CR: Country Residential

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

One house, plus either a secondary suite or a coach house (the coach house only on a lot over 0.4 ha)

Main uses

Farming, one house, residential care, supported housing; farm retail sales; with the house: short-term rental, boarders, a coach house, home occupation (Level 3 off ALR land, Level 4 on it), a breeding and boarding kennel, a secondary suite

Smallest lot for a subdivision

2.0 ha; width at least 25% of the depth

Lot coverage

15%

Height limit

House 9.5 m or three storeys, whichever is less; coach house and accessory buildings 7.5 m or two storeys, whichever is less; farm buildings, farm retail and kennels as the A1 zone sets (s. 210.3.2)

Setbacks

House and coach house 7.5 m from every lot line; accessory buildings front 7.5 m, rear and interior side 1.0 m, exterior side 4.5 m; farm buildings, farm retail and kennels as the A1 zone's siting table sets (s. 210.4)

Separation (s. 320.3.6): 6.0 m between the house and a coach house; 1.5 m between the house and other accessory buildings and between accessory buildings.

A lot may hold one secondary suite or one coach house, not both, of up to 90 m² or 40% of the house's net floor area, whichever is less, and neither with residential care, supported housing or boarders on the lot; a coach house needs a lot larger than 0.4 ha (s. 320.6).

Farming follows the A1 zone's rules for farm uses (s. 210.8) and farm retail sales A1's rules for them (s. 210.9) (ss. 320.6.1, 320.6.2); kennels keep 30 m from a street lot line, 15.0 m from other lot lines and 15.0 m from any home under A1's siting table.

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).

A coach house is a home on the second storey of an accessory building; a garden suite is a home in a one-storey accessory building. Either belongs to a single detached house or a duplex on the same lot and stays part of the same property (s. 120). Sizes, heights and setbacks are set in each zone that lists them. Parking: one space each (s. 150.3).

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).

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.

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

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)).

A shipping container may not be used for storage where a single detached house or duplex is the main use in this zone (s. 140.5.1).

No commercial vehicle or trailer over 5,500 kg, and no boat over 8.6 m, parked or stored outside a building (s. 140.5.4).

Urban beekeeping rules don't apply here, as the zone allows farming (s. 140.2.11).

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).

Small-scale multi-unit housing (s. 140.2.12): inside the official community plan's Urban Development Boundary, a lot zoned for a single detached house or a duplex, and allowing fewer than three homes, may hold three homes if 280 m² or smaller and four if larger, as houses, duplexes, secondary suites and (only where the zone lists them) garden suites or coach houses, under the zone's own development rules. This doesn't apply to lots of 4,050 m² or more, heritage-protected lots, or lots in a transit-oriented area.

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).

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).

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).

No vehicle, recreational vehicle or trailer may be parked or stored on a lawn or landscaped area (s. 140.5.4(d)).

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).

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.

Supported housing (s. 140.2.7), always under a housing agreement with the City: in an apartment or dormitory in any zone, on the RMM zone's terms, except on a lot whose zone allows farming or in the ALR; and in a single detached house in any residential zone outside the farm zones and the ALR, for up to ten residents, at least 200 m from other supported housing or a school (homes licensed before April 1, 2008 aside), never on a lot with a secondary suite, garden suite, coach house, residential care, boarding house, home child care or home occupation, and with no outward sign of a non-residential use.

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).

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).

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