RA1: Residential Apartment 1

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

Apartments (a building of three or more homes, some or all entered from a shared corridor, lobby or enclosed parking); the number of homes is set by the floor area ratio, not a count (Section 1; Table 2.3)

Main uses

Apartments, boarding (one boarder in an apartment with at least two bedrooms and two bathrooms), parks and playgrounds, child care, home businesses (Table 2.3, Note 6)

Smallest lot for a subdivision

1,000 m², 30 m wide, 18 m of frontage, 28 m deep (Table 2.2)

Lot coverage

35%, rising by 15% of the share of required parking put underground or in a structure, to at most 50% (Table 2.4, Note 11)

Height limit

18 m (Table 2.4); the zone is meant for buildings of 3 to 4 storeys (Table 2.1). Accessory buildings 3 m to 4.8 m by roof slope (Section III, s. 2-7)

Setbacks

Front 4.0 m, sides 3 m (7.5 m for a wall with a window to a habitable room), street side 4.0 m, rear 7.5 m (Table 2.4, Note 15)

The zone is for apartment buildings of 3 to 4 storeys with a floor area ratio up to 1.5 (Table 2.1).

Floor area ratio 1.0, rising by 75% of the share of required parking (visitor parking aside) put underground or in a structure, to at most 1.75 (Table 2.4, Note 13). Not counted: shared entrances, halls, stairs, elevators and service rooms, balconies and decks, basements and underground structures, parking and bicycle parking inside the building, and 2 m² of each adaptable home (Table 2.4, Note 12). Table 2.1 describes the zone as up to 1.5 while Table 2.4 allows up to 1.75, so the ceiling is unclear: ask the City.

A building of more than 10 homes needs 3.5 m² a home of shared outdoor space and 2 m² a home of indoor amenity space; a quarter of the homes family-oriented (three bedrooms, or two and a den or patio) and one in twenty with three or more bedrooms (ss. 2.5.9, 2.5.11, 2.5.16; Section 1).

One long-term bicycle space a home, and six short-term spaces for a building of more than 20 homes; recycling storage for the building (Section III, ss. 9-1, 9-3, 11). Car parking is set in the City's Parking and Development Management Bylaw No. 3525, not here.

Home businesses in an apartment: at most two people working, both living there, nothing in the common property, no personal services or pet grooming, five visits a day (Section III, s. 5-3). Child care up to 8 children in a home, with its own way outside not through a shared corridor or elevator; 10 or more people only in a part of the building no one lives in, at most 50 children (Section III, ss. 8-3, 8-4).

Short-term rental is a home business only in the A and RS zones (Section III, s. 5-4), so not here; ask the City.

An apartment here is usually a strata: what an owner may do with a home (renting it, changes) is in the strata's bylaws as well, so read them.

The land not built on, the front setback and parking areas are landscaped, parking screened from homes next door (Section III, s. 4-2).

In the flood plain no habitable room goes below the flood construction level (Schedule B; Section III, s. 1).

No home on a lot under 0.4 ha that isn't on community water and sewer; no mobile homes (Section II, s. 6).

Uses the zone doesn't list aren't allowed (Section II, s. 5).

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 Port Coquitlam's development services department before you buy or build.

Source: Section II, Part 2 of City of Port Coquitlam Zoning Bylaw, 2008, No. 3630 (summarised in our words, checked 2026-10-05); zone map: Open Government Licence – City of Port Coquitlam.