Infill & Multiplex

Townhouses on Assembled Lots in West Vancouver

In the proposed RG-4 zone, ground-oriented housing on a site 30 metres wide or more would be allowed half again the floor area of the same land at 0.80, with underground parking outside the calculation. Assembly is one way to reach 30 metres, and on most West Vancouver blocks it is the only way, but width and use are what trigger it. This is the provision in Bylaw 5446 with real money in it, and almost nobody is talking about it.

Talk about an assembly →

Where things stand

Zoning Amendment Bylaw No. 5446 goes to first, second and third reading on 21 September 2026, and then requires Ministry of Transportation and Transit approval before it can be adopted. Everything on this page describes what the bylaw would permit. It is not in force. Read the plain-language explanation of the bylaw →

The provision that changes the arithmetic

Most of the public conversation about Bylaw 5446 has been about whether a homeowner should add a coach house or turn a house into a fourplex. Those are renovation-sized decisions. Buried in the six-unit provisions is something else entirely.

Where two or more lots are assembled for townhouses, the proposed floor area ratio is 1.2, site coverage rises to 50%, and underground parking is excluded from the floor area calculation entirely.

Read that against the four-unit rules everywhere else in the District, where the all-inclusive ratio is 0.65 and no principal dwelling may exceed 0.45. Assembly is not an incremental improvement on those numbers. It is a different building type on a different economic footing.

Two minimum-size RS4 lots. Kept separate they allow 10,229 ft² between them. Assembled they allow 18,884 ft², and the parking stops counting.

Two RS4 lots, worked through

RS4 has a minimum lot area of 731 m², which makes it one of the most common situations in the District and a fair basis for comparison. Take two of them, side by side.

Measure	Kept separate	Assembled	Difference
Site area	731 m² + 731 m²	1,462 m²	same land
Floor area ratio	0.80 each, under 265.05(2)	1.20, under 265.05(1)	+50%
Total floor area	1,170 m² (12,590 ft²)	1,754 m² (18,884 ft²)	+6,294 ft²
Site coverage	35 to 40%	50%	+10 to 15 points
Underground parking	counts against floor area	excluded	free of the budget
Homes	up to 6 per lot of record	up to 12, being 6 per lot of record	envelope, not count, is the constraint

Eighteen thousand eight hundred square feet, divided into homes of about 1,570 ft², is twelve townhouses. Twelve is also the ceiling: clause 265.03(3) and the footnote to the 265.07 table both say that for density and the number of dwellings per lot, the lot means the lot of record on 30 June 2026. Assembly does not create a bigger lot for counting purposes, so two eligible original lots at six each is twelve, and how the District applies that to a consolidated site is a question to put to them rather than to assume.

One more thing assembly does not do: reset the per-dwelling cap. Clause 265.06(1) caps a principal dwelling, inclusive of any attached secondary suite, at 0.45 floor area ratio applied to the largest lot registered on 30 June 2026 that comprises the whole or part of the site. On two 731 m² lots that is 0.45 × 731, about 329 m², not 0.45 of the combined 1,462 m². Keep per dwelling, per building and whole site as three separate numbers. That is not a homeowner decision any more. That is a development project, at roughly the contract size we already build at.

The single most valuable line in that table is the last but one. Underground parking normally eats floor area you would rather sell. Here it does not count at all, and in the six-unit zone the District cannot require any on-site parking in the first place. You are free to build the parking the market wants rather than the parking a bylaw demands, and it costs you nothing in saleable area.

How the homes sit once the lots are one site 30 m or wider. Under the 265.07 table a single building keeps a 6.0 m rear yard and two buildings drop to 4.57 m. Separately, the minimum separation is 2.4 m between front principal buildings, 2.4 m between rear principal buildings and 6.1 m between a front and a rear building.

Where this applies

The assembly provision sits inside the six-unit framework, so the map that matters is the proposed Ground-Oriented Dwelling 4 zone. That covers lots within 400 m of frequent transit, running broadly along Marine Drive out to about 25th Street, drawn to the nearest lane rather than the raw radius so blocks are not cut in half. It is 1,133 parcels, currently RS3, RS4, RS5, RS9, RD1 and RD3.

That strip is where assembly maths works and where it is worth knowing which pairs of lots are in the same hands, which have a lane behind them, and which are flat enough to make an underground level affordable. Rear yards depend on the layout, not on the lane: on a site 30 m or wider the 265.07 table gives 6.0 m for a single building and 4.57 m for two. Building separation is a separate test again, at 2.4 m between front buildings, 2.4 m between rear buildings and 6.1 m front to rear.

Outside that strip the four-unit rules apply and the arithmetic on this page does not. If you are looking at a lot away from Marine Drive, the multiplex page is the relevant one, or run the free density check on the address.

What an assembly actually involves

The zoning is the easy half. The hard half is that two titles have to become one project, and that is a negotiation between people who may have been neighbours for thirty years.

One owner buys the other. Cleanest to execute, slowest to agree, and the most capital up front.
Both owners go in together. A joint venture where each contributes land rather than cash. It preserves capital and it needs a real agreement, because the two lots are rarely worth the same and the split has to reflect that.
An option or a conditional purchase. A developer ties up both lots subject to rezoning, feasibility and financing, and walks if the numbers fail. This is the structure most small assemblies actually use.
A land assembly listing. Two or more owners list together through one agent, which usually attracts a better price than either would achieve alone.

Whichever route, the same things have to be checked before anyone commits: what sits on title, easements and rights of way, statutory building schemes, existing covenants, any heritage designation, and whether the mortgages on both properties can be discharged on the same timeline. That is your lawyer's work and your accountant's work, not ours. What we can tell you early, and what usually decides whether the deal is worth pursuing, is what the two lots would physically build and what that would cost.

What West Vancouver does to a project this size

A twelve-home townhouse project on Marine Drive is not a Vancouver townhouse project with a different postcode. The site conditions here are the whole story, and at this scale they compound.

Slope. Most of the District falls away from the road. Across two combined lots that fall is larger, and it drives retaining, foundation depth and whether an underground level is affordable or ruinous.
Geotechnical. Standard here, not exceptional. It shapes the excavation before anything gets drawn.
Lanes. Many blocks do not have one, and a lane changes access and construction cost. What it does not do in RG-4 is set the rear yard. The 265.07 table sets the rear yard on a site 30 m or wider at 6.0 m for one building and 4.57 m for two, with no lane condition attached. The general lane credit elsewhere in the bylaw works off the actual width of the lane and keeps a minimum distance, so it cannot be reduced to one universal number. Tell us the lane width and we will work it out.
Trees. The tree bylaw governs removal and replacement, and mature trees frequently decide where buildings can physically sit. Vegetated permeable surface and planting requirements would apply to new development.
Wildfire development permit area. Roughly half the District's land sits within about 100 m of undisturbed forest. Where it applies the permit must be approved before a building permit application, which adds weeks and requires a hazard assessment, an arborist report, a survey, exterior material drawings and a fire-resistant landscape plan.
Servicing. Water, sewer and electrical service sized for two houses from the 1960s will not carry twelve homes. Upgrading is routinely underestimated and occasionally decides the project.
Step code. Every new unit meets current energy and carbon requirements.
Heritage. Lower Caulfeild remains a heritage conservation area.

None of this makes assembly a bad idea. It means the feasibility work has to happen on the real site, early, before anyone signs anything. Two lots that look identical from the street can differ by a million dollars once you have looked underneath them.

What it costs to build

Our construction cost for new multi-unit work in West Vancouver currently runs $450 to $650 per square foot, driven by access, lot terrain, finishes and how the design is broken into buildings.

On the worked example above, 18,884 ft² of townhouse is roughly $8.5M to $12.3M of construction, or about $710,000 to $1.02M per home at twelve homes. Assembly usually lands nearer the lower half of the per-square-foot range than a coach house does, because you are building one continuous form instead of scattered small buildings, and the envelope and foundation are shared.

The exception is the underground. Parking is free of the floor area budget, but it is not free. On a sloped site an underground level is one of the largest single line items in the whole project, and whether to build one at all is a real decision here rather than a bylaw requirement.

The range covers construction. It does not include land, District fees and development cost charges, design and consultants, geotechnical and arborist reports, survey, marketing, financing or landscaping. It is a planning range for deciding whether to keep going. The number we stand behind is the fixed price we give once the site is understood and the design is complete.

How we work on an assembly

Feasibility on the pair. Both lots together: zone, combined area, what 1.2 gives you, how many homes that is at a sensible unit size, whether there is a lane, how the slope runs, which development permit areas apply, and what is on both titles.
A number, early. A construction range and a permit timeline before drawings, so you can decide whether the deal is worth negotiating before anyone spends money on design.
Massing you can show people. Enough form to take to the other owner, to a lender, or to the District, without committing to a full design.
Design and approvals. Drawings, the reports the District needs, and the submission, coordinated with your consultants or ours.
Fixed price and build. Priced from a complete design, with performance bonding available on projects of this size, $5M general liability, WorkSafeBC coverage and a written workmanship warranty.

Seventeen years in West Vancouver means we already know which blocks have lanes, where the rock starts, which streets have servicing that will need work, and how long the District actually takes. On an assembly, that knowledge is worth more at the feasibility stage than at any other point in the project.

Lot assembly and townhouses: common questions

How many lots do you need to assemble?

Two or more. The proposed provision applies where two or more lots are assembled for townhouses, so a pair is enough to reach the 1.2 floor area ratio and 50% site coverage. Three or four lots change the economics again, because the frontage lets you plan around a shared access rather than fitting a project into a single driveway.

How much more can you build by assembling?

Under the proposal, on a like-for-like basis, about 50 per cent more floor area. The trigger is not the number of lots. Clause 265.05(1) attaches 1.20 floor area ratio to ground-oriented dwellings on a site with a site width of 30 metres or greater, so a single lot already 30 m wide qualifies without any assembly, and two lots that still fall short of 30 m do not. Two 731 m² RS4 lots that would each become narrow RG-4 sites are at 0.80 under 265.05(2), which is 1,169.6 m² (12,590 ft²) between them. As one qualifying site 30 m or wider at 1.20, that becomes 1,754.4 m² (18,884 ft²): 584.8 m² more, a 50 per cent increase, and vehicle storage in an underground parking structure stops counting. Unit counts, the lot-of-record rule, the per-dwelling cap and the building envelope all still apply.

Where in West Vancouver does this apply?

The assembly provision sits within the proposed six-unit Ground-Oriented Dwelling 4 zone, which covers 1,133 parcels within 400 m of frequent transit, running broadly along Marine Drive out to about 25th Street. Outside that area the four-unit rules apply and the floor area ratio stays at 0.65.

Do we have to provide parking?

No. In the six-unit zone the Province prohibits municipalities from requiring on-site parking for small-scale multi-unit housing. You may still choose to build it, and if you build it underground it is excluded from the floor area calculation entirely. That makes parking a market decision rather than a zoning one.

What does a townhouse assembly cost to build in West Vancouver?

Our construction cost for new multi-unit work in West Vancouver currently runs $450 to $650 per square foot. On 18,884 ft² that is roughly $8.5M to $12.3M, or about $710,000 to $1.02M per home at twelve homes. It excludes land, District fees and development cost charges, consultants, financing and landscaping, and an underground level is a significant separate cost on a sloped site.

Will there be a public hearing?

Not on the bylaw itself. Where a zoning bylaw is required to comply with the provincial small-scale multi-unit housing rules, the Local Government Act prohibits a public hearing on it. Individual projects still go through the District's normal permit process, including any development permits that apply to the site.

Can the townhouses be sold individually?

Under the proposal, yes. Every dwelling on a lot except a secondary suite may be stratified or rented, at the owner's choice. That is what makes an assembly a saleable product rather than a rental holding, and it is the reason the provision matters commercially. On new construction the strata plan is deposited in the ordinary way. Converting a building that has already been lived in is different: section 242 of the Strata Property Act puts that in front of Council, which can refuse or impose conditions, and the decision cannot be appealed.

Is Bylaw 5446 in force?

Not yet. Council is scheduled to give it first, second and third reading on 21 September 2026. Three readings are not adoption. The bylaw also requires approval from the Ministry of Transportation and Transit before it can be adopted, so the timing of anything described here depends on that step as well.

Vancouver has no direct equivalent to the assembly provision. Its R1-1 zone caps out at six homes on a single lot, or eight if all of them are secured rental. How Vancouver R1-1 compares →

Start with the two lots, not the drawings

Send us both addresses. We will confirm the zone, work out what 1.2 actually gives you on those two parcels, check the lane, the slope and the permit areas, and give you a construction range and a timeline before anyone negotiates anything.

Talk about an assembly → Free Density Check →

Sources and status. Zoning provisions are from the District of West Vancouver council report of 20 July 2026 on proposed Zoning Amendment Bylaw No. 5446 and its Appendix A working approach. The bylaw is proposed, has not been adopted, and may be amended. Diagrams are Eurohouse Construction's own illustrations, simplified for explanation. Floor area and unit counts on this page are arithmetic on the proposed ratios, not an approved scheme for any specific property. This page is general information, not planning, legal, tax or design advice. Confirm current requirements with District of West Vancouver planning at 604-925-7040 or SSMUH@westvancouver.ca. Last updated 1 September 2026.