A1: Agricultural One

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

One house (a permanent building or a manufactured home) with one secondary suite of up to 100 m²; on a lot of 0.4 ha or more, one accessory farm dwelling unit (up to 90 m², or 186 m² on a lot over 40 ha); on farm-classed ALR land with Agricultural Land Commission approval, one full-time farm worker residence (up to 300 m²) and temporary farm worker housing (up to 60 workers per farm operation)

Main uses

Farming, one house, residential care, a boarding house for temporary farm workers; with the farm: farm retail sales, farm product processing (Level 1), a farm alcohol production facility, accessory cannabis processing (Level 1), agri-tourism, gatherings for events, an office, a full-time farm worker residence, temporary farm worker housing; with the house: an accessory farm dwelling unit, secondary suite, short-term rental, boarders, a breeding and boarding kennel, home occupation (Level 3 off ALR land, Level 4 on it)

Smallest lot for a subdivision

8.0 ha (no minimum width or depth); the minimum doesn't apply to a road dedication, to ALR consolidations, boundary adjustments, homesite severances and subdivisions adding no lot that the Agricultural Land Commission approves, or to splitting off, along the zone line, a part the official community plan designates and the bylaw zones industrial, or a part outside the ALR zoned to exclude farming (s. 210.5.1)

Lot coverage

35%; greenhouses may add 25% (to 60% in all), or 40% (to 75%) where the whole greenhouse operation recirculates its irrigation water

Height limit

House three storeys; farm buildings 15.0 m (grain bins 46.0 m, silos 34.0 m, shipping containers 6.0 m); full-time farm worker residence three storeys; temporary farm worker housing three storeys in a permanent building, two in a prefabricated one; accessory farm dwelling unit 7.5 m or two storeys, whichever is less, in its own building (15.0 m inside a farm building); other non-farm accessory buildings 7.5 m

Setbacks

House, farm worker homes and non-farm accessory buildings 7.5 m from a street lot line and 3.0 m from other lot lines; kennels 30 m and 15.0 m. Farm buildings and outdoor storage 7.5 m and 3.0 m; farm retail and farm alcohol buildings 7.5 m and 4.5 m; Level 1 processing 7.5 m all round; horse corrals and riding rings 4.5 m; animal barns, confined non-grazing animal areas (grazing areas 0.0 m), feedlots, silage, manure, incinerators, generator sheds, cannabis buildings and intensive processing 15.0 m to 30.0 m (s. 210.4)

Farm siting (s. 210.4): where one building holds several uses the largest distance applies. Separation from the house runs from 0.0 m (grazing, feedlots and other confined animal areas) and 3.0 m (most farm buildings, farm retail, processing, cannabis) to 15.0 m (barns with animals, silage, manure) and 30.0 m (incinerators, generator sheds); barns with animals, manure storage and incinerators also keep 30.0 m from temporary farm worker housing, and swine barns, silage and manure 15.0 m from other farm worker homes. Farm buildings keep 15 m from wells, and animal, manure, cannabis, processing and retail buildings 30 m. A farm alcohol facility's outdoor lounge, event and picnic areas, and areas for gatherings, keep 15.0 m (picnic areas 4.5 m) from interior lot lines; these, and temporary farm worker housing, stay 30 m from a house on another lot. Mushroom growing and composting follow the City's Farm Bylaw No. 698-98.

Watercourses (ss. 210.4.18, 210.4.22): cannabis buildings 30 m from the top of bank or as s. 140.8 sets, whichever is more; everything else as s. 140.8 sets.

Separation between non-farm buildings (s. 210.4.21): 3.0 m between the house and an accessory farm dwelling unit, farm worker housing or another accessory building; 1.5 m between two accessory buildings; 15.0 m between any home and kennel buildings and runs.

Secondary suite (s. 210.7.2): one per lot, up to 100 m²; temporary farm workers may live in it, and in an accessory farm dwelling unit.

Accessory farm dwelling unit (s. 210.7.3): one per lot of 0.4 ha or more, only as the provincial ALR Use Regulation allows or the Agricultural Land Commission approves; a permanent building or a manufactured home, or a coach house, or a separate home inside a farm building with its own entrances (s. 120); up to 90 m² on a lot of 40 ha or less and 186 m² above that, basement included; no other accessory home on the lot except boarders, a secondary suite and farm worker housing; not with residential care or supported housing.

Full-time farm worker residence (s. 210.7.4): only on farm-classed ALR land owned or leased by the farmer who needs it, with Agricultural Land Commission approval; one per lot, up to 300 m² with attached garage (basement not counted); the worker is employed on the farm at least 35 hours a week, averaged by month.

Temporary farm worker housing (s. 210.7.5): only on farm-classed ALR land of 3.8 ha or more owned by the employing farmer, with Agricultural Land Commission approval, and only where the farm grows fruit, tree nuts, vegetables, nursery plants, flowers, poultry or mushrooms; in prefabricated buildings (CSA A277 or Z240, no permanent foundation or basement), removed when no longer used, or in one existing permanent building at least five years old, converted with up to 300 m²; at most 60 workers per farm operation and 7.4 m² to 15 m² per worker; floor area up to 300 m² on a lot under 8 ha, 600 m² from 8 ha, 900 m² from 16 ha, or 900 m² at one worker per 1,000 m² of greenhouse or processing floor on the same lot; indoor lounge of 1.25 m² per worker or 50 m², whichever is less and 2 m² of outdoor space per worker; each worker housed at most 10 months a year, or 24 months in a row under a federal program.

Farm uses with conditions (s. 210.8): cannabis production only on ALR land with every licence, outdoors, on a soil base, or in a growing structure built or under way before July 13, 2018 and not enlarged since, 100 m from the ALR boundary, 100 m outside the Urban Development Boundary and 150 m from a park or school lot, with a stormwater and liquid waste plan above 3,700 m² of cannabis buildings; horse boarding up to 40 horses per farm operation and no licensed racetrack; mushroom growing under the provincial compost regulation and the City's Farm Bylaw; swine with four months of manure storage, mechanical ventilation and new buildings 500 m outside the Urban Development Boundary; feedlots 100 m from the ALR boundary, 100 m outside the Urban Development Boundary and 150 m from a park or school lot; on-farm composting up to 465 m² per farm operation (s. 210.9.7).

Farm retail and processing (s. 210.9): farm retail sales on one farm-classed lot per farm operation, under the provincial ALR Use Regulation, up to 300 m² per lot together with a farm alcohol facility's retail area; farm product processing (Level 1) and accessory cannabis processing (Level 1, up to 2,000 m², on a lot growing cannabis, at the same distances as cannabis production) only on farm-classed ALR land; processing, farm alcohol and cannabis processing floor area together at most 2,500 m² per lot; uncovered outdoor storage no larger than the processing buildings.

Farm alcohol production facility (s. 210.9.4): on one provincially licensed, farm-classed lot of 1.5 ha or more per farm operation; floor area up to 1,250 m² on 1.5 ha to 4.99 ha and 2,500 m² from 5.0 ha; tasting and retail, indoor lounge and outdoor lounge each up to 125 m², a kitchen up to 20% of the lounges more, together at most 49% of the facility's floor area; outdoor tasting, lounge and special event areas at most 300 m² per lot; no buildings or hard surfaces for outdoor event and picnic areas.

Agri-tourism and gatherings for events (ss. 210.9.5, 210.9.6): on farm-classed land under the provincial ALR rules (gatherings only on ALR land), with no permanent kitchen, no new buildings or hard surfaces unless the Agricultural Land Commission allows, parking on the farm for every visitor, and indoor areas up to 300 m² per lot (farm tours and approved filming aside).

At 320 Mt. Lehman Road (PID 010-430-717, Lot 2, Section 1, Township 13, NWD Plan 18778), temporary farm worker housing may stand on a permanent foundation with up to 784 m² of floor area, as the Agricultural Land Commission approves (s. 210.10.1).

At 1481 Tracey Street (PID 012-384-755, Lot 8, Section 7, Township 16, NWD Plan 1830), farm product processing (Level 2) incidental to the farm is allowed while the lot is farmed, up to 6,039 m² (s. 210.10.2).

Other site-specific uses (s. 210.10.3): at 31530 Brookside Avenue (PID 006-046-428, Lot 21, Section 30, Township 16, NWD Plan 46266), a 10-bed residential treatment, detox and emergency placement shelter for Aboriginal girls and young women aged 13 to 19, with quarters for one full-time staff member; at 29985 Downes Road (Lot 6 except part subdivided by Plan BCP18008, Section 35, Township 13, NWD Plan 40525), a restaurant as the Agricultural Land Commission approves; at 28494 Maclure Road (PID 008-648-689, Lot 33 except Parcel "45", Explanatory Plan 64926, Section 21, Township 13, NWD Plan 39584), a full-time farm worker residence as the Commission approves; at 28522 McTavish Road (PID 005-093-911, Lot 19 except part subdivided by Plan LMP42050, Section 16, Township 14, NWD Plan 53308), a poultry barn manure clean-out, storage and pick-up business with four commercial vehicles, within 1.2 ha, as the Commission approves; at 3911 Mount Lehman Road (PID 025-603-825, Lot 3, Section 26, Township 13, NWD Plan BCP4095 except parts subdivided by Plans BCP36359 and EPP39846), a dairy processing plant making products from milk and its by-products, as the Commission approved.

Site-specific lot sizes (s. 210.10.3): new lots from 29781 Fraser Highway (PID 026-507-285, Lot B, Section 23, Township 13, NWD Plan BCP21123) may be 1.9 ha; new lots west of Bradner Road from 29048 King Road (PID 013-332-597, South Half of the North West Quarter, Section 10, Township 13, NWD, except road on Plan LMP36740) may be 0.5 ha.

Short-term rental is a permitted accessory use here. The bylaw defines it as paid nightly accommodation, accessory to a home, where no guest stays more than 30 days in any 12 months (s. 120), and requires that the host's principal residence must be on the lot; only in a single detached house or a duplex, plus, for each principal home, one of its secondary suite, garden suite, coach house or accessory farm home; at most eight guests and four guest bedrooms per principal home; one parking space for each rental on top of the lot's other parking; never on a lot with boarders or a boarding house (s. 140.3.1).

Boarders (s. 140.3.2): in a house or duplex, up to four in the principal home, two per bedroom, never together with a short-term rental; in an apartment, townhouse or rowhouse, one boarder, not in a building with supported housing or congregate care. Parking: one space per bedroom in a house or duplex (s. 150.3).

Home occupation, Level 3 (s. 140.3.5(c)): in the principal home or an accessory building (horticulture may be outdoors in an A zone), up to 112 m²; residents plus two employees from outside; no nuisance (noise, smell, traffic and the like), no outside storage, and no outward change to the home's residential look; no repair of cars, recreational or commercial vehicles, and repair of farm vehicles only in A1, A2 and A3; one sign of 1.2 m². Two extra parking spaces (s. 150.3).

Home occupation, Level 4 (s. 140.3.5(d)): as Level 3, up to 112 m² (in an accessory building, a part kept separate from the rest), but no dispatching of vehicles, no outdoor storage of customers' equipment or vehicles, and repair of farm vehicles only in A1 to A6; residents plus two employees from outside; one sign of 1.2 m². Two extra parking spaces (s. 150.3).

A Level 1 home occupation may also run in a secondary suite, garden suite, coach house, accessory farm home or lock-off unit, by someone living in that home (s. 140.2.10).

Home child care in a single detached house, run by someone living there: up to 8 children in any zone allowing a house (s. 140.2.9); up to 16 children except on a lot whose zone allows farming (the A zones, RR and CR among them) or in the ALR, and never on a cul-de-sac (s. 140.2.8). Neither on a lot with boarders, a boarding house, a secondary suite, residential care, supported housing or a home occupation of Level 2 or higher, and the larger one not with a coach house or garden suite either.

Chimneys, sills and bay windows may reach 0.6 m into a setback; steps, eaves, canopies, cantilevered balconies and open porches 1.2 m into front, rear and side-street setbacks and 0.6 m into interior side setbacks and between buildings; below-grade window wells, stairs and ramps anywhere (s. 140.4.2).

Parking (s. 150.3): 2 spaces per single detached house or duplex home; 1 per secondary suite, garden suite, coach house or accessory farm home; 1 per short-term rental; 1 per boarder's bedroom; 1 or 2 more for a home occupation's employees (Level 2 or higher).

New residential buildings give each home with required parking an energized outlet for Level 2 charging (s. 150.6).

The A1 zone's further rules for each use (ss. 210.7 to 210.9) apply wherever that use is allowed, and to any ALR use this zone doesn't address (ss. 130.1.2(b), 200.1.3).

On land in the Agricultural Land Reserve, the Agricultural Land Commission Act and its regulations come first and generally prohibit or restrict non-farm uses and subdivision; the bylaw allows the farm uses and required non-farm uses of the provincial ALR Use Regulation and only a few others (s. 200.1).

A single detached house on ALR land is allowed only as the provincial ALR rules allow or the Agricultural Land Commission approves (they cap a principal residence at 500 m² of floor area unless approved), and its accessory buildings together may not exceed the house's floor area (s. 140.3.9).

Every single detached house, in any zone, may hold one secondary suite, a home inside it that stays part of the same property (ss. 120, 140.3.8(a)).

Secondary suites here follow this zone's own accessory use rules and conditions (s. 140.3.8(b)). Parking: one space (s. 150.3).

On land in the Agricultural Land Reserve, small-scale multi-unit housing is limited to three homes, as the provincial ALR rules allow (s. 140.2.13).

Boarding house for farm workers (s. 140.3.3(b)): only temporary farm workers in a federal migrant worker program, up to 12 people in one house with one kitchen (a suite's kitchen aside), on a lot of 3.8 ha or more classed as farm; needs a business licence; not with a short-term rental, residential care, supported housing or home occupation; no parking required.

Accessory buildings go up only with or after the main building or use; one attached to the main building counts as part of it and keeps its setbacks (s. 140.4.1).

The bylaw sets no fence height in this zone; barbed and electric wire are allowed, but such a fence stands 3.0 m back from a neighbouring lot not zoned A, RR or CR (s. 140.5.2(c)).

Commercial vehicles not part of the farm: at most two, BC-registered, at least one owned by a resident, never hauling waste, sewage or dangerous goods; vehicles may stand on landscaped areas (s. 140.5.4).

The old house may stay while its replacement is built: on ALR land only as the Agricultural Land Commission authorizes; elsewhere it is removed, demolished or turned to a non-residential use within 60 days of the new home's occupancy or final inspection, under a covenant to strip its kitchen, bath and 220V wiring (s. 130.4).

A temporary building is allowed here for temporary farm worker housing, with a permit, and removed when the permit ends; anywhere, one may stand during construction (s. 130.5).

Kennel runs, pens and enclosures are screened by dense hedging at least 1.8 m high (s. 140.3.4).

Parking (s. 150.3): farm retail 1 space per 20 m² of sales area; a winery, brewery or distillery 1 per 20 m² of tasting, sales and lounge area; farm industrial and produce processing 1 per 93 m² of plant or warehouse plus 1 per 32 m² (farm industrial) or 31 m² (produce processing) of office, display or sales.

No building within 15.0 m of the natural boundary of a lake, slough, swamp, pond or watercourse (tributaries included); 30.0 m from Nathan Creek, Poignant Creek, Clayburn Creek east of Old Clayburn Road and the Sumas River in its floodplain; 60.0 m from the Fraser River in its floodplain; 15.0 m from the inside toe of a dyke or its right-of-way, whichever is more; 7.5 m from a ditch. Fill used to raise a building stays out of these setbacks (ss. 140.8.7, 140.8.8).

Floodproofing (s. 140.8, Schedule E): in the Sumas Lake Bottom, Sumas Prairie, Huntingdon, Matsqui Prairie, Glen Valley and Sumas River areas (A to G), the Fishtrap Creek 100-year floodplain (H) and the watercourse setback areas, floors of living space sit at or above the area's level in Table 1 (for example 11.1 m GSC in areas A, B and D, 9.8 m in Matsqui Prairie, 8.5 m in Glen Valley), or at a lower "reduced" level in areas A, B, E and F where the owner signs a covenant with the City and the Province; farm buildings, renovations and small additions can be exempted under a covenant (s. 140.8.6). The rule printed as floors "not less than 1.5 m above the natural boundary" of a watercourse (s. 140.8.3(c)) reads as a prohibition of floors that high, so how high a floor near a watercourse must sit is unclear; ask the City of Abbotsford.

Nothing may be built on the river side of a dyke or on an island in the Fraser River (s. 140.8.2).

At street corners, a sight triangle (Figure 2) is kept clear of buildings, structures and plants between 1.0 m and 3.0 m above the street (s. 140.4.9).

No vehicle, recreational vehicles included, may be lived in, except that a visitor's RV may be used for up to 72 hours in a row in any 30 days (s. 140.4.11).

Wrecked vehicles only where the zone allows them or a business on the lot needs them, and then inside a building or behind a fence or wall that hides them (s. 140.5.3).

Growing, processing, storing or selling cannabis is not allowed in any zone unless the bylaw provides for it, subject to the provincial ALR rules (s. 140.2.5); cannabis production is a farm use only in the A1 to A6 zones (s. 120).

Every zone also allows public service works and utilities, parks, and seasonal Christmas tree sales (s. 140.1); an emergency shelter on a lot that doesn't border one with homes, under a housing agreement (s. 140.2.3); a temporary accessory emergency shelter during a declared emergency or an extreme weather alert, except on lots whose zone allows farming or in the ALR (ss. 140.2.1, 140.2.2); and soil extraction inside the official community plan's Soil Removal Eligibility Area, under the soil bylaw (s. 140.2.4).

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 City of Abbotsford's planning and development services before you buy or build.

Source: Section 210 of City of Abbotsford Zoning Bylaw No. 2400-2014 (summarised in our words); zone map: Open Government Licence – City of Abbotsford.