R-2 zone in Victoria: Two Family Dwelling District

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

In short

Main uses: Two family dwelling, Uses permitted in the R1-B Zone, Single Family Dwelling District, Public building.

Zone rules

Main uses	Two family dwelling Uses permitted in the R1-B Zone, Single Family Dwelling District Public building
Also allowed (secondary uses)	Home occupation Accessory buildings Garage sales (no more than 2 in any year) Commercial exhibits existing prior to January 1, 2011
Minimum lot area	555 m²; 277.5 m² per dwelling unit
Minimum lot width	15 m (minimum average)
Maximum lot coverage	40%
Maximum density	Floor space ratio 0.5 to 1; floor area of first and second storeys combined 280 m²; all floor levels combined 380 m²
Maximum height	Two family dwelling: 7.6 m and 2 storeys (no basement) or 1½ storeys (with basement). Public building: 11 m or the width of the lot, whichever is lesser, and 2½ storeys. Roof deck not permitted
Front setback	The lesser of 7.5 m and the average of the actual setbacks of the buildings on the lots abutting the sides of the lot
Rear setback	10.7 m or 35% of lot depth, whichever is greater
Interior side setback	1.5 m or 10% of the lot width, whichever is greater; 3.0 m for one side yard when the lot is not serviced by a rear lane; combined side yards at least 4.5 m
Street side setback	3.5 m or 10% of the lot width, whichever is greater
Other rules	Open site space at least 30% of the lot and 33% of the rear yard Lots under 230 m² or under 7.5 m average width may only have a private garage Outdoor features may not exceed 3.5 m in height

Source: Zoning Regulation Bylaw No. 80-159 (consolidated on October 17, 2019 up to Bylaw No. 19-074; zone Parts amended to Bylaw 24-060, August 2024) and Zoning Bylaw 2018 (consolidated on June 9, 2022 up to Bylaw No. 22-048), s. 2.1 (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. Victoria has two zoning bylaws in force. Zoning Bylaw 2018 (zones GRD-1, LVD-1, CVD-1, TCD-1, CBD-1, CBD-2, MRD-1, OTD-1, IAI-1, MI-1, LI-1, HI-1; https://www.victoria.ca/media/file/zoning-bylaw-2018) applies to the areas on its Map 1: the Downtown Core Area and most commercial and low-density residential properties in town centres, urban villages and residential fabric. The Zoning Regulation Bylaw No. 80-159 (one PDF per zone) still governs the rest, including most industrial, medium and high density residential outside downtown, comprehensive development districts and some commercial properties. The City says its website bylaws are office consolidations provided for convenience; refer to the bylaws and amendments at City Hall. In text.txt every file starts at a '[source <url>]' line; the first file is the Introduction & General Regulations of Bylaw 80-159 and the Zoning Bylaw 2018 is appended at the end. Zones whose PDF has no text layer (image-only; no OCR was run) have no lines or pdf_page, only source_url; 179 codes, listed in places/victoria/no-text-layer.txt. For zones with text, pdf_page is the page inside that zone's own PDF (always the first page). 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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