RT-1: Infill Residential

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

One building per lot: a house with a secondary suite, or a duplex; a triplex or fourplex, or a house with a carriage house or garden cottage instead of the suite, only on lots the Partington Creek Neighbourhood Plan designates Neighbourhood Attached Residential or Baycrest Low Density Residential; a Neighbourhood Attached Residential lot over 555 m² may have the suite as well. Anything but a house needs the street (and lane) in front built, or given land to be built, to the width Schedule R sets (ss. 2206(3), (4)(g), (7))

Main uses

A house, duplex, triplex and fourplex (above), a secondary suite, a carriage house or garden cottage, boarding, home occupations, accessory residential uses, accessory institutional support services (s. 2206(2))

Smallest lot for a subdivision

House 650 m² (555 m² for a lot cut from one of 1,100 to 1,951 m² that existed before February 19, 1996), 13.5 m wide, 22.7 m deep; duplex 740 m², 22.7 m deep; triplex 650 m², 18.5 m wide; fourplex 740 m², 20 m wide. On Neighbourhood Attached Residential lots: house 370 m², duplex 465 m², each 10 m wide with a lane, 12 m without or on a corner (s. 2206(4))

Lot coverage

50% (s. 2206(6))

Height limit

House 7.3 m, or 11.0 m where at least 80% of the roof is pitched 3 in 12 or steeper; duplex, triplex or fourplex 9.5 m, or 11.0 m the same way; carriage house 5.0 m, or 7.0 m the same way; garden cottage and other detached accessory buildings 3.7 m, 4.6 m with a roof of 4 in 12 or steeper (s. 2206(10))

Setbacks

Most lots: homes and attached accessory buildings front 7.6 m, rear 7.6 m, sides 1.8 m, street side 3.8 m; detached accessory buildings in the rear yard, rear and sides 1.2 m, street side 3.8 m. Neighbourhood Attached Residential lots: homes front 5.5 m, rear 6.0 m, sides 1.2 m, street side 3.0 m; carriage house, garden cottage and detached accessory buildings in the rear yard, rear and sides 1.2 m (sides 0.9 m on a lot under 11 m wide), street side 3.0 m, 6.0 m from the home. A duplex's two homes may meet at a side lot line (ss. 2206(8), (9))

A legacy zone: it applies only to land zoned so on June 30, 2025, until that land is rezoned, and the City won't rezone land into it (s. 2202(1)). Why a lot kept it, and whether the Province's small-scale multi-unit housing law lets it have more homes, isn't said in the bylaw: ask the City.

Floor area: a house 0.5 times the lot (0.6 with a suite, carriage house or garden cottage on a lot of 370 to 465 m², or with a carriage house or garden cottage on a bigger lot, where the street meets s. 2206(3)), plus up to 40 m² for parking; a duplex 0.65; a triplex or fourplex 0.75, underground parking and storage not counted; a carriage house or garden cottage at most 90 m² or the floor area of the house, whichever is less (s. 2206(5)).

A house's bulk is also held by the average wall height and wall area of each face, as in RS-1, except in the areas shown on Schedules C and D (s. 2206(11)).

A carriage house sits above a detached garage; a garden cottage is a one-storey detached home at grade. Either needs its own unhindered parking space and at least 4.0 m² of private outdoor space, and can't be put on a title of its own (ss. 2201, 2206(3)(b), (13)(c)).

Each home in a duplex, triplex or fourplex needs at least 37 m² of outdoor space and an indoor storage room of at least 3.3 m² (s. 2206(13)). Detached accessory buildings at most 11 m along any wall; a detached garage at most three spaces (s. 2206(11)).

Which lots are Neighbourhood Attached Residential is on Schedule R; ask the City which applies to this lot.

A secondary suite: one per house, inside the house (never in a detached building), never on a title of its own; it needs one more parking space on the lot at least 5.0 m long, and on a septic system written confirmation that the system can take it (s. 2202(2)).

Parking: two spaces for the house and one for a suite or other accessory dwelling unit (s. 706(1)).

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 2206 of City of Coquitlam Zoning Bylaw No. 3000, 1996 (summarised in our words, checked 2026-10-05); zone map: Open Government Licence – Coquitlam.