Zone

R-3 (Residential 3)

Zoning bylaw

District of Squamish Zoning Bylaw No. 2200, 2011

Homes allowed

A house, a duplex or a triplex, with at most 3 homes on a lot in all, counting secondary suites, multi-unit flex units and accessory dwelling units (s. 7.5(b)). A house or each half of a duplex can have one secondary suite, and an accessory dwelling unit (a detached or garage suite) can be added (ss. 4.5, 4.38). The lot needs community water and sewer to build (s. 7.13)

Main uses

A house, a duplex, a triplex; on properties over 0.8 ha also agriculture, a horse stable, a kennel and pet daycare; a secondary suite, an accessory dwelling unit, a multi-unit flex unit, home occupations, a home child care facility, short-term rental (rules below), accessory uses (s. 7.1)

Smallest lot for a subdivision

690 m², 18.4 m wide, 27.4 m deep; 4 ha for a property over 0.8 ha (s. 7.2)

Lot coverage

33%

Height limit

House or duplex 9 m; triplex 11 m or three storeys, whichever is less; accessory dwelling unit 8 m or three storeys; other accessory buildings 4.58 m

Setbacks

Front 7.62 m, rear 7.62 m, sides 2.13 m (4.57 m on a street); a kennel 150 m from any lot line next to a residentially zoned lot (s. 7.6)

Fewest homes provincial law requires

At least 4 homes (inferred from the zone's name): Squamish had 23,819 people in the 2021 census, over the 5,000 that brings the floor, and the lot is about 1,555 m² (over 280 m²: 4). At least 6 if it is within 400 m of a bus stop with a bus at least every 15 minutes (7 am to 7 pm on weekdays, 10 am to 6 pm at weekends); we don't check bus schedules. This holds if the lot is inside the urban containment boundary where the official community plan or a regional growth strategy draws one, connected to the local government's water or sewer, and not heritage-protected, in a transit-oriented area (which has its own, higher densities) or exempted as hazard land on a professional's report.

Short-term rentals (provincial rule)

The Province's principal residence requirement applies in Squamish (list in force from June 1, 2026): a short-term rental (under 90 days) is limited to the host's own home plus one secondary suite or garden suite on the same property. Land assessed as a farm (class 9) is exempt. Local bylaws, including the zone's own rules, can be stricter. Hosts anywhere in BC register each unit with the provincial registry.

The bylaw gives the zone's intent as small-scale housing on lots under the District's limited densification policies and in zone C4 of the Cheekeye Fan (s. 5.1); our reading is that these are hazard areas of the Official Community Plan (flood and the Cheekeye Fan's debris flows), so ask the District what the plan's hazard policies ask of a new home there.

Floor area ratio: a house 0.45 (0.5 with a secondary suite, flex unit or accessory dwelling unit), a duplex or triplex 0.5 (0.55 with them) (s. 7.5(a)). No home over 400 m² (s. 4.54). The frequent bus route rule that raises the count of homes covers R-1 and R-4 only (s. 4.55).

A secondary suite: one per home, only in a house or duplex, at most 90 m² or 40% of the building's floor area, whichever is less; no parking space needed, no strata title, no short-term rental (s. 4.5).

An accessory dwelling unit: at most 90 m² (above a garage, 180 m² for the whole building with 90 m² lived in; 90 m² in the ALR), the house's front and side setbacks and 1.5 m from the rear line (0.61 m on a lane), 8 m or three storeys high; no parking space needed, no strata title, no short-term rental (s. 4.38).

A multi-unit flex unit (a lockable unit with its own kitchen inside a home): one per strata unit, 40 to 90 m² and at most 40% of the home, not with a secondary suite, no strata title, no short-term rental. The general rule allows one in a multi-unit, townhouse or apartment home, so whether one fits in a triplex is unclear: ask the District (ss. 7.1, 4.39).

For a triplex, private open space of at least 10% of each home's floor area, which may be shared open space instead (s. 7.9).

Short-term rental (stays under 90 days, bed and breakfasts included) is a listed use, but only in the operator's principal residence (where they live at least 183 days a year), with a District licence, and never in a secondary suite, accessory dwelling unit, flex unit, accessory building, vehicle or tent (s. 4.46; definitions in Section 1).

Accessory buildings: one per lot of up to 60 m², plus up to five of 10 m² or less and 3 m high; not in the front yard, 1.2 m from side and rear lines (a garage 0.61 m from a lane), 4.58 m high; no home in one except an accessory dwelling unit. Where agriculture is allowed (properties over 0.8 ha), buildings used only for farming have no limit on number or size, within the lot coverage (s. 4.4).

Home occupations need a District business licence: one per home, at most 37 m², a resident running it and at most one employee from outside, no outdoor storage or signs beyond the sign bylaw (s. 4.18).

Landscaping (s. 4.27), fencing (s. 4.6), solid waste storage (s. 4.53) and parking (Section 41) also apply (ss. 7.7 to 7.11).

Our summary of Section 7 of District of Squamish Zoning Bylaw No. 2200, 2011, consolidated to 2026-09-17, checked 2026-10-04. Site-specific exceptions listed in the bylaw by legal description can add or change uses for one property.

Zoning is only one layer: development permit areas, the official community plan, the ALR, building and septic permits and provincial housing rules can add limits or allow more. Confirm with the District of Squamish's planning department before you buy or build.

The provincial floor is our summary of the small-scale multi-unit housing rules in the Local Government Act (ss. 481.3 and 481.4) and the Local Government Zoning Bylaw Regulation, checked 2026-10-04. Local governments had to bring their bylaws in line by June 30, 2024, and with the 2025 changes by June 30, 2026, so the zone's own rules usually allow at least these homes already; height, coverage, setbacks and parking still decide how they fit. Whether the lot is inside an urban containment boundary, on community water or sewer, or near a frequent bus stop isn't checked here: confirm with the local government before you buy or build.

December 21 (shortest day)

5 h 50 min of possible direct sun; 7 h 50 min on open ground

March 21 (about the same on September 21)

9 h 20 min; 12 h on open ground

June 21 (longest day)

12 h 30 min; 16 h 10 min on open ground

Noon sun on December 21

17° above level; the hills due south rise to 6°, 14.1 km away

Highest hills in the winter sun's path

12° above level to the south-west, 5.8 km away

Measured at

The middle of the lot, ground at about 20 m, from head height

Computed by us from the terrain only: trees, buildings and cloud aren't counted, so the sun that reaches a window or a garden is often less. The hours are possible direct sun, counted from when the sun's centre clears the hills, at head height at the middle of the lot; another spot on a hillside lot can differ.

The horizon is read from Natural Resources Canada's 30 m elevation model in 72 directions, out to 16 km: on its 30 m grid within 1.5 km, beyond that on a 120 m version of it, where single peaks can read a little lower than they are. The curve of the earth is taken into account.

The sun's path is from the standard solar position formulas. Hours are counted in sun time; clock times shift with daylight saving and with how far the lot is from its time zone's centre.

Check it on site: visit on a clear day in December or January, look at where the trees and buildings to the south fall, and ask neighbours when the sun leaves and comes back.

Capability class (1 best, 7 none)

Class 5: about 100% of the lot

What limits it

soil holds little water, stones

Improved rating

Class 4, assuming the improvements the map judged practical

Map scale

1:50,000: describes the area, not the field

Mapped

1960s to 1990s (digitised 2015)

These classes rate how well the land suits ordinary field crops, from the soil and climate as surveyed decades ago. Drainage, irrigation or fill since then can change the real answer, and a map at this scale can miss a good or poor field. The Agricultural Land Commission weighs these classes when it decides applications.

If farming matters to you here, a professional agrologist (P.Ag.) can assess the soil on site.

These maps were drawn mostly in the 1980s and 1990s and cover only some rivers and lakes. Not being on one doesn't mean the land can't flood: ask the local government whether it has newer flood mapping, and whether its bylaws set a flood construction level or floodplain setback here.

Peak ground acceleration, 2% in 50 years (the code's design level)

0.34 g

Peak ground acceleration, 10% in 50 years

0.17 g

Short-period shaking Sa(0.2), the value the code uses for houses and other low buildings

0.80 g

The same value in city centres

Victoria 0.81 g, Vancouver 0.47 g, Kelowna 0.089 g, Prince George 0.064 g

These are the 2020 National Building Code's reference values at the lot's centre, on firm ground (site class C). Soft soil, fill or a slope can make shaking stronger; the site class and the values a building is designed for come from the building official or a geotechnical engineer.

2% in 50 years means shaking at least this strong has about a 1-in-2,500 chance in any year; 10% in 50 years, about 1 in 475. g is the acceleration of gravity. The comparison with Vancouver and the other cities is ours.

Liquefaction, earthquake-triggered landslides and tsunami aren't covered here; ask the local government whether it has mapped them.

On record on the lot or within 100 m

0

On record within 1 km

0

On record within 5 km

2

Nearest

3.2 km from the lot: a rock fall, 24 May 2002 (listed under “Cheekye R bridge”)

Kinds within 5 km

debris flow 1, rock fall 1

With a date

2 of 2; the latest 24 May 2002 (rock fall, 3.2 km from the lot)

This is a list of landslides that are known to have happened, gathered from published inventories and from mapping on satellite images and lidar. It isn't a hazard map: it doesn't say how likely a slide is here, and no record nearby doesn't mean the ground is stable. Some parts of BC (the Fraser Valley and Fraser Canyon, Vancouver Island, Haida Gwaii, recent burn areas) are mapped in far more detail than others.

Each point mostly marks where a slide started. Debris can travel well past it, down a creek channel and onto the fan at the creek's mouth, so a lot on a fan or below a steep slope can be reached by a slide that began kilometres away. Distances are measured by us from the lot's boundary.

The kind of slide and its date are the database's own, mostly worked out from images, so treat them as a first look. Confirm with the local government, many of which have mapped steep-slope or debris-flow hazard areas, and with a geotechnical engineer.

Health region (regional figure, not this lot)

North Shore/Coast Garibaldi

Homes tested here

81

At or above 200 Bq/m³ (the guideline)

2 (2.5%)

At or above 600 Bq/m³

None

Across BC

143 of 1,817 homes (7.9%) at or above the guideline

Radon comes up from the ground and differs from one house to the next, even next door, so a regional figure says nothing certain about one home. The only way to know is a long-term test of at least 3 months. Health Canada's guideline is 200 Bq/m³ in the parts of a home where people spend more than 4 hours a day; above it, fix it within a year, and the higher the level, the sooner. For a home you buy, Health Canada suggests a long-term test once you've moved in.

The survey tested about a hundred volunteer homes per health region, with one long-term test each. That gives a rough regional picture: it isn't a map, and a region where few or none tested high can still have homes above the guideline. The survey grouped homes by the 2007 health regions; we place the lot by today's boundaries for the same areas.

Federal sites within 2 km

0

This inventory lists only contaminated sites on federal land or that the federal government is responsible for: military land, ports and harbours, airports, fisheries and research stations, reserve land, national parks and similar. Most contaminated sites in BC, such as old gas stations, dry cleaners and industrial land, are on the Province's Site Registry, which charges for searches and isn't shown here. Ask the seller what the land and its neighbours were used for; a Phase I environmental site assessment covers it properly.

Each site is one point given by its federal custodian, and a large site such as a base or an airport reaches well past it. Distances are measured by us from the lot's boundary to that point.

Confirm with the local government and a qualified environmental professional.

Roads along the parcel

Dogwood Place (local road)

Nearest public road

Along the parcel

Who maintains the road

No road within 100 m of the lot is on the Ministry of Transportation's inventory, so the roads along it are the District of Squamish's streets (or private), and the District of Squamish clears its own streets in winter.

Snow clearing priority

The District of Squamish clears its own streets in winter, but publishes no snow-clearing priority map we can use. Ask the District of Squamish which priority the street along the lot has, and how soon after a snowfall it is usually cleared.

ParcelMap BC records this lot as part of a strata plan (VAS2663). Roads inside a strata are usually common property that the owners maintain through strata fees, and the map shows them like any other road. The strata plan, its bylaws and the strata's records say who owns and maintains each road and how the strata reaches a public road.

Worked out by us from OpenStreetMap road lines: a road whose centreline is within 25 m of the lot line is counted as running along it. The map isn't proof of legal access: a road can be private, unbuilt or not maintained in winter, and reaching a lot across someone else's land needs a registered easement. The title search and the local government (or the Ministry of Transportation outside towns) confirm both.

Over the parcel

None

Within 1 km

1 mineral claim

Titles change often; this is the record when checked. Mineral Titles Online shows the current map.

Community water

No open map of the District of Squamish's water service: ask the District of Squamish whether the lot is on it

Wells within 2 km

11

Median depth

20 m

Median tested yield

227 L/min (11 wells tested)

Median water level below ground

5 m

Aquifer 400 under the lot

Confluence - Squamish, Cheakamus, Cheekye: unconfined sand and gravel (alluvial or colluvial fan); productivity moderate, vulnerability moderate, demand low; 20 wells linked, median depth 15.8 m

Neighbours' wells show what drillers found nearby, not what a new well here will find; many wells were never registered. For a property on a well, ask for a recent flow test and water quality test.

Productivity is how much water the aquifer gives up to wells; vulnerability is how easily a spill at the surface could reach it; both are the province's ratings for the whole aquifer, not this lot. Mapped aquifers cover mostly settled valleys: a lot outside every outline can still have groundwater. Confirm with a qualified hydrogeologist or registered well driller.

Community sewer

No open map of the District of Squamish's sewer service: ask the District of Squamish whether the lot is on it

Recorded water-supply wells within 30 m

None recorded within 30 m

Mapped water within 30 m

None mapped

Slope

This lot is too small to measure slope with the 30 m national elevation model.

Screening, not a site assessment: measured by us on the same elevation cells as the buildable area, against the separations in the Province's Sewerage System Standard Practice Manual: a field stays 30 m from a drinking-water well (60 to 90 m from a high-pumping one), 30 m from a lake, river or permanent stream (15 m from seasonal water and the sea), 7.5 m from a downslope drain or bank where effluent could break out, and, as a guideline, 3 m from the lot line. We use 30 m for every mapped stream. A gravity field isn't allowed on slopes over 15%, a mound or at-grade bed over 25%, and trenches over 45%.

Under the Sewerage System Regulation, only an Authorized Person (a Registered Onsite Wastewater Practitioner or a professional engineer or geoscientist) may plan and install a system, and they file the plans with the regional health authority before work starts. They dig test pits to check the soil depth and the seasonal water table and measure how fast the soil drains, which no open map shows. Ask the seller for the filing and maintenance records of an existing system, and have it inspected.

Well locations in GWELLS are often approximate, and many wells were never registered: look for well caps on and next to the lot. Wells, water lines and septic fields on the neighbours' land count too.

If the lot is on a community sewer, none of this applies; ask the local government, which may also set larger setbacks or a minimum lot size for septic.

Nearest hospital

Squamish General Hospital: 7.1 km

Next nearest hospital

Lions Gate Hospital, North Vancouver: 50 km

School catchment

Not mapped for this lot: catchments are shown only where the school district's boundaries are open data, for Surrey Schools (Surrey and White Rock) and the North Vancouver School District (the City and District of North Vancouver). Ask the school district which schools serve it.

Nearest public elementary school

Brackendale Elementary, Squamish: 1 km

Nearest public secondary school

Les Aiglons, Squamish: 6.4 km

Independent schools within 10 km

4

Nearest grocery store

Your Independent Grocer: 2.8 km

Grocery stores within 10 km

5

Nearest fire station

Squamish Fire Rescue Hall 2: 2.5 km, on the Province's list

Nearest ambulance station

Ambulance station 222, Squamish: 5.3 km

Distances are straight lines from the middle of the lot, measured by us. The drive is longer, and much longer where the road winds, crosses water or takes a ferry.

Hospitals are from the Province's list. Not every hospital has a 24-hour emergency department, and some small towns have a health centre with emergency care that isn't on this list: check with the regional health authority.

Which school a child goes to depends on the school district's catchment, not on distance: ask the district.

A fire station nearby doesn't mean it covers this lot: confirm the fire protection area with the local government. Insurers price fire cover by the road distance to the hall that responds and whether the lot is inside a fire protection area.

Fire halls and ambulance stations are from the Province's First Responders list (updated 2026-09-11), with fire stations it lacks added from OpenStreetMap. A hall that has moved may still be listed at its old address.

An ambulance station is where crews are based. How soon one arrives depends on where the crew is when the call comes.

Grocery stores are from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers: one may be missing, closed or mapped in the wrong place.

Confirm services with the local government.

Best speed recorded within about 1 km

50/10 Mbps or faster

Over a wired line (cable, fibre or DSL)

50/10 Mbps or faster

Over fixed wireless

50/10 Mbps or faster

LTE mobile within about 1 km

recorded

Nearest place with 50/10 Mbps or faster

within about 1 km (about 100 m)

Data

ISED National Broadband Data, May 2026

This is the service providers report to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) for homes and roads near the lot, not a quote: ask providers whether they serve this address, at what speed and at what cost to connect.

Speeds are download/upload bands. 50/10 Mbps is ISED's top band, so a place in it can get much faster service, and it is the CRTC's target for every Canadian home.

A line that reaches homes within 1 km may stop short of this lot; bringing it further can cost the buyer. Fixed wireless and LTE need a clear line to the tower, which hills and tall trees can block.

Satellite service doesn't need nearby lines, but it needs a clear view of the sky.

Distances are straight lines from the middle of the lot, measured by us on a grid of about 250 m.

Nearest climate station

Squamish, 2.5 km away

Station elevation

54 m

Lot elevation (estimated, middle of the lot)

21 m

January mean temperature (1991-2020)

1.8 °C

July mean temperature (1991-2020)

18.5 °C

Yearly precipitation, rain and snow as water (1991-2020)

2,344 mm*

Frost-free period (1991-2020)

192 days a year*

Average last spring frost (1991-2020)

April 19*

Average first fall frost (1991-2020)

October 28*

Lowest temperature recorded, 1991-2020

−13.8 °C (1993)

Period

1991-2020

Plant hardiness zone (regional)

9a

Normals are 30-year averages at the station, not readings for this lot. In BC's mountains a few hundred metres of elevation, a north-facing slope or a lakeshore can change winters a lot: a hillside lot can be much colder and snowier than a valley station.

The lot's elevation is our estimate from Natural Resources Canada's 30 m elevation model at the middle of the lot.

The hardiness zone is from Natural Resources Canada's 2025 map, read by us on a grid of about 2 to 3 km: near a zone's edge, or well above or below the valley around it, the lot may fall in the next zone. It is a guide to which plants survive the winter, not a frost date.

* Based on fewer years than the WMO standard: these figures rest on at least 20 or 15 of the 30 years, short of the World Meteorological Organization's standard of nearly all of them. ECCC publishes them as normals; treat them as a rougher guide.

ECCC's 1991-2020 normals for this station don't include yearly snowfall or days with snow on the ground, so those are left out rather than guessed.

Frost dates are averages: in about half of years the last spring frost comes later than the date shown, and frost pockets in hollows and valley bottoms get it later still.

Recent years have run warmer than the 1991-2020 averages in much of BC. Ask neighbours or the local government about snow on the road and who clears it.

Place

Squamish

In the taxable area

Yes

Rate, 2026

1% of the assessed value for Canadian citizens and permanent residents, 3% for foreign owners and untaxed worldwide earners (4% from 2027)

Declare by

March 31 each year, for the year before

The tax applies to property BC Assessment classes as residential; exemptions also cover a newly bought home in its first year, a home being built or rebuilt, a home reached only by water and over 100 m from a road, and a property assessed at $150,000 or less, among others. Every owner on title declares separately, each year, even when exempt. Confirm a given property with the Province's speculation and vacancy tax office.

Reserve and treaty lands, and islands reached only by air or water (Vancouver Island aside), are outside the taxable areas.

Local government

Squamish

Residential rate, 2026

4.1476 per $1,000

Municipal

2.8745 per $1,000

Regional district

0.1758 per $1,000

Regional hospital district

0.0441 per $1,000

School (set by the Province)

1.0149 per $1,000

Other

0.0383 per $1,000

BC municipalities' middle rate

6.24337 per $1,000

Your bill uses BC Assessment's value for the property, which can differ from its price, and may also include parcel taxes and utility fees (water, sewer, garbage) that aren't rates on value.

The home owner grant takes up to $570 off the bill of a home its owner lives in ($770 in the Province's northern and rural area in 2026, and up to $845, or $1,045 there, for seniors, veterans and people with a disability), for homes assessed at $2,075,000 or less in 2026; above that it shrinks by $5 for each $1,000. From 2027 the northern and rural extra ends and the regular grant is $570 everywhere. The owner applies each year, and must pay at least $350 in tax ($100 for the higher grant) after it.

Rates are set each May for the year; the next year's will differ.

Police service

The Squamish RCMP (municipal)

Crime severity index, 2025

65 (BC 92)

Violent / non-violent index

58 / 68 (BC 98 / 91)

Crime severity index, 2015

76 (BC 93)

Break and enter, per 100,000 people, 2025

217 (BC 281)

Theft of a vehicle, per 100,000 people, 2025

76 (BC 138)

Theft from a vehicle, per 100,000 people, 2025

244 (BC 441)

Violent crime, per 100,000 people, 2025

1,186 (BC 1,531)

All Criminal Code offences (not traffic), per 100,000 people, 2025

5,396 (BC 6,943)

The crime severity index weighs each offence by how serious it is (one assault counts for more than several thefts), with Canada in 2006 set at 100. Rates are per 100,000 people living in the police service's area, so places with many visitors, commuters or seasonal homes read high, and in small places a few incidents swing the figures a lot. These are crimes reported to police, not all crime.

In BC only Surrey, the Township of Langley, Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam publish reported property crime block by block under an open licence; reports there count what was reported within 500 m of the lot. The police here don't, so the figures above are for the whole area they cover.

Police calls to a particular address aren't published in BC (privacy law keeps police records about identifiable people closed), and neither is whether a home was used as a grow-op or drug lab: that shows up as a notice on the title. Ask the seller for the Property Disclosure Statement, and your lawyer for the title search.