R8 zone in Merritt: High Density Residential

Merritt, British ColumbiaDraft, not yet reviewedBylaw read 2026-11-07

In short

Higher-intensity, pedestrian-oriented residential: apartment buildings, row houses, back-to-back townhomes or stacked townhomes on serviced Parcels.

Zone rules

Purpose	Higher-intensity, pedestrian-oriented residential: apartment buildings, row houses, back-to-back townhomes or stacked townhomes on serviced Parcels.
Main uses	Dwelling, Multiple Unit Apartment Dwelling, Multiple Unit Townhome
Also allowed (secondary uses)	Accessory Building Daycare Centre, Major Daycare Centre, Minor Home-based Business Secondary Suite in a Multiple Unit Townhome Short-Term Rental (discretionary) Short-Term Rental needs approval from the Development Approving Officer.
Minimum lot area	360 m² (400 m² corner)
Minimum lot width	18 metres (20 metres corner)
Maximum lot coverage	80% for Multiple Unit Townhome (up to 95% with permeable surfaces on at least 15% of the Parcel Area)
Maximum density	225 units per hectare of usable site area (more with affordable housing)
Maximum height	Apartment: lesser of 22 metres or 5 storeys; Townhome: lesser of 18 metres or 4 storeys; both must be at least 2 storeys
Maximum height, accessory buildings	Lesser of 5 metres or 1.5 storeys
Front setback	Apartment: 0 metres (3 metres excluding the panhandle access for panhandle parcels); Townhome: 3 metres lane access, 5 metres front access, corner and pie-shaped
Rear setback	Apartment: 0.9 metres (lane access); 3 metres otherwise; Townhome: 5 metres lane access; 3 metres otherwise
Interior side setback	1.2 metres; 0 metres between shared Parcel Line Townhome units
Street side setback	2.8 metres on corner, pie-shaped and panhandle parcels; not applicable on lane and front access parcels
Accessory building setbacks	front: Front Building Line; side 1.2 metres; rear 1.2 metres
Other rules	Each Townhome building must contain a minimum of three and a maximum of eight Dwelling Units If a Parcel has multiple Accesses, the front, exterior side and/or rear setback for a Townhome Principal Building is 5 metres Private Open Space is required for each unit (5 m2 to 10 m2 depending on bedrooms)

Source: Zoning Bylaw No. 2284, 2020 (consolidated to January 2026), s. 7.11 (read 2026-11-07)

Rules in the bylaw's general sections (parking, fences, suites, home businesses) also apply, and a lot can have site-specific rules. The City's consolidation does not have legal force; contact City Hall to confirm the status of the bylaw. Section 7.27 (Comprehensive Development framework) sets rules for creating CD zones and is not itself a zone. Sections 7.5 and 7.9 are deleted. Zone pages are taken from the bylaw text by a research agent and have not yet been reviewed by a person: confirm with the bylaw before you rely on them. How answers are checked.

This zone as Markdown · JSON · all Merritt zones · Report an error