RCL3 zone in Richmond: Residential/Limited Commercial

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

In short

Mid- to high-rise apartments within the City Centre and other select areas, plus a limited amount of commercial use and compatible secondary uses.

Zone rules

Purpose	Mid- to high-rise apartments within the City Centre and other select areas, plus a limited amount of commercial use and compatible secondary uses.
Main uses	child care congregate housing housing, apartment live/work dwelling
Also allowed (secondary uses)	animal grooming boarding and lodging broadcast studio community care facility, minor education, commercial government service health service, minor home-based business home business hotel housing, town library and exhibit manufacturing, custom indoor office park parking, non-accessory private club recreation, indoor restaurant retail, convenience retail, general retail, second hand service, business support service, financial service, household repair service, personal studio veterinary service
Extra uses on specific lots	Dwelling units at 7260 Granville Avenue (P.I.D. 007-849-346) may only be used for residential rental tenure
Minimum lot area	4,000.0 m²
Minimum lot width	45.0 m
Maximum lot coverage	60% for apartment housing or congregate housing only; 90% for apartment housing that contains convenience retail, general retail, minor health service uses, live/work dwellings and/or child care (buildings and landscaped roofs over parking spaces)
Maximum density	2.0 floor area ratio, plus up to 1.0 more if used only for non-residential purposes (e.g. grocery, drug store, minor health services, retail); 3.463 on the City Centre site shown on Figure 2 (at least 1.0 non-residential). Small bonuses: 0.1 for amenity space, 0.2 for community amenity space, 0.1 for market rental units.
Maximum height	47.0 m geodetic
Maximum height, accessory buildings	5.0 m for accessory buildings; 12.0 m for accessory structures
Front setback	6.0 m, reducible to 3.0 m if a proper interface is provided at sidewalk level and no driveways or loading areas are along the public road
Rear setback	0.0 m if there is an existing lane or a new lane is required; 3.0 m if there is no existing lane or a new lane is not required
Interior side setback	No minimum
Street side setback	6.0 m, reducible to 3.0 m if a proper interface is provided at sidewalk level and no driveways or loading areas are along the public road
Other rules	Minimum lot depth 40.0 m Congregate housing and apartment housing must not be on the first storey (except interior entries, stairwells and elevator shafts) Telecommunication antenna must be at least 20.0 m above the ground (on a building roof)

Source: Richmond Zoning Bylaw 8500 (office consolidation, July 29, 2026), s. 9.4 (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 publishes the bylaw as one PDF per zone or group of zones (each zone's source_url; pdf_page counts within that PDF, and lines point into the saved combined text). The City says the office consolidation has no Council sanction, is for convenience of reference only, is not the official version and is not admissible in a court of law; certified copies come from the City Clerk. Zones listed as "in progress" by the City (for example ZR5, ZC30, ZA4) are not part of the consolidation and are not listed here. 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.

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