N99: Comprehensive Development Ninety Nine Zone (Station Road and Junction Avenue)

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

One single detached house per lot; in sub-zone I also a coach house above an accessory building

Main uses

Single detached house, boarding house, residential care (sub-zone II also supportive recovery); boarders; sub-zone I coach house and Level 1 home occupation, sub-zone II Level 2 home occupation

Smallest lot for a subdivision

Sub-zone I: 300 m² (corner 360 m²), 9.5 m wide (corner 11.5 m), 31.0 m deep; sub-zone II: 350 m² (corner 360 m²), 12.0 m wide (corner 13.0 m), 22.5 m deep

Lot coverage

45%

Height limit

Houses 9.5 m or three storeys, whichever is less; in sub-zone I an accessory building with a coach house 7.5 m or two storeys, whichever is less; other accessory buildings 4.5 m

Setbacks

Sub-zone I: front 3.0 m (accessory buildings 6.0 m); rear 11.5 m (accessory buildings, with or without a coach house, 2.5 m); interior side 1.2 m (accessory 0.6 m); exterior side 3.0 m; 6.0 m between the house and the coach house building, 1.5 m between other buildings. Sub-zone II: front 5.0 m (accessory 6.0 m); rear 5.0 m (accessory 1.0 m); interior side 1.2 m (accessory 1.0 m); exterior side 3.0 m

Two sub-zones, as shown in the zone's Figure 1, between Station Road and Junction Avenue: sub-zone I, along Station Road, for houses with coach houses on lots with a rear lane; sub-zone II for houses on compact lots (s. 899).

Density: floor space ratio up to 0.65 in sub-zone I, not counting the coach house and its building, and 0.55 in sub-zone II (ss. 899.I.3.1, 899.II.3.1).

In sub-zone II, on a cul-de-sac lot under 26.0 m deep, the living space may come to 3.0 m from the front lot line while the garage stays at 5.0 m (s. 899.II.3.2).

A coach house is no larger than the detached garage's floor area or 55 m², whichever is less (cantilevers up to 3.0 m long and 1.0 m deep not counted), and isn't allowed on a lot with residential care, supported housing or boarders (s. 899.I.6.1).

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).

This zone lists "Supportive Recovery", a use the bylaw doesn't define (s. 120), so what it allows is unclear; ask the City of Abbotsford.

Residential care is licensed personal care in a single detached house: up to 8 people in day care, and overnight up to 10 people, no more than 6 of them in care (s. 120).

Secondary suites (s. 140.3.8(c)): one per principal home; smaller than half the home's floor area, an attached garage not counted; not on a lot with residential care, a boarding house, supported housing or home child care. Suites registered before Bylaw No. 3249-2022 was adopted are exempt from these three conditions. Parking: one space (s. 150.3). Section 130.1.2(b) says the A1 zone's further rules apply to a use wherever it is allowed in the City, and A1 limits secondary suites to one per lot and 100 m² (s. 210.7.2), while s. 140.3.8 sets other limits outside the farm and rural zones; whether the A1 limits also apply here is unclear; ask the City of Abbotsford.

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).

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).

Boarding house (s. 140.3.3(a)): rooms let in a single detached house to up to six people, two per room; needs a business licence; not on a lot with a short-term rental, coach house, garden suite, secondary suite, residential care, supported housing, home occupation or a second house; the house keeps its residential look. Parking: one space per room (s. 150.3).

Home occupation, Level 1 (s. 140.3.5(a)): inside the home, by its residents only; no nuisance (noise, smell, traffic and the like), no outside storage, and no outward change to the home's residential look; no customer visits and no sign. No extra parking (s. 150.3).

Home occupation, Level 2 (s. 140.3.5(b)): in the principal home or an accessory building, up to 50 m²; residents plus one employee 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, farm, recreational or commercial vehicles; one sign of 0.4 m². One extra parking space (s. 150.3).

Short-term rental (paid nightly accommodation where no guest stays more than 30 days in any 12 months, s. 120) isn't a listed use in this zone, and a use a zone doesn't list isn't allowed (s. 130.1).

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.

Fences and walls up to 1.2 m between the house and the front lot line and beside it along a flanking street, and up to 1.8 m behind and beside it elsewhere (Figure 3); measured from existing grade, a fence within 1.0 m of a retaining wall counting the wall's height; no barbed, razor or electric wire (s. 140.5.2).

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).

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.

Urban beekeeping on a lot with only one single detached house, by a beekeeper registered with the Province: none under 540 m², two hives (and two nucleus colonies) from 540 m², four from 1,000 m², six from 2,000 m²; hives behind the house, behind a 1.8 m solid fence or hedge, their entrance 6.0 m and their sides 3.0 m from lot lines, with water on the lot; not on lots that allow farming (s. 140.2.11).

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.

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).

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).

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)).

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).

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

Garbage, compost and recycling bins for apartments, commercial and industrial uses are screened to 2.0 m, kept out of the front setback and away from homes; a townhouse lot of 5 or more homes has a central bin area or pick-up for each home (s. 140.4.5).

Land given up for road widening, a corner cut or a walkway still counts in the lot area for density and floor space ratio (s. 140.4.10).

A density figure ending in a half home or more rounds up; less is dropped (s. 130.2.2).

For a strata development, lot width, coverage, density and floor space ratio are measured on the whole strata plan, not each strata lot (s. 130.2.4).

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

Inside a transit-oriented area (s. 150.5.6, Figure 2), homes need no minimum parking, though accessible spaces are still required (s. 150.7.5); other uses keep their rates.

A parking area of five or more spaces, driveways included, is paved, marked and lit without glare onto neighbours (s. 150.12).

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