C-3: Town Centre Commercial

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

Apartments, with no set number of homes: residential floor space ratio 1.0, up to 4.0 with the zone's bonuses (below), held above every storey used for business and never sharing a storey with it, with all their parking concealed; on lots Schedule E marks for ground-floor commercial, above the first storey. Or one or two homes as an accessory use with a business, also above the first storey (ss. 703.2, 703.3, 703.5, 703.11)

Main uses

Shops (not highway commercial), a convenience store, restaurants, a pub (liquor primary), a liquor store, a public market, offices, business, financial, personal and repair services, a private hospital, funeral services, assembly, a place of worship, civic uses, indoor recreation, tourist accommodation, a media production studio, a microbrewery, microwinery or microdistillery, a refund container depot, cannabis retail, parking, apartments; as accessory uses apartments, one or two homes, home occupations, an outdoor display or sales area and a pharmacy (s. 402.28) (ss. 703.2, 703.3)

Exceptions (1)

• A microbrewery of at most 150 m² of floor area on one unit the bylaw names

Listed in s. 703.2(1)(l) of the bylaw.

Smallest lot for a subdivision

1,672 m², 36.0 m wide, 27.0 m deep (s. 703.4)

Lot coverage

90%, all buildings together; 100% where all the parking the Off-Street Parking and Loading Bylaw requires is provided (s. 703.6). Surface parking at most 95% of the lot (s. 703.10)

Height limit

At least 11.0 m; the zone sets no maximum outside the Port Haney and Fraser River Waterfront Area (our reading), where buildings are 11.0 m to 15.0 m and at most 4 storeys (Schedule C; s. 703.8). Accessory buildings 4.5 m. In a Transit-Oriented Area (Schedule H), 12 storeys within 200 m and 8 storeys from 201 to 400 m (s. 402.30)

Setbacks

Front, sides and street side 0.0 m; rear 6.0 m, or 0.0 m where only a parking structure with homes above and a landscaped deck on top fills the rear 6.0 m; corner sight lines as s. 403.8 sets (ss. 703.7, 703.11(2))

The zone is for a range of commercial, service and residential uses in the Town Centre Area (s. 703.1).

Density (s. 703.5): residential floor space ratio 1.0, plus 0.25 for putting at least 90% of the homes' parking underground, 0.25 more for putting all parking but visitors' underground, and 0.25 for each storey above the third (at most 2.0), to at most 4.0; the bonuses aren't available in the Port Haney and Fraser River Waterfront Area (Schedule C), which we read as leaving it at 1.0 there. Common areas, balconies, mechanical rooms and parking below grade aren't counted (s. 403.3).

Density bonus (s. 402.32): in the Town Centre Area, the Lougheed Transit Corridor Area, North and Upper Hammond, the Albion Area or land the Official Community Plan designates Major Corridor Residential, up to 0.5 more floor space ratio for apartments in exchange for affordable or special needs housing, child care, community facilities, park improvements or other benefits Council approves, or cash of $161.46 a m². Whether that can go past the zone's 4.0 is unclear: ask the City. Applications complete before June 30, 2026 may still use the older bonus (s. 402.10).

In a Transit-Oriented Area (Schedule H), a floor space ratio of 4.0 within 200 m and 3.0 from 201 to 400 m (s. 402.30). Whether a lot is in one we don't check: ask the City.

On lots Schedule E marks, the ground floor of commercial buildings fills at least 90% of the frontage (bar public walkways or driveways) and 25% of the lot with commercial uses (s. 703.11(3)).

Homes need common open space of at least 5% of the lot (balconies, terraces, patios, rear yards, courtyards or roof decks), 1.0 m² of indoor amenity space per apartment, each home's own outdoor space of 5% of its floor area or 4.6 m², whichever is more, and a separate entrance at the ground floor front (or street side on a corner) (s. 703.11).

Everything but outdoor display and sales, parking and loading happens inside an enclosed building; parking sits behind a building, inside one or underground (ss. 703.10, 703.11(4)).

A pharmacy only as an accessory use, in the Town Centre Area in a shop over 700 m² of leasable area (s. 402.28).

Home occupations are listed, but s. 402.14 sorts them into types only on lots zoned agricultural, residential or comprehensive development, so which limits apply here is unclear: ask the City. In an apartment elsewhere (Type 1) they are at most 30% of the home up to 50 m², one employee from outside, and tutoring or lessons up to 6 clients a day.

Short-term rental isn't among the zone's uses, and the bylaw allows it only in houses, duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, secondary suites and garden suites, not apartments (ss. 703.2, 703.3, 402.31).

Sections 401 to 407 (general regulations, landscaping, retaining walls, heights) and the Off-Street Parking and Loading Bylaw also apply.

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 Maple Ridge's planning department before you buy or build.

Source: Section 703 of City of Maple Ridge Zoning Bylaw No. 7600-2019 (summarised in our words, checked 2026-10-05); zone map: Open Government Licence – Maple Ridge.