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A2 zoning in BC
A2 (also written A-2, A.2) means whatever the bylaw that zones the lot says: there is no provincial A2 zone. 10 bylaws we've summarised use it, from 10 local governments. It goes by 9 names: Rural (2 bylaws), Agricultural, Agricultural Large Acreage, Agricultural Two and 5 more. What it allows is below, bylaw by bylaw.
A2 in each bylaw
| Local government | Homes allowed | Smallest lot for a subdivision | Lot coverage | Height limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regional District of East Kootenay Rural Residential (Country) · Columbia Valley Zoning Bylaw No. 3255, 2023 | One house, a secondary suite, and farm-hand dwellings on a farm | 8 ha (1 ha for a retiring farmer's homesite) | 10% (35% for farm buildings, 75% for greenhouses) | 10 m |
| City of Abbotsford Agricultural Two · City of Abbotsford Zoning Bylaw No. 2400-2014 | 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) | 16.0 ha (no minimum width or depth), with the same exceptions as A1 (s. 220.5.1) | 35%; greenhouses may add 25% (to 60% in all), or 40% (to 75%) where the whole greenhouse operation recirculates its irrigation water (as A1, s. 220.3.2) | 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 (as A1, s. 220.3.2) |
| Village of Clinton Rural · Village of Clinton Zoning Bylaw No. 607, 2025 | One residential building (a house, manufactured home or duplex), with a secondary suite (in a house only) and an accessory dwelling unit; at most 3 homes per lot | 4 ha | 30% (40% with an accessory dwelling unit) | 12 m |
| Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee Agriculture 2 · Salt Spring Island Land Use Bylaw, 1999 (Bylaw No. 355) | One house and a secondary suite (s. 9.1.1, s. 3.16); on a lot classified as a farm, a second home: one built before February 22, 2019, a manufactured home built from July 4, 2019 to the end of 2021, or a farmworker's home up to 56 m² on 1.2 to 2 ha, 90 m² over 2 ha and 186 m² over 40 ha (s. 9.1.1); the zone doesn't list a seasonal cottage | 8 ha, with a well and septic (s. 9.1.4); in the ALR only where the Agricultural Land Commission approves or exempts it (s. 5.1.2) | 35% leaving out greenhouses, 75% counting them (s. 9.1.2) | 7.6 m and two storeys (s. 3.8.1); accessory buildings 6 m on a lot of 1.2 ha or less, 7 m on a larger one (s. 3.8.2); farm buildings 10.7 m (s. 3.8.3) |
| City of Kelowna Agriculture / Rural Residential · City of Kelowna Zoning Bylaw No. 12375 | One house (single detached) per lot; with a secondary suite and a carriage house (s. 10.3 note .13) | 30 ha (300,000 m²) without community sewer, 4 ha with it; 40 m wide; a 150 m² building envelope (s. 10.4) | 20% for buildings (30% on lots under 8,000 m²); 35% for buildings, structures and hard surfaces (75% for greenhouses and nurseries with closed water systems) (s. 10.6) | House 10 m (with a walkout basement, 8.6 m at the front and 12.5 m at the rear), a third storey at most 70% of the second; carriage house 5.7 m (6.1 m with a roof flatter than 3 in 12); accessory buildings 4.8 m; farm buildings 16 m |
| City of Maple Ridge Upland Agricultural · City of Maple Ridge Zoning Bylaw No. 7600-2019 | One house with a secondary suite and a detached garden suite: 3 homes (on a lot over 0.4 ha urban infill allows no more, s. 402.29). A farm worker's home as well only on a farm of 2 ha or more designated Agricultural in the Official Community Plan (1.7 ha Rural Residential), with the Agricultural Land Commission's approval, an agrologist's report and a covenant, and then no garden suite (ss. 402.2, 402.11). A campground's caretaker may have a home only where there's no house (s. 402.5) | 4.0 ha, 75 m wide, 150 m deep (s. 502.4, Schedule B) | 60%, all buildings together; within it farm and forestry buildings 20%, greenhouses 50%, the house 10%, a commercial kennel 20%, produce sales and other accessory buildings 10% or 279 m² of floor area, whichever is less (s. 502.6) | House 9.5 m; farm worker's home 7.0 m; farm, forestry and cannabis buildings 15.0 m; commercial kennel 4.5 m; accessory buildings 6.0 m; garden suite as s. 402.11 sets (s. 502.8) |
| Municipality of North Cowichan Rural · Zoning Bylaw 1997, No. 2950 | Two homes in one residential building; on a lot of 2 ha or more, two homes in up to two buildings, the smaller an accessory home of up to 90 m² (or the size of a home authorized before September 21, 2022 that it replaces) (s. 52(4))Exceptions (1)
Listed in s. 52(4)(f)-(m) of the bylaw. | 2 ha, with 75 m of frontage (s. 52(2), (3)) | 10% | 9 m for buildings with homes; farm buildings under the farm building code |
| Township of Spallumcheen Agricultural · Township of Spallumcheen Zoning Bylaw No. 1700, 2008 | One house or manufactured home, which may have a secondary suite; on a lot of 2 ha or more, also a second house or manufactured home, or a detached suite | 30.5 ha, or as approved by the Agricultural Land Commission | Not set | Home 12 m or 3 storeys, whichever is less; detached suite 10 m; farm buildings 20 m |
| District of Summerland Agricultural Large Acreage · Zoning Bylaw No. 2000-450 | One house or manufactured home (s. 8.2.7(a)), with a secondary suite and a carriage house, both listed (90 m² at most for a carriage house in the ALR, s. 7.4.1(g)); temporary farm worker housing and agri-tourism accommodation under their own rules (ss. 7.13, 7.16) | 8.0 ha, 60 m wide; with the Agricultural Land Commission's approval of a homesite severance, a lot consolidation or a road widening, as small as 1,400 m² and 20.0 m (s. 8.2.4) | Homes and their yards within a farm home plate of up to 1,200 m²; buildings outside it 10% of the lot, 65% where greenhouses or nurseries are the main use (s. 8.2.5) | Houses the lesser of 9.5 m or 2 storeys; accessory buildings 11 m or 2 storeys; greenhouses, animal and other intensive farm buildings 12.0 m (s. 8.2.5) |
| City of Surrey Intensive Agriculture · Surrey Zoning By-law, 1993, No. 12000 | One house, which may hold a secondary suite (s. B.3) | 4 ha, in or out of the ALR; at least a tenth of the lot's perimeter wide; no minimum depth (s. C) | No limit set, except 10% for aquaculture and for the uses listed with that limit (ss. B.8, E) | House 9 m; other main buildings 12 m; accessory buildings 9 m; structures 12 m (s. G) |
Listed by local government, not ranked. "Not set" means the zone itself sets no figure; general rules elsewhere in its bylaw may still apply. Each zone's page has its uses, setbacks and the bylaw's sections.
Two lots both zoned A2 under different bylaws can allow quite different things, and provincial law sets a floor of homes on most house zones in towns (how many homes can I build?). Site-specific exceptions, development permit areas and the ALR apply on top. Find the lot's own zone with the search above, then confirm with the local government before you buy or build.
Sources: each zone's bylaw, linked from its page, summarised in our words. Other councils' zones aren't here: the zoning we cover.