| designation | height and density | site rule | zones it points to | house lots | in TOA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apartment | Low and mid-rise apartments up to 6 storeys, 1.0 to 2.5 FSR OCP 3.9 | Townhouse zones allowed only on sites of 1 ha or more | RMM, RMGRMR at 1 ha | 952 | 4 |
| Urban Centre | Mixed use, minimum 3 storeys, no maximum; 1.0 to 2.5 FSR, 3.5 with bonus | Retail or office at grade, housing above | UCZ | 82 | 0 |
| City Centre Residential | Minimum 3 storeys; 1.5 to 2.75 FSR, 3.5 in the TOA, up to 6.5 with bonus | RMC | 14 | 9 | |
| Total | 1,048 | 13 |
Abbotsford publishes BC Assessment use codes with its parcels, so these are lots actually in use as a single-family house or a house with a suite, not a zoning stand-in. Another 127 lots in these designations are vacant.
Only 13 house lots sit inside it. Everywhere else the parking minimums of Section 150 apply.
Urban Centre (UCZ) and City Centre Residential (RMC) step the interior setback down to 3 m from side lot lines for storeys 1 to 3, and to 0 m for a commercial ground floor. RMU allows 0 m next to commercial. 96 house lots sit in Urban Centre or City Centre Residential. The Apartment designation's RMM keeps 6 m.
Compared with 50% in RMM and 40% in RML, the two centre zones leave almost the whole lot buildable.
Use the Highlight buttons above the map to pick these lots out. Click any lot for the zone it has now, the zone it would need, and links to the bylaw pages.
| TOA, bylaw 3558-2024 | house lots inside |
|---|---|
| Bourquin Exchange, Tier 1 within 200 m | 8 |
| Bourquin Exchange, Tier 2 at 200 to 400 m | 5 |
| Apartment lots within 800 m of the exchange | 71 of 952 |
| Abbotsford's tiers are lower than the Metro ones: 10 storeys at 3.5 FSR within 200 m, 6 storeys at 2.5 FSR to 400 m. No resident parking can be required inside. The Apartment land forms a band around the City Centre, and almost all of it sits outside the TOA. | |
| what the land is worth | apartment | urban centre | city centre res. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median land value per m² | $1,386 | $1,186 | $1,686 |
| Lots where the house is worth under 25% of the land | 823 of 952 | 66 of 82 | 14 of 14 |
| Median Apartment lot: land assessed at $927,000, house at 8% of that. The plan already says apartment; the buyer is paying for land. | |||
One-metre squares as for Surrey. Lots in use as a house. Abbotsford's lots are 6 to 10 m shallower than Surrey's and Maple Ridge's, so a block drawn for a 20 × 30 m lot fits Abbotsford best and leaves room to spare elsewhere.
| current zone on house lots | lots |
|---|---|
| SSMUH 1 to 4, mostly SSMUH 2 | 987 |
| RS1, RS3, RS7, SR, RSMH, older single-family zones | 38 |
| Other, including N61, RM30, TH1, RM60 | 23 |
| Median lot: Apartment 21.0 m wide, 688 m². Urban Centre 21.3 m, 823 m². City Centre Residential 22.8 m, 703 m². | |
| rule | RMM, mid-rise apartment · bylaw text |
|---|---|
| Minimum lot | None in the zone |
| Density | 1.0 to 2.0 FSR; up to 2.5 on lots of 2,500 m² or less |
| Height | 21.3 m or 6 storeys, whichever is less |
| Setbacks | 3.0 m to a street; 6.0 m from every interior lot line |
| Coverage, amenity | 50%; 3 m² of outdoor amenity per unit, outside the setbacks, no side under 6 m |
Abbotsford is the only one of the three with no minimum site in its apartment zone, but RMM's 6 m interior setbacks do the same job. On a 21 m lot they leave a 9 m strip, too narrow for a stair with units on both sides, so the earlier test fits needed a site-specific zone with RMG's 3 m side setbacks. Unlike Surrey, almost none of this land sits in a TOA, so it keeps its parking minimums. What Abbotsford has is the clearest evidence of value: the houses on its apartment land are close to worthless next to the land under them.