Multiplex development in the City of North Vancouver

The City of North Vancouver adopted its Ground-Oriented Zone on December 8, 2025 (Zoning Amendment Bylaw No. 9137, amending Zoning Bylaw 1995 No. 6700). It allows up to four units on a standard lot and up to six on lots over 280 m² within 400 metres of frequent transit, primarily the R2 Marine Dr RapidBus and the 240 corridors running through Lonsdale and the central areas. New buildings are capped at three storeys, floor-space ratio runs 0.85 on standard lots and 1.0 near transit, and minimum parking is removed for six-unit sites.

One group of properties was held back. Roughly 410 heritage-sensitive lots, including parts of Grand Boulevard, were left out of that first round while the City worked through heritage-appropriate design guidelines. Council advanced a second-round bylaw for them in late January 2026, with a provincial deadline of June 30, 2026. So across most of the City the rules are settled and in force today; on those heritage lots they are close behind.

The City is small enough that the difference between neighbourhoods matters to a project. Lonsdale is the most transit-rich part of the City, so the six-unit allowance reaches the most lots there, the R2 RapidBus, the 240, and the SeaBus at Lonsdale Quay all serve the corridor, and the lower blocks are relatively flat. Moodyville, just to the east, was largely rebuilt under an earlier City area plan; the opportunity now is the remaining older single-family lots at its edges. Grand Boulevard is the City's heritage character neighbourhood, with unusually large lots, and it comes into the zoning through the 2026 second round, where a per-lot heritage check is the first step.

Each of those neighbourhoods has its own page with the local detail, and every honest project in the City starts the same way: a feasibility review of the specific lot, because the transit distance, lot size, slope, and any heritage listing all change what can be built.

The unit count on a City lot follows two things: lot size and transit distance. Lots of 280 m² or smaller allow up to three units; larger lots allow four. To reach six, a lot has to be over 280 m² and within 400 metres of a frequent-transit stop, service running every 15 minutes or better, which in the City means the R2 Marine Dr RapidBus or the 240.

Floor-space ratio, the measure of how much building a lot allows, is set at 0.85 on standard lots and 1.0 on the transit-proximate six-unit lots, and buildings are capped at three storeys throughout. On six-unit sites the City also removes the minimum parking requirement, which matters on tighter or sloped lots where underground parking is expensive to build.

The practical takeaway is that two lots on the same street can carry different unit counts, purely because one is a few metres closer to a bus stop or a little larger. That is why the number on any given property is a feasibility question we answer lot by lot, not a rule of thumb.

A multiplex in the City can be built as strata, where each home is sold with its own title, or held as rental. The choice affects financing, tax, and the finished result, and it also affects whether the numbers work. A 2026 study commissioned on the North Shore found that rental multiplexes face difficult economics at current construction costs, and that strata configurations tend to be more viable.

That is a market-level finding, not a verdict on every lot. Where the GP/LP partnership changes the math is the land: when a homeowner contributes a lot they have owned for years, the land cost in the pro forma looks nothing like a developer buying at today's prices. On a well-located City lot near transit, that difference is often what turns a marginal project into one that clearly works. Feasibility is the only honest way to know which tenure, and which structure, fits your specific site.

Because the Ground-Oriented Zone is a by-right zone, a design that complies with its standards does not go to a discretionary council hearing, it goes through a building permit review. For conforming projects, that has generally run about three to five months from a complete application, which is faster and more predictable than the rezoning path these projects used to require.

Two things can add steps: a lot in a hazard development permit area, or a heritage listing on Grand Boulevard, either of which brings additional technical review. We confirm both at the feasibility stage and design to them from the start, so the project that reaches the City counter is one built to move through it. Venture Pacific prepares and submits the applications, manages the City's comments, and tracks the file, you are not navigating the process yourself.

If you own a standard residential lot in the City of North Vancouver, the Ground-Oriented Zone has already changed what your land can do, on most lots you can build more homes without a rezoning, going straight to a building permit. SSMUH-conforming permits in the City have generally run about three to five months from a complete application, which is faster and more predictable than the old discretionary path.

Venture Pacific partners with City homeowners through a written GP/LP partnership: you contribute the land, and we carry the design, the permit applications, the construction financing, and the construction risk. If you have held your lot for years, the value you have already built up becomes the foundation of a project that would look very different for a developer buying at today's prices.