RM-2: Three-Storey Medium Density Apartment Residential

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

Apartments and townhouses; the number of homes is set by the floor area ratio, not a count; one lock-off unit (a small suite inside a strata home, never titled on its own) per apartment or townhouse, only in the Evergreen Line core and shoulder station areas (Schedule O); one or more principal buildings per lot (ss. 1202(2), (7), (9), 508(6); Part 2)

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, lock-off units (s. 1202(2))

Smallest lot for a subdivision

1,110 m² for apartments or townhouses; 555 m² for boarding (s. 1202(4)). Two or more neighbouring parcels (air space parcels too) may count as one lot when developed together under a covenant to the City (s. 1202(13)(c))

Lot coverage

50% for all buildings and structures (s. 1202(6)); floor area at most 1.4 times the lot area (s. 1202(5))

Height limit

Three storeys for all buildings and structures (s. 1202(10))

Setbacks

Principal buildings, and accessory buildings attached or within 1.6 m of a home: 4.0 m from a street, rear 9.5 m (4.5 m on a lane; 3.0 m beside land the Official Community Plan designates park, open space or natural area), inside sides 4.5 m. 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. 1202(8))

The zone is for three-storey apartments and townhouses at medium density (s. 1202(1)).

All parking must be concealed (under cover below grade or inside a principal building) (s. 1202(12)(a); Part 2).

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. 1202(11)).

Each home needs 5.0 m² of shared amenity space; at most 30% of a building's homes may be studios (s. 1202(13)(a), (b)).

A park in this zone is at most 0.8 ha (s. 1202(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 1202 of City of Coquitlam Zoning Bylaw No. 3000, 1996 (summarised in our words, checked 2026-10-06); zone map: Open Government Licence – Coquitlam.