Multiplex development in Pemberton Heights, North Vancouver

The District of North Vancouver is a separate municipality from the City, and its density rules are unsettled. Since June 2024 it has allowed up to three homes on a typical lot, a main house, a secondary suite, and a coach house. The Province's Bill 25 requires four homes on most lots, or up to six within 400 metres of frequent transit, but on April 13, 2026 District council voted 4 to 3 to refuse those changes and did not meet the Province's June 30, 2026 deadline. The Province's housing minister can still impose the zoning by ministerial order, so the higher counts may yet arrive, they are simply not in force today.

Pemberton Heights sits on a plateau above Marine Drive. The frequent R2 Marine Drive RapidBus runs along the base of the bluff, so only the neighbourhood's southern fringe is within a short walk of it; the interior plateau relies on the 236, which reaches frequent levels only part of the day. So if the Province enforces its rules, most Pemberton Heights lots would reach four homes, with the six-home count limited to the southern edge near Marine Drive. A feasibility review confirms where your lot falls.

Pemberton Heights has an unusual geography for the North Shore: a genuinely flat, family-friendly interior on the plateau, with bluff-edge lots that look south over Burrard Inlet to the downtown skyline. Flat ground is a real advantage for a ground-oriented multiplex, it keeps foundation, access, and parking straightforward, unlike the steep sites common elsewhere in the District.

The lots are not uniform, though. Much of the neighbourhood has comfortable family-sized lots, but there are narrower frontages too, such as the 33-foot lots on Philip Avenue. Lot width drives what form fits, a fourplex, a row of townhomes, or a smaller triplex, so the design follows the specific lot. That is exactly what a feasibility review sorts out before any commitment.

Pemberton Heights grew up around the old North Vancouver railway line a century ago, and it still has the feel of a settled, self-contained community. Capilano Elementary, an International Baccalaureate Primary Years school, is a genuine draw for families, and the Cornerstone Bistro and General Store at Lloyd Avenue and 22nd Street has anchored the corner since the 1920s, when it was a streetcar stop.

Highway 1 access at the north edge makes commuting easy, and Park Royal and the Capilano River trails are minutes away. That mix, flat streets, schools, quick highway access, and views, is what makes gentle, ground-oriented density a natural fit here for families who want to stay in the neighbourhood. We design to that character.