Parts of Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam sit close to SkyTrain and West Coast Express stations. In 2023 the province passed rules for that land. Near a listed station, a city must be willing to permit taller and denser buildings, and it can no longer require parking for homes. The province calls this land a transit-oriented area.
This chapter of the land and zoning guide explains which stations create these areas for the two cities, what the designation changes, and what it leaves in place. Every rule below comes from the legislation, the regulation or the cities' own pages, checked on 30 September 2026. The rules for small-scale housing on ordinary house lots are in the small-scale housing chapter, and they work differently.
Where the rule comes from
The Local Government Act defines a transit-oriented area as an area within a prescribed distance of a transit station. Section 585.52 of the act requires each affected local government to designate those areas by bylaw, using a map. If a city does not designate an area correctly, section 585.53 allows the provincial cabinet to designate it by order.
The distances and the stations are set in the Local Government Transit-Oriented Areas Regulation. Section 2 of the regulation prescribes 800 metres for a passenger rail station such as a SkyTrain station. It prescribes 400 metres for a bus stop, a bus exchange or a West Coast Express station. Each station is fixed in the regulation's schedule by longitude and latitude. The distance is measured from that fixed point.
The province's transit-oriented areas page summarizes what cities must do inside these areas. They must ensure the minimum densities set by the province are allowed. They must remove minimum parking requirements for residential use. They must consider the provincial policy manual when they plan or amend zoning. The page adds that local governments can approve densities above the provincial minimum at their discretion.
The stations that matter in the Tri-Cities
Coquitlam's Transit-Oriented Areas page lists eight SkyTrain stations whose areas reach Coquitlam land. They are Braid, Burquitlam, Coquitlam Central, Inlet Centre, Lafarge Lake-Douglas, Lincoln, Lougheed Town Centre and Moody Centre. The city designated these areas by bylaw, and it publishes one map per station. The Coquitlam Central map, for example, is one of the schedules to Bylaw No. 5393, 2024.
Port Coquitlam's housing legislation page sorts its stations into two categories. The first is SkyTrain, and it names Coquitlam Central and Lincoln. The second is a bus exchange or West Coast Express station, and it names Port Coquitlam Station. The page states that the Official Community Plan was amended to designate these areas.
TransLink's SkyTrain page lists these stations, and its West Coast Express page lists Port Coquitlam and Coquitlam Central among the train's stops. The regulation's schedule treats Coquitlam Central as a passenger rail station, which carries the 800 metre distance. It treats Port Coquitlam Station as a West Coast Express station, which carries the 400 metre distance.
Tiers, heights and densities
The regulation splits each area into tiers by distance. Floor area ratio, used in the table, is the total floor area of the buildings divided by the area of the lot. A ratio of 3.0 on a 1,000 square metre site means 3,000 square metres of floor area.
| Tier | Distance from the station | Station type | Minimum floor area ratio | Minimum storeys |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 200 m or less | SkyTrain | 5.0 | 20 |
| 2 | over 200 m to 400 m | SkyTrain | 4.0 | 12 |
| 3 | over 400 m to 800 m | SkyTrain | 3.0 | 8 |
| 4 | 200 m or less | West Coast Express or bus exchange | 4.0 | 12 |
| 5 | over 200 m to 400 m | West Coast Express or bus exchange | 3.0 | 8 |
The tier 1 to 3 figures come from tables 1 to 3 in section 5 of the regulation, which list the City of Coquitlam. The tier 4 and 5 figures come from tables 4 and 5, which list the City of Port Coquitlam. Port Coquitlam's own page also shows the SkyTrain figures for land near Coquitlam Central and Lincoln. The regulation's tier 1 to 3 tables, as consolidated on 30 September 2026, do not name Port Coquitlam. If your lot is in Port Coquitlam and near one of those two SkyTrain stations, ask the Planning Division in writing which figures apply to it.
Two further rules in the regulation decide edge cases. Section 2 (2) says that when a boundary cuts through a parcel, the whole parcel is inside the area. Section 4 (3) says that a parcel partly in two tiers is treated as wholly in the tier with the higher density. Coquitlam's answers on transit areas add that boundaries cannot be moved on request, because the station points are fixed in provincial regulation.
Parking inside a designated area
Section 525.1 of the Local Government Act says a local government must not require off-street parking for the residential use of land in a transit-oriented area, other than spaces for people with disabilities. If an owner chooses to build parking anyway, the city may set design standards for those spaces. The province's page adds that cities may still require parking for commercial uses and loading.
Coquitlam has written this into Part 7 of its Zoning Bylaw. Section 706 (1) (b) states that off-street parking spaces are not required for the residential use class within transit-oriented areas, apart from accessible parking. Section 706 (1) (c) sets separate rates for townhouses and apartments in what the bylaw calls Evergreen Line Shoulder Station Areas, shown on Schedule O. There, a studio or one-bedroom unit needs 0.85 spaces.
For a buyer, the practical point is that a new building near a station may have fewer parking spaces than the number of homes. Ask the seller or developer how many spaces are assigned to the home you are considering, and how that assignment is recorded.
What a designation leaves in place
A designation leaves the lot's current zone in place. Coquitlam's answers state that the city is not required to pre-zone properties to meet the legislation, and that the rules do not require landowners to sell or redevelop. Port Coquitlam's page says rezoning applications will still be required for redevelopment in these areas. Council decides each rezoning after an application is made.
What the designation changes is the floor under that decision. Coquitlam's answers state that the city cannot permit a rezoning in a transit area that does not comply with the provincial minimum density and height. They also say that if a lot outside the area is consolidated with a lot inside it, the city is required to apply the provincial minimums to the whole site.
House lots inside a transit area
When Coquitlam moved most house lots into the new R-1 to R-4 small-scale zones in June 2025, lots inside transit areas kept their existing zoning. The city's answers explain that it is not required to permit small-scale housing there and cannot approve a rezoning below the provincial minimum. Port Coquitlam's small-scale housing page states that small-scale units are not permitted on RS-zoned properties within a designated transit area.
A house lot one street inside a ring may therefore have fewer options under its current zone than a house lot one street outside it. The larger option, an apartment building, usually needs several lots assembled and a rezoning. Coquitlam's answers note that land assemblies must be practical, must consider future streets and lanes, and must avoid leaving behind properties too small to redevelop. For what that means when a builder makes an offer, see the selling guide's chapter on selling to a builder.
Coquitlam's planning work near stations
Coquitlam's page describes its Official Community Plan work in these areas. It states that land uses in the Burquitlam and Lougheed Town Centre areas were updated to allow the provincial minimums. For the remaining transit areas, the plan created a Transit-Oriented Area Reserve for land that needs more neighbourhood planning. On 27 May 2026, Council adopted plan and zoning amendments for the Southwest Shoulders and Corridors, the land around Burquitlam and Lougheed Town Centre stations and along Austin Avenue.
The same page records that on 6 July 2026 Council approved the rezoning of 374 properties in the Southwest Shoulder and Corridor sub-areas from R-3 to R-1. The journal article on the Southwest Shoulders and Corridors covers that change in more detail, and the article on Coquitlam's transit-oriented areas gives a narrower owner's view of the tiers.
Questions to ask for one address
Start with the station maps and the city's mapping tool, then ask the city to confirm in writing. Useful questions include: which tier the parcel is in, what its current zone is, whether the Official Community Plan designation supports a rezoning, and whether the parcel is part of any planning study. The chapter on rezoning and development permits explains how a rezoning application moves through each city.
This chapter describes the rules as they stood on 30 September 2026. Questions about what land in a transit area is worth, or whether an application would be approved, belong with a planner at the city, a lawyer and an appraiser, who each answer a different part for a specific property.