Development Potential in the City of Victoria

The rules sit in Schedule P of the zoning regulation, and they regulate by built form.

The City describes the result as up to six homes on most average residential lots in Traditional Residential areas, in the R1 B, R1 A, R1 G and R 2 zones.

The Missing Middle bylaws were amended in December 2023 and again in October 2025, so check the current version of Schedule P before you design.

Start with the zone. The Missing Middle permissions apply in the R1 B, R1 A, R1 G and R 2 zones in Traditional Residential areas.

Then check the frontage, not the area. A houseplex needs a lot at least 12 metres wide. A corner townhouse needs a lot at least 18 metres wide. A deep, narrow lot with plenty of area can fail the width test, and a modest lot with good frontage can pass it.

Then check the title, covered below.

Height is 11.0 metres for a flat roof and 12.0 metres otherwise.

A houseplex can cover 40 percent of the lot and must keep at least 45 percent as open space. A corner townhouse can cover 50 percent, with the same 45 percent open space requirement.

The front setback is 4.0 metres, and buildings on the same lot need at least 5 metres of separation.

Parking is 0.77 spaces per unit, reducible through transportation demand management, and none is required for secondary units.

Two rules decide more Victoria projects than the unit count does.

The unit mix. The greater of two units or 30 percent of the units must be three bedroom. A six unit houseplex needs at least two three bedroom homes, which changes the floor plan, the building size and the pro forma.

The development permit. Anything above three primary units needs a development permit, so a four, five or six unit houseplex carries a design review that a triplex does not. Budget the time.

The Legislature Exchange is a designated transit oriented area under provincial rules. Within 200 metres of it, the City cannot refuse a rezoning on density or height grounds for a proposal up to 3.5 FSR and 10 storeys. Between 200 and 400 metres, the figures are 2.5 FSR and 6 storeys. That density still takes a rezoning.

A lot inside a designated transit oriented area is governed by those rules rather than the small scale multi unit rules, and the two do not stack. If your lot is near the Legislature exchange, check which framework applies before anything else.

Zoning is only half the answer. The provincial policy manual states that existing section 219 covenants are not affected by the small scale multi unit housing legislation, and that a valid statutory building scheme registered on title limiting a property to one dwelling unit takes precedence over the density the zoning permits.

A Victoria lot can have the right zone and the right frontage and still be capped by a document no zoning map will show you. Order a title search on the PID before you price density into an offer.

There is a full post on what a covenant or building scheme does to your density.