Quote:
Originally Posted by JDMDreams
But what if you don't want to tear down the main house. And there's already 2 existing units? Top and basement. I'm not sure how they recognize units as I'm sure all old houses were never built as 2 units with the separate address thing. 9000 sq - existing house size?
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As long as what you're building complies with the guidelines for R-1 zoning (
https://www.burnaby.ca/sites/default...g-District.pdf) then you can build a new back unit. Potentially you can do some major upgrades to the existing house too like adding a floor to it but I can't see how that works financially. If someone has an unauthorised suite they could try to legalize it but it doesn't really matter unless you're trying to get to 4+ total units (you can build bigger once you hit 4+ units)
The new Burnaby guidelines are pretty flexible in how they work - they basically say here's the height limit, here's how much of the lot you're allowed to cover, and where you're not allowed to build housing (setbacks) and the rest is up to you.
In my particular case it means I can finally build a 2nd floor deck at the back of my house - I wasn't allowed under the old rules b/c my house is 60' long and that was the depth limit. They dropped that rule and just said how much of my lot can be covered so now I can build a deck (and enlarge my patio).