| designation | what the OCP intends | apartment zones it points to | lots still zoned for houses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Urban II | Ground-oriented housing, stacked townhouses, apartments up to 4 storeys OCP C12 | MR6 4-storey apartment, plus R3 to R6 and MR1 to MR5 | 2,721 |
| Low-Rise I | Residential apartments, generally 3 to 6 storeys, up to 8 in a TOA OCP C14 | MR6 4-storey MR7 6 to 8 storey, plus MR4 and MR5 townhouses | 7,307 |
| Low-Rise II | Same heights, with ground-floor commercial required | MR6-CMR7-CC-15 | 337 |
| Mid-Rise I and II | Apartments 6 to 25 storeys, II with ground-floor commercial OCP C16 | MR7MR8 and the -C versions | 1,153 |
| High-Rise I and II, CBD | Towers, generally over 30 storeys OCP C18 | MR9MR10 | 218 |
A designation does not change zoning. Every lot counted here still needs a rezoning before an apartment can be built.
Since June 2024 Surrey requires no resident parking for multiple-unit housing inside a TOA, only accessible stalls (1, or 0.05 per unit) and bicycle parking. 7,010 of the house lots on this map sit in a TOA, 5,664 of them Low-Rise. Report R089
Low-Rise II, Mid-Rise II and High-Rise II add commercial at grade. Their zones, MR6-C to MR10-C, allow 0 m side and rear setbacks below the second floor next to similar sites, and C-15 allows 3 m sides and a 2 m front, with housing up to 67% of the floor area. 3,260 house lots sit in those designations, 337 of them Low-Rise II.
The apartment zones cap lot coverage at 60%, but MR7 lifts the cap for non-market rental. On a single 19 m lot the 6 to 7.5 m setbacks bind long before coverage does.
Use the Highlight buttons above the map to pick these lots out. Click any lot for the zone it has now, the zone it would need, and links to the bylaw pages.
| low-rise lots by TOA tier | minimum the City must allow | lots |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1, within 200 m of SkyTrain | 20 storeys, 5.0 FAR | 0 |
| Tier 2, 200 to 400 m | 12 storeys, 4.0 FAR | 0 |
| Tier 3, 400 to 800 m | 8 storeys, 3.0 FAR | 5,586 |
| Tier 5, 200 to 400 m of a bus exchange | 8 storeys, 3.0 FAR | 78 |
| Outside a TOA, in a Frequent Bus Stop Area | SSMUH rules only | 885 |
| Outside both | 1,095 | |
| Low-Rise total | 7,644 |
| low-rise lots in a TOA, by station | lots |
|---|---|
| Clayton (190 St, SLS) | 1,216 |
| 152 Street (SLS) | 1,030 |
| Bakerview-166 Street (SLS) | 770 |
| Gateway | 621 |
| Hillcrest-184 Street (SLS) | 436 |
| Scott Road | 405 |
| Fleetwood (160 St, SLS) | 402 |
| Willowbrook (196 St, SLS) | 234 |
| Surrey Central, King George, Green Timbers | 182 · 156 · 134 |
| Scottsdale, Guildford, Newton exchanges | 47 · 18 · 13 |
The TOA is provincial. The Local Government Act made Surrey designate them around its existing and planned SkyTrain stations and three bus exchanges by June 30, 2024. It sets a floor, not a zone: Council cannot refuse a rezoning only for its height or density if the project stays within the tier's minimum, and it cannot require resident parking. The designation is Surrey's own. The 2050 OCP says what each area should become and which zones fit. Neither one rezones a lot.
Nearly every High-Rise house lot in a TOA sits in Tier 1 or 2, Mid-Rise in Tier 2 or 3, and not one Low-Rise lot is within 400 m of a station. In Tier 3 the fit is exact: the provincial minimum is 8 storeys at 3.0 FAR, and MR7 allows 8 storeys, 26 m and 3.0 FAR inside a TOA, against 6 storeys and 2.0 outside. The Low-Rise text says the same, 3 to 6 storeys, up to 8 in a TOA.
Yes, both layers already apply. The 2024 bylaw names all seven Surrey Langley SkyTrain stations from Green Timbers to Willowbrook alongside the Expo Line, even though the line is not due to open until late 2029. The TOA minimums, the parking exemption and the 2050 designations are in force now. Of the 6,926 house lots inside Surrey's SkyTrain TOAs, 5,211 are around those future stations.
Provincial small-scale multi-unit rules do not apply inside a TOA, so R3 allows only 2 dwellings there, against 4 outside and 6 near a frequent bus stop. Inside the rings the plan points up, but the lot as zoned today has less room than one 900 m away. Every one of these lots moves only through a rezoning.
Heights are drawn at the maximum each rule allows, except the TOA line, which is the minimum the City must allow. Tier 3 is the ring where the province, the plan and the zone agree, and where 6-storey single-stair buildings fit under the 8-storey ceiling with room to spare. Lot counts use the City's TOA layer; another 78 Low-Rise lots sit in bus exchange TOAs and 2,711 Urban II lots lie outside the rings.
| current zone | what it is | low-rise lots | in a TOA | median width | median area | mid-rise lots |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R3 | Urban Residential, the standard single-family lot. SSMUH outside TOAs, 2 dwellings inside | 5,901 | 4,233 | 19.2 m | 702 m² | 907 |
| R4 | Small Lot Residential | 690 | 639 | 13.8 m | 389 m² | 110 |
| R5, R5-S | Compact Residential | 640 | 600 | 9.1 m | 274 m² | 45 |
| R6 | Semi-Detached Residential | 57 | 49 | 7.2 m | 265 m² | 11 |
| RA | Acreage Residential | 285 | 114 | 45.9 m | 4,044 m² | 69 |
| R1, R2 | Suburban and Quarter Acre Residential | 71 | 29 | 29 to 40 m | 1,100 to 1,900 m² | 11 |
R3 is the real pool. The R4, R5 and R6 lots are compact lots from newer subdivisions, mostly around Clayton, 7 to 14 m wide with recent houses on them.
Each square covers one whole metre: the 18 column holds lots 18.0 to 18.9 m wide. The 36+ column and 50+ row gather the large parcels. Bars along the top and right total each column and row.
| rule | MR6, 4-storey apartment · bylaw text | MR7, 6 to 8 storey apartment · bylaw text | typical low-rise R3 lot · bylaw text |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum lot, new lots | 2,000 m², 30 m wide, 30 m deep | 2,000 m², 36 m wide, 30 m deep | 702 m², 19.2 m × 37.8 m |
| Density | 1.4 FAR, 1.6 with bonus | 2.0 FAR, 2.5 with bonus; 3.0 in a TOA with inclusionary housing | |
| Height | 4 storeys or 15 m | 6 storeys, 22 m; 8 storeys, 26 m in a TOA | |
| Setbacks | Front 4.5 m, rear and side 6.0 m | Front 5.5 m, rear and side 7.5 m | Side setbacks alone leave 7.2 m (MR6) or 4.2 m (MR7) of width |
| Parking | All resident parking underground or inside the building. In a TOA the City cannot require resident parking at all. | ||
On a single 19 m Surrey lot, MR6 and MR7 leave a building strip 4 to 7 m wide. The zones assume an assembled site of about three lots. A single-lot point access block would need a site-specific CD zone, which is how most Surrey apartments are approved anyway: 1,306 Low-Rise lots are already CD.