Transit-Oriented Development in B.C.: What Bill 47 Allows Near SkyTrain, by Distance
104. That's how many transit-oriented areas (TOAs) B.C. has on the books, in 31 municipalities. 64 of them circle a SkyTrain or other rail station, 35 circle a bus exchange and 5 circle a West Coast Express stop. If your house sits within 200 metres of a SkyTrain station in Burnaby, Surrey or Vancouver, your city can't refuse a rezoning for a building up to 20 storeys and a floor area ratio of 5.0 just because it's too tall or too dense.
That's the headline everyone repeats. The part that gets skipped: the TOA designation is not a rezoning. Your lot is still zoned for whatever it was zoned for yesterday. What changed is the ceiling on what the city can say no to. Here's what the Bill 47 rules actually allow by distance band, which stations are on the list, and what I'd do with a detached house inside one.
What Bill 47 actually changed
Bill 47, the Housing Statutes (Transit-Oriented Areas) Amendment Act, 2023, was introduced on November 8, 2023. The province issued the regulations and a policy manual on December 7, 2023. It amended the Local Government Act and, for the City of Vancouver, the Vancouver Charter. Three pieces matter to a property owner.
The density floor. Section 481.01 of the Local Government Act says a local government "must not" use its zoning powers to prohibit or restrict the density, height or building size set out in the regulations on TOA land that's zoned for any residential use. Read that carefully. It doesn't say the city must zone your lot for a tower. It says the city can't block a rezoning because the building is too tall or too dense, as long as it stays within the provincial numbers.
Parking. Section 525.1 bars cities from requiring off-street parking for residential use in a TOA, other than stalls for people with disabilities. A builder can still put in parking; the city just can't force a minimum. Commercial parking rules are unaffected.
Designation by bylaw. Every affected municipality had to adopt a bylaw with a map of each TOA. The policy manual says all of them had to be designated "no later than June 30, 2024," and cabinet can step in and designate a TOA itself when a city doesn't. The province's TOA page lists one such case: in May 2025, an order in council designated the Township of Langley's piece of the 196 Street Station TOA.
Density and height by distance band
The regulation splits each TOA into tiers by straight-line distance from the station coordinates. Rail stations get three tiers out to 800 m. Bus exchanges and West Coast Express stations get two tiers out to 400 m. Two rules matter at the edges: if the boundary cuts through a parcel, the whole parcel counts as inside, and if a parcel straddles two tiers, it gets the higher one.
| Distance | Tier | FAR | Storeys |
|---|---|---|---|
| SkyTrain 0–200 m | 1 | 5.0 | 20 |
| SkyTrain 200–400 m | 2 | 4.0 | 12 |
| SkyTrain 400–800 m | 3 | 3.0 | 8 |
| Bus/WCE 0–200 m | 4 | 4.0 | 12 |
| Bus/WCE 200–400 m | 5 | 3.0 | 8 |
Source: B.C. Reg. 263/2023 and 265/2023 (consolidated to Oct 20, 2026). SkyTrain tiers apply in Burnaby, Coquitlam, Langley City, Langley Township, New Westminster, Port Moody, Richmond, Surrey and (under the Vancouver Charter) Vancouver. Tiers 4–5 at these levels apply in Delta, Langley City, Maple Ridge, North Vancouver City and District, Pitt Meadows, Port Coquitlam, Surrey and Vancouver.
FAR is total floor area divided by site area. A 3.0 FAR on a 10,000 sq ft site means up to 30,000 sq ft of building, however the floors are stacked. Vancouver's regulation calls it FSR (floor space ratio); the numbers are the same. Outside Metro Vancouver the bus-exchange numbers drop, to 3.5 FAR and 10 storeys in cities like Abbotsford and Kelowna.
The numbers are an envelope, not an order. The policy manual's own example: if someone proposes 15 storeys in Tier 1 where local zoning caps the site at 2.0 FAR and 5 storeys, the city can't refuse it on height and density alone. If they propose 22 storeys, the city can say no on height, because that's above the provincial number. Cities can always approve more than the minimum if they want to.
Source: Provincial Policy Manual: Transit-Oriented Areas, v4.0 (Feb 19, 2026)
Show the numbers
| Item | Hectares |
|---|---|
| Tier 1 (0–200 m) | 12.5 ha |
| Tier 2 (200–400 m) | 37.5 ha |
| Tier 3 (400–800 m) | 150 ha |
This chart is why I tell people not to picture towers on every block. Of the 200 hectares inside a full SkyTrain TOA circle, 150 hectares, or 75%, are Tier 3, where the floor is 8 storeys. Only 12.5 hectares sit in the 20-storey ring. So if your house is "in a TOA," odds are it's in that outer band, roughly 400 to 800 m from the platform.
Which stations and cities are on the list
The stations are listed by GPS coordinates in the schedules to the two regulations. I counted them: 64 rail stations, 35 bus exchanges and 5 West Coast Express stations, for 104 in total, which matches the province's figure. A few stations near the Vancouver border show up in both schedules (Joyce–Collingwood, Rupert, Gilmore, Marine Drive, Bridgeport, Kootenay Loop) because their circles cross into two cities.
Source: B.C. Reg. 263/2023 and 265/2023 (consolidated to Oct 20, 2026); my count of the schedules (stations listed in both counted once)
Show the numbers
| TOAs | |
|---|---|
| SkyTrain / rail | 64 |
| Bus exchange | 35 |
| West Coast Express | 5 |
The list isn't just stations you can ride today. The law covers "planned" stations, so the schedule already includes the 140 Street, 152 Street, 160 Street, 166 Street, 184 Street, 190 Street, 196 Street and 203 Street stations on the Surrey–Langley line, and Mount Pleasant, South Granville, Oak–VGH, Arbutus and Great Northern Way–Emily Carr on the Broadway extension in Vancouver. If you own near one of those, the TOA rules apply whether or not trains are running there yet.
Familiar Metro Vancouver names on the list include Metrotown, Brentwood Town Centre, Lougheed Town Centre, Burquitlam, Surrey Central, King George, Richmond–Brighouse, Aberdeen, Joyce–Collingwood and Oakridge–41st Avenue. The bus exchanges include Newton, Guildford Mall, Lonsdale Quay, Phibbs, Haney Place and Dunbar Loop. Ordinary bus stops aren't on the list; exchanges had to meet service tests like 15-minute weekday frequency.
| Group | Municipalities |
|---|---|
| SkyTrain TOAs (Metro Vancouver) | Burnaby, Coquitlam, Langley City, Langley Township, New Westminster, Port Moody, Richmond, Surrey, Vancouver |
| Bus exchange / WCE TOAs, Metro Vancouver levels | Delta*, Langley City, Maple Ridge, North Vancouver City, North Vancouver District, Pitt Meadows, Port Coquitlam, Surrey, Vancouver |
| Bus exchange / WCE TOAs, mid-size cities | Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Colwood, Kamloops, Kelowna, Langford, Mission, Nanaimo, Prince George, Saanich, Vernon, Victoria, View Royal |
| Bus exchange TOAs, smaller centres | Lantzville*, Penticton, Whistler |
Source: Provincial Policy Manual: Transit-Oriented Areas v4.0, p. 23 and Table 1; B.C. Reg. 263/2023 and 265/2023 (consolidated to Oct 20, 2026). *Delta and Lantzville have no station of their own; a neighbouring station's circle crosses the boundary.
One carve-out worth knowing if you're in Richmond: in May 2025 the province exempted 11 parcels on Lancaster Crescent in the Aberdeen Station TOA from the density rule. That's the only parcel-level exemption in the current regulation. Otherwise, the boundaries are fixed. The province's FAQ says cities can't trim them, even where a highway or ravine makes a parcel awkward to reach from the station.
What a TOA does not do
It doesn't rezone your lot. The provincial manual: "There is no requirement to pro-actively zone to the prescribed heights and densities in TOAs." Application fees, staff reports, council readings and final adoption all still happen. Vancouver's own TOA guide puts it in one line: "The TOA By-law provides guidance on zoning but is not itself a rezoning." A developer who wants the 8 storeys still files a rezoning. After that comes a development permit and a building permit.
It doesn't stop a city from saying no for other reasons. The manual says cities can turn down rezonings for reasons other than density, heritage being the example it gives. They keep control over use, tenure, setbacks, site coverage, frontage and design. Airport zoning, the ALR, federal land, flood plains and heritage protection can all cut the envelope down. The FAQ's own example: if airport rules cap a site at 14 storeys, 14 is the limit, not 20.
It doesn't mean every city treats it the same way. Vancouver adopted its TOA by-law on June 26, 2024. Under its TOA rezoning policy, a proposal that wants the maximum height and density has to either secure 100% of the residential floor area as rental, with at least 20% of it below-market rental, or hand 20% of the residential floor area to the City as social housing. Coquitlam's new OCP allows the provincial minimums around Burquitlam and Lougheed Town Centre stations, and puts land in its other TOAs into a "Transit-Oriented Area Reserve" pending more neighbourhood planning. Same law, very different paperwork.
It doesn't force anyone to build. The FAQ is explicit: developers don't have to build to the minimum densities. And since June 30, 2026, the manual says cities can only use density bonusing above the provincial minimums. Inside the envelope, they're expected to collect amenity cost charges and use inclusionary zoning instead. For a landowner, that's one fewer negotiating lever the city can pull on density inside the envelope, though the fees don't disappear.
What FAR means on a real lot
Take a hypothetical 33 by 122 ft lot. That's 4,026 sq ft. Here's the gross floor area each tier's FAR would allow, alone and as part of a three-lot assembly. This is an illustration, not a feasibility study; real numbers shrink after setbacks and city policy.
| Tier (FAR) | One lot | Three lots |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 (5.0) | 20,130 sq ft | 60,390 sq ft |
| Tier 2 (4.0) | 16,104 sq ft | 48,312 sq ft |
| Tier 3 (3.0) | 12,078 sq ft | 36,234 sq ft |
Source: my arithmetic, site area x FAR from B.C. Reg. 263/2023 and 265/2023 (consolidated to Oct 20, 2026). Hypothetical lot; before setbacks, coverage and municipal rules.
Squeezing 12,078 sq ft onto a 33 ft frontage at 8 storeys isn't realistic for most builders, which is exactly why the manual lists "land assembly issues" as a reason a site may never reach its envelope. The value in TOA land sits mostly in assemblies: whole blocks or half-blocks with lanes, corners and enough frontage for a parkade-free mid-rise or a tower. A single lot in the middle of a block, with neighbours who won't sell, may end up worth what it was worth as a house.
If you own a house near a station
Here's the order I'd work through it in.
- Confirm you're in, and which tier. Use your city's TOA designation bylaw map, not a radius you drew on Google Maps. The circles are measured from specific coordinates in the regulation, and the bisect rule pulls in whole parcels at the edge.
- Pull your current zoning and OCP designation. Since December 31, 2025, zoning in TOAs has to line up with the OCP again, so the OCP map matters. Coquitlam's "TOA Reserve" is a good example of an OCP saying "not yet."
- Check the things that can shrink the envelope. Heritage designation, a creek or ravine, airport zoning height limits, a controlled-access highway interchange (provincial sign-off needed within 800 m), an odd lot shape.
- Talk to the neighbours before a developer does. A clean, contiguous assembly of three to six lots is a different product than one house. If your block is already talking, know who's in and who isn't. If a developer knocks, get the offer in writing with the conditions spelled out (rezoning subject, timelines, deposits, who pays for what).
- Get a real number. Land value in a TOA depends on what a builder can actually deliver and what they'll pay per buildable square foot, which moves with construction costs and condo presale demand. Start with my home value estimator, then ask for comparables from actual assembly sales nearby.
- Get advice before you sign anything. A lawyer for the contract, an accountant for the tax side. The investor guide covers some of that ground.
If you're weighing two SkyTrain-heavy cities, Coquitlam alone lists eight stations on its TOA page, and Burnaby has Metrotown, Brentwood, Lougheed and more. I lay out the trade-offs in Burnaby vs Coquitlam, and the city pages for Burnaby and Coquitlam have more on the neighbourhoods around each line.
What it means for buyers
Here's what houses are listed at right now on EstateBlock's house pages for the nine SkyTrain TOA municipalities (EstateBlock tracks Langley as one market, so City and Township are combined). Columns are median house asking price, house asking $ per sq ft and median condo asking price. These are asking prices of active listings, not sale prices, and they're citywide, not just TOA land.
| City | Houses | House $/sq ft | Condo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vancouver | $2.78M | $985 | $799K |
| Burnaby | $2.10M | $729 | $688K |
| Richmond | $2.28M | $752 | $688K |
| Port Moody | $1.96M | $623 | $699K |
| Langley | $1.82M | $602 | $500K |
| Coquitlam | $1.79M | $590 | $633K |
| Surrey | $1.60M | $540 | $499K |
| New Westminster | $1.55M | $678 | $557K |
Source: EstateBlock.com live listings, snapshot Oct 25, 2026. Asking prices of active listings, not sale prices. EstateBlock city pages.
A Vancouver house on EstateBlock asks a median $2.78M at $985 per sq ft of house; in Surrey it's $1.60M at $540. The provincial Tier 3 floor is identical in both cities (8 storeys, 3.0 FAR), but the condos a builder sells at the end aren't priced the same. That's why the same TOA rule can produce very different land prices on either side of the Fraser.
For buyers who aren't developers, three things change:
- Your street may change. Buying a house in Tier 2 or 3 means a six-storey rental or an eight-storey condo could be proposed next door, and the city can't refuse it on height or density alone. If that would bother you, check the TOA map before you write an offer, not after.
- Parking isn't guaranteed in new buildings. With no residential minimums, some new TOA buildings may have fewer stalls than units, or none. If you're buying a presale near a station and need a stall, confirm it's in the contract. See my notes on buying a presale condo.
- Transit can be a real budget line. The province, citing Metro Vancouver's 2025 cost burden study, says households in areas with fast, frequent transit spend $10,000 to $20,000 less on housing and transportation overall. If living near a station lets you drop a car, that's a real line in your budget.
Timeline
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| Nov 8, 2023 | Bill 47 introduced; province targets about 100 TOD areas in about 30 municipalities |
| Dec 7, 2023 | Regulations (B.C. Reg. 263/2023, 265/2023) deposited; policy manual issued; 104 TOAs in 31 municipalities |
| June 26, 2024 | Vancouver adopts its TOA designation by-law |
| June 30, 2024 | Deadline to designate TOAs by bylaw; parking bylaws had to comply; all 104 TOAs in effect |
| May 2, 2025 | Cabinet designates Township of Langley part of 196 Street Station TOA; 11 Aberdeen parcels exempted |
| Dec 31, 2025 | Temporary relief from zoning–OCP consistency in TOAs ends |
| Feb 19, 2026 | Policy manual version 4.0 published |
| May 27, 2026 | Coquitlam adopts OCP and zoning changes for the Southwest Shoulders and Corridors (Burquitlam, Lougheed) |
| June 30, 2026 | Density bonusing allowed only above the provincial minimums |
Source: B.C. news releases (Nov 8 and Dec 7, 2023); B.C. Reg. 263/2023 and 265/2023 (consolidated to Oct 20, 2026); OIC 207-2025 and 208-2025; TOA policy manual v4.0; City of Vancouver TOA guide; City of Coquitlam TOA page.
After the October 24 election
B.C. voted yesterday. On Elections BC's preliminary election-night count, the Conservative Party was leading in 64 of 93 districts, the BC NDP in 27 and the BC Greens in 2. Mail-in and some absentee ballots haven't been counted yet; the final count starts November 6. In the 2026 party platforms I reviewed, no party made a specific commitment on transit-oriented areas or Bill 47.
What I can tell you is how the rules are built. The distances, the station list and the tier numbers live in regulations that cabinet makes under section 585.51 of the Local Government Act, while the core restrictions (the density floor, the parking ban, the designation duty) are in the Act itself. Until a government actually changes one or the other, the rules above are the law. I'll update this post if that happens. My summary of what each party promised on housing is in the B.C. election 2026 housing guide.
FAQ
What is a transit-oriented area in B.C.?
It's the land within 800 metres of a SkyTrain station listed in the provincial regulation, or within 400 metres of a listed bus exchange or West Coast Express station. There are 104 TOAs in 31 municipalities.
How tall can buildings be near SkyTrain under Bill 47?
In Metro Vancouver, the provincial minimums are 20 storeys and 5.0 FAR within 200 m of a SkyTrain station, 12 storeys and 4.0 FAR at 200 to 400 m, and 8 storeys and 3.0 FAR at 400 to 800 m.
Does being in a TOA mean my house is rezoned?
No. The province says there is no requirement to pre-zone TOAs, and the rezoning process is unchanged.
Do the Bill 44 multiplex rules apply inside a TOA?
The provincial requirement to zone for 3 to 6 units on single-family lots doesn't apply to properties inside a designated TOA, according to the province's TOA policy manual. What you can build without rezoning depends on your city's actual zoning, so check it.
How do I check whether my property is in a TOA?
Look up your municipality's TOA designation bylaw map. The province says the maps identifying affected parcels are in each municipality's bylaw. If the boundary cuts through your lot, the whole lot counts as inside.
This is general information about provincial and municipal land-use rules, not legal or planning advice. Before you sign an assembly agreement or rely on a TOA tier, confirm your property's status with the municipality and get advice from a lawyer, a planner and an accountant.
Sources
- Bill 47, Housing Statutes (Transit-Oriented Areas) Amendment Act, 2023 (first reading)
- Local Government Transit-Oriented Areas Regulation, B.C. Reg. 263/2023
- Vancouver Transit-Oriented Areas Regulation, B.C. Reg. 265/2023
- Local Government Act, Part 14 (ss. 455, 481.01, 525.1, 585.5-585.53)
- Local Government Act, Part 20 transitional provisions (ss. 792-796)
- Government of B.C.: Transit-Oriented Areas (updated July 22, 2026)
- Provincial Policy Manual: Transit-Oriented Areas, v4.0 (Feb 19, 2026)
- Frequently Asked Questions for Bill 47 (Feb 28, 2024)
- B.C. news release: Legislation introduced to deliver more homes near transit hubs (Nov 8, 2023)
- B.C. news release: Regulations, policy manuals issued (Dec 7, 2023)
- Order in Council 207-2025: 196 St Station TOA (Township of Langley)
- Order in Council 208-2025: Aberdeen Station exemption
- City of Vancouver: TOA By-law and provincial legislation guide
- City of Coquitlam: Transit-Oriented Areas
- B.C. news release: Building more rental homes near transit in Burnaby (Feb 20, 2026)
- Elections BC: 2026 provincial general election preliminary results
- EstateBlock.com: live listings by city (snapshot Oct 25, 2026)
Dan Marusin PREC, REALTOR® · Renanza Realty Inc., 777 Hornby St, Suite 600, Vancouver, BC. This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice.