How many homes can you build on your North Shore lot?

The answer changed, and on the North Shore it is still changing. If you are buying, selling, or thinking about what to do with the lot you already own, this is the question underneath a lot of the money right now.

Here is the honest summary before the detail: the province has told every municipality to allow three, four or six homes on lots that used to allow one. The provincial deadline was 30 June 2026. As of what each of the three North Shore municipalities publishes today, none of them has finished the job. They are each at a different point, and each one is handling it differently.

That matters to you in a very practical way. Until each council finishes, nobody can tell you with certainty what a given lot will hold.

First, the geography

North Vancouver is two municipalities — the City and the District. Separate halls, separate councils, separate bylaws. West Vancouver is a third, entirely separate municipality. Three sets of rules, and on this subject the three are genuinely far apart.

What the province actually requires

The rule is called small-scale multi-unit housing. It started with Bill 44 in 2023 and was tightened by Bill 25, which the province passed on 27 November 2025.

On a residential lot that is not exempt, the province’s own page sets these minimums:

Lot 280 square metres or smaller — at least 3 homes. That is roughly 3,000 square feet of land, which is small for the North Shore.
Lot larger than 280 square metres — at least 4 homes.
Lot larger than 280 square metres and within 400 metres of a frequent bus stop — 6 homes, and the municipality is not allowed to require any parking for them.

“Frequent” has a definition: a route where a bus stops at least every 15 minutes on average. So the 400-metre circle around certain bus stops is worth real money, and it is drawn by the transit schedule rather than by the neighbourhood.

Two things people get wrong about this. It is permission, not an obligation — nobody has to build anything. And it does not mean every lot. The exemptions are real.

Which lots are exempt

The Local Government Act exempts a short list, and the District of North Vancouver sets it out plainly on its own page:

Lands with certain heritage designations
Lots larger than 4,050 square metres — about an acre
Lands inside a designated Transit Oriented Area
Lands not connected to municipal water or sewer
Lands outside the Urban Containment Boundary
Land subject to a hazard that cannot practically be dealt with

That last one is the North Shore’s whole argument. The District says roughly 7,000 of its lots sit in natural hazard areas — near steep slopes, creeks and forest, where wildfire and flooding risk is higher — and it has been weighing whether to exempt them. West Vancouver says about 630 parcels there are exempt across all zones, and it publishes a map of them.

If your lot is on a slope or beside a creek, the exemption question is the first thing to ask about it.

Where each of the three actually stands

Everything below was read on each municipality’s own website on 17 September 2026. These pages move. Confirm before you rely on any of it.

District of North Vancouver — three homes now, four to six being drafted

The District’s page, last updated 23 April 2026, says it plainly: “Since June 2024, we have allowed up to three units — a house, suite and coach house — on all single-family lots within the urban containment boundary.” Bill 25 now requires it to go to four or six.

The District is drafting a new zone for it, called the Residential Houseplex Zone (R3). The draft numbers, from the District’s own table:

Height: 10 metres (32.8 ft) for a flat roof, 11.6 metres to the peak of a pitched roof
Storeys: 3, but only 2 within the front or rear yard
Setbacks: 3 m front, 1.2 m side, 1.5 m rear on a lane and 3 m without one
Buildings: at most 2 on the lot
Parking: up to 4 spaces for a 4-unit project; zero required for a 6-unit one, because the province forbids requiring it

Those are drafts, not law. And the District is asking the province for more time on one specific area: it is applying for a compliance extension for 319 lots around the Marine Drive corridor, where TransLink is planning bus rapid transit between Metrotown and the North Shore, so it can plan that corridor for more density later rather than less now.

City of North Vancouver — sent back to staff

The City moved earlier than the other two on the first round. It amended its Zoning Bylaw on 9 June 2025 to comply with Bill 44, and says that round touched 19 zones and 35 properties — a reminder of how little of the City was still zoned purely single-family.

It had already adopted a Transit Oriented Area bylaw on 24 June 2024 covering properties within 400 metres of the Lonsdale Quay Bus Exchange, which sets minimum heights and densities and bans minimum parking requirements. It updated its Official Community Plan and Zoning Bylaw again on 8 December 2025.

Then Bill 25 landed. The City’s own timeline says that at the meeting of 11 May 2026, Council “passed a motion to refer the proposed OCP and Zoning Bylaw changes back to staff to incorporate feedback.” As of today the City’s page shows nothing after that. Around 260 properties in its Heritage Character and Conservation Areas are part of what is being worked through.

West Vancouver — a vote on 21 September, and no public hearing

West Vancouver’s page is the most detailed account of a municipality being pushed, and it is worth reading in order.

12 August 2024 — Amendment Bylaw No. 5351 adopted, for the first round.
30 March 2026 — staff brought a working approach for Bill 25. Council received it for information and did not direct staff to proceed.
18 June 2026 — the Minister of Housing wrote to the District saying compliance is a “legislated requirement” and affirming that the province has the authority to issue a zoning “override” if a municipality does not comply.
23 June 2026 — at a special meeting, Council directed staff to prepare the amendments.
21 September 2026 at 6 p.m. — Council considers first, second and third readings of Amendment Bylaw No. 5446, in the Municipal Hall Council Chamber.

And one line on that page deserves to be read twice: “A public hearing on the proposed amendment bylaw is prohibited under the Local Government Act.”

Not cancelled. Not skipped. Prohibited. If you have been waiting for the meeting where neighbours get up and speak, on this one there is no such meeting. Written correspondence to Council is the route that remains.

What this changes if you are buying

Three things, in order of how much money they move. If you are selling, read them backwards: the same rules are part of what your lot is now worth.

What the lot you are buying can hold. A lot that can legally carry four or six homes is not the same asset as a lot that can carry one, even if you plan to live in the house that is on it. Ask what it is zoned for today and what it is expected to be zoned for once the municipality finishes.

What the lots around you can hold. This is the one buyers skip. The house beside you and the house below you are under the same rules. If you are paying for a view, quiet, or light, the question is what the neighbours are now allowed to build — and for a qualifying project, you may not get a hearing to object.

Parking. Inside those 400-metre circles the municipality cannot require parking for a six-unit building. Whether the builder provides any is up to them. On streets that are already tight, that is a real change to daily life and it is not hypothetical.

What to do, and who to call

Call the planning department for the municipality the lot is in, give them the address, and ask three questions: what is it zoned today, is it exempt, and is it inside a frequent transit area. Ask for the answer in writing.

District of North Vancouver — Community Planning, 604-990-2480, communityplanning@dnv.org
City of North Vancouver — City Design and Planning, 604-982-9675, zoningupdate@cnv.org
West Vancouver — Planning Department, ssmuh@westvancouver.ca

Every number and address above was read on the municipality’s own website on 17 September 2026. Departments reorganise; confirm before you rely on it.

I can make those calls with you or for you, and pull the zoning on the lots around the one you are looking at. What I cannot do is tell you what a council will decide next month. Nobody can.

The short version

The province requires 3, 4 or 6 homes on most residential lots — 6 within 400 metres of a frequent bus stop, with no parking required.
The deadline was 30 June 2026 and that date has passed with all three still working, each at a different stage.
District of North Vancouver: three units allowed since June 2024; four to six being drafted; an extension requested for 319 Marine Drive lots.
City of North Vancouver: complied with the first round in June 2025; the Bill 25 changes went back to staff on 11 May 2026.
West Vancouver: Council votes on 21 September 2026, after a letter from the Minister — and a public hearing is prohibited.
Exemptions are real — heritage, lots over 4,050 m², no municipal water or sewer, and hazard land. About 7,000 District lots sit in hazard areas.
Ask about the lots around you, not only the one you are buying.

This is the biggest change to what a North Shore lot is worth in a long time, and it is being decided meeting by meeting. The cost of asking is a phone call. The cost of assuming is whatever gets built next door.

این مقاله را به فارسی بخوانید — read this article in Farsi.