Lakes (224.6 m). An exemption needs an engineer’s report and a covenant.
• Streams. Where the riparian regulation applies, a qualified professional sets the siting — never closer than 7.5 m to a stream (s.4.5.5).
• Water and septic. Some of Area D is on SRD community water; most of it is on septic, under Island Health.