RM-1: Two-Storey Low Density Apartment Residential

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

Apartments and townhouses, at most one home for each 220 m² of lot area (about 45 a hectare); one or more principal buildings per lot (s. 1201(2), (7), (13)(a)). The zone lists no secondary suite or lock-off unit

Main uses

Apartments (buildings of three or more homes), townhouses (homes side by side or stacked, each with its own door outside), congregate housing and care; boarding, accessory residential uses, home occupations, residents' workshops and social and recreation space, shops selling only to residents or goods made in residents' workshops in a building wholly of congregate housing and care, assembly child care, accessory institutional support services (s. 1201(2))

Smallest lot for a subdivision

1,110 m² for apartments or townhouses; 555 m² for boarding (s. 1201(4))

Lot coverage

30% for all buildings and structures (s. 1201(6)); floor area at most 0.45 times the lot area (s. 1201(5))

Height limit

Two storeys for residential buildings; on a sloping lot the floor below the first storey may be exposed on one side (s. 1201(10))

Setbacks

Principal buildings, and accessory buildings attached or within 1.6 m of a home: 7.6 m from a street or lane; from an inside side or rear line, half the building's height up to 9 m plus 30% of the height above it, never under 3.0 m for a wall with no window or only windows to non-habitable rooms, nor 7.6 m for a wall with a balcony or a window to a habitable room. Detached accessory buildings 1.6 m or more from a home: front 7.6 m, rear and sides 1.2 m, street side 3.8 m (s. 1201(8))

The zone is for two-storey apartments and townhouses at low density (s. 1201(1)).

With apartments, surface parking stays out of the front setback and at least 3.0 m from a balcony or a habitable room's window; parking is bounded by landscaping at least 0.6 m wide (ss. 1201(3)(d), (9)). Contractor's equipment and more than two, or oversized, recreational or commercial vehicles may be kept underground (s. 1201(3)(a) to (c)).

Townhouse buildings at most 55 m long, apartment buildings 65 m (longer with a turn in the building, if the Director of Development Services allows), with breaks where they pass 37 m (s. 1201(11)).

Each home needs 5.0 m² of shared amenity space; at most 30% of a building's homes may be studios (s. 1201(13)(a), (b)).

A park in this zone is at most 0.8 ha (s. 1201(4)(b)).

Parking: townhouses two spaces a home, at most a third in tandem; apartments one space for a studio or one-bedroom home, 1.5 for two bedrooms or more; plus 0.2 a home for visitors (s. 706(1)(a)). Inside a transit-oriented area the bylaw requires no parking for homes; in the Evergreen Line shoulder station areas (Schedule O) fewer spaces (s. 706(1)(b), (c)).

Subdivision without City water and sewer: at least 1.25 ha (0.4 ha with City water but no sewer) (s. 602(2)). The Approving Officer may cut the zone's minimum width by up to 10% for the last lot of a subdivision (s. 603(2)).

Boarding: at most two boarders in a home; a bed and breakfast counts as boarding, for one family or two boarders, inside the building (s. 508(1)).

Home occupations: licensed, run by someone who lives there with at most one employee from elsewhere, indoors, at most 40% of the home's floor area, no sales of goods made elsewhere and nothing that shows from outside but a small sign (s. 508(3)).

Tourist accommodation (stays of 60 days or less) isn't a residential use under the bylaw (Part 2) and isn't listed in this zone; a bed and breakfast counts as boarding (above). Ask the City whether and how a home here may be rented by the night.

Parts 2 to 7 of the bylaw also apply: setbacks can grow for arterial roads, flood and slope protection and streamside areas (ss. 518, 519, 523) or shrink for allowed projections (s. 514); Part 7 sets parking.

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 Coquitlam's planning and development department before you buy or build.

Source: Section 1201 of City of Coquitlam Zoning Bylaw No. 3000, 1996 (summarised in our words, checked 2026-10-06); zone map: Open Government Licence – Coquitlam.