Designing a Custom Home on a Burnaby Corner Lot: Two Frontages

We walked a corner lot in Burnaby Heights last month with a couple who had already sketched their house. Front door on the long street, garage door on the short one, and a tall cedar fence wrapping the whole back yard. Two of those three had to change before the sketch could go anywhere, because a corner lot answers to a different set of rules than the lot next door.

A corner gives you two public faces, more daylight, and a house that can be seen from two directions. It also gives you two setbacks from two streets, a triangle at the intersection where nothing tall can stand, a City with an opinion about where the driveway goes, and a back yard with a street running along one side of it. The Burnaby Zoning Bylaw, which took effect on July 1, 2026 and replaced the 1965 bylaw, sets each of those rules, and the good corner lot designs we have built start by reading them before drawing anything.

Which street is the front

On an interior lot the front is obvious. On a corner it has to be decided, and the bylaw decides it for you. Under the definitions in Part 2, a corner lot is a lot at the intersection or junction of two or more streets, and a lot line abutting a street is treated as the front lot line if the adjacent lots front on the same street. Only one front lot line has to be provided. In plain terms: the front is the street the rest of the block faces. The other street is the flanking street, and the yard along it is a street yard with a smaller setback.

That one decision drives the rest of the design. Under the R1 Small-Scale Multi-Unit Housing District, a small-scale multi-unit lot carries a 4.0-metre front street yard setback and a 3.0-metre flanking street yard setback, with a 1.5-metre lane yard, a 1.2-metre interior side yard and a 3.0-metre interior rear yard for a principal building. Rowhouse lots use 3.0 metres on both street yards. Move the front to the other street and the buildable footprint shifts by a metre in each direction, the front yard fence limit moves with it, and the civic address changes.

The R1 district also sets a minimum lot width of 10 metres for a corner lot with a flanking street on a small-scale multi-unit lot, and 8 metres for a rowhouse lot with a flanking street. Older corner lots in the Heights and around Capitol Hill were subdivided long before those numbers, so the first thing we check on a lot evaluation is the surveyed width against the current minimum.

The sight triangle at the intersection

Section 1.5 of the bylaw's general regulations restricts a triangular area at every street or lane corner, bounded by the two intersecting lot lines and a third line joining points along them. Where two streets meet, those points sit 9.0 metres from the intersection of the lot lines. Inside that triangle, no structure or landscape feature other than the principal building may be built higher than 1.07 metres, and no hedge, shrub, tree or other growth may be maintained so as to obstruct vision. Where a lane meets a street or another lane, the distance is 6.0 metres with the same height cap. Where two lanes meet, the triangle is 3.0 metres and nothing above grade is permitted at all, fences and retaining walls included.

The 9-metre street triangle is the one that changes corner lot designs. Draw it on the survey and it takes a bite out of the corner of the yard where owners want a hedge, a wall, a gate pillar or a bit of grade change held back by a retaining wall. Retaining walls count, and so does a fence sitting on top of one: the bylaw's fence section applies the vision clearance rule to all fences, and any part of a retaining wall that projects above the ground it holds back is treated as a fence. On a sloped corner in Capitol Hill, that means the grade at the corner has to be resolved with planting and a low wall, and the tall wall moves back along the property line until it clears the triangle.

Existing hedges are worth a look on day one. A cedar hedge planted by the previous owner that runs to the corner is already in the triangle, and the City can require it cut back or removed.

Where the driveway can go

A corner lot looks like it offers two places to put a driveway. Burnaby's parking and mobility regulations narrow that fast.

Where a lot in a residential district abuts both a street and a lane, vehicle access has to come from the lane, unless the General Manager Engineering determines that lane access is unsafe, impractical, or would impede traffic. Only one driveway access is permitted per lot; a second needs the General Manager's approval and a traffic impact study by a transportation engineer. On a corner lot in the Heights with a lane behind it, the garage goes on the lane and the two street faces stay clean.

Where there is no lane, the crossing has to be sited away from the corner: at least 6 metres from the point where two streets intersect, and at least 4.5 metres from a street and lane intersection. A driveway onto a street in the R1 district has to be no narrower than 3 metres and no wider than 6 metres at the property line. The R1 district adds that parking goes at the rear of the lot when a lane or street gives access to the rear, and the general siting rules put parking spaces behind the front face of the house, behind the side face along the flanking street on a corner lot, or inside or under the building. Boats and recreational vehicles on a corner lot are limited to the side and rear yards, outside the required setbacks, and screened from the nearest street with evergreen planting at least 1.8 metres tall.

The crossing itself sits in the City's road allowance, so its location and width are approved by the City, and on a corner the boulevard trees, the light standard and the catch basin at the intersection are all in play. Our post on driveway and site access design covers the grade and drainage side; on a corner, the crossing location belongs in the first conversation with the City.

A corner lot gives you two front elevations whether you planned for them or not. The houses that look wrong on a corner are the ones that treated the flanking street like a side yard.

Icon Projects Team

Fence heights on the flanking street

Section 4.5 of the general regulations holds fences in a required front yard to 1.07 metres in every zoning district. Anywhere to the rear of the required front yard, a fence in a residential district may reach 1.8 metres. Fence height is measured from average grade within 0.9 metres of both sides of the fence to its highest point, and where the fence sits above a retaining wall along a property line, the ground beyond the wall is left out of that average.

On a corner lot, the 1.8-metre zone starts once you are behind the front yard line and runs along the flanking street, which is where the back yard needs its privacy. The two exceptions are the sight triangle at the corner, where everything drops to 1.07 metres, and the front yard itself, where a fence stays low no matter which street it faces. Our post on fence height and privacy design covers stepped and sloped fences and the fence-on-wall measurement; on a corner, the extra step is drawing the front yard line and the triangle on the survey before the fence line is set.

Privacy for the back yard

Here is the design problem a corner lot sets: the private outdoor space on an interior lot sits behind the house, screened by the house on one side and the neighbours' fences on the other two. On a corner, one of those three sides is a public sidewalk, and the fence along it is capped at 1.8 metres, falls to 1.07 metres at the corner, and is seen by everyone who walks past.

The answer is to let the house do the screening. Put the garage, the mudroom, the pantry and the laundry along the flanking street, in a wing that runs back from the front of the house, and open the living spaces into the L behind it. The yard then sits in the pocket between the house and the interior side neighbour, with the wing of the house as its street-side wall. That wall can be as tall as the house, which no fence can. The R1 district requires an outdoor amenity space at least 2.0 metres wide and 10.0 square metres in area for each primary dwelling unit, accessible from the unit it serves, and on a corner the L is where that space belongs.

Planting inside the fence line adds a second layer that does not count against the fence height. Windows on the flanking elevation get placed with the sidewalk in mind: higher sills, clerestory strips, or glazing that looks over the private yard. All of it comes from a plan drawn for a corner from the start.

Where the front door faces

The R1 district requires at least one dwelling unit on a lot to have its main entrance oriented to an abutting street. On a corner lot, that leaves a choice, and we almost always make the same one: the door faces the addressed front street, so the civic address, the walk from the sidewalk, deliveries and the view from the living room all agree.

The flanking elevation then becomes the second front, and it deserves to be designed as one. A blank stretch of siding with a garage door in it reads as the back of the house from a street where it is the most visible face on the block. The cladding budget on a corner lot spreads across two faces, and the roof form, the window rhythm and the entry canopy need to read from the intersection, which is where most people first see the house. On the Heights grid, with lanes behind and the flanking street sloping toward the water, that second elevation is often the one that sells the house years later.

What we check on a corner before the first sketch

The survey comes first, with the sight triangle, the front yard line and both street setbacks drawn on it. Then the lane, and whether the City will accept access from it. Then the crossing location, the boulevard trees and the utility pole at the corner. Then the existing hedge, and whether any of it stands inside the triangle. Then the grade at the corner, because a retaining wall in the triangle is held to the same 1.07 metres as a fence.

In Vancouver, New Westminster or Coquitlam the distances differ and the language changes, so we pull the current bylaw for the city before drawing, and we confirm every dimension for the specific lot with the City's planning staff before the drawings go to permit. A corner lot rewards the house that was designed for it. The one drawn for an interior lot and dropped onto a corner is the one that ends up with a garage door facing the wrong street and a fence the City makes you cut down.

Frequently asked questions

Which street is the front on a Burnaby corner lot?

Under the Burnaby Zoning Bylaw, a lot line abutting a street on a corner lot is treated as the front lot line if the adjacent lots front on that same street, and only one front lot line is required. In practice the front is the street the rest of the block faces. The other street frontage is the flanking street, and it carries a smaller setback.

What are the setbacks for a corner lot in Burnaby's R1 zone?

For a small-scale multi-unit lot in Burnaby's R1 district, the front street yard setback is 4.0 metres and the flanking street yard setback is 3.0 metres. The lane yard is 1.5 metres, the interior side yard is 1.2 metres, and the interior rear yard is 3.0 metres for a principal building. Rowhouse lots use a 3.0-metre street yard on both frontages. Confirm the figures against the current bylaw for your lot before design.

What is the sight triangle rule at a Burnaby intersection?

Burnaby's zoning bylaw restricts a triangular area at the corner where two streets meet, measured 9.0 metres along each lot line from their point of intersection. Inside that triangle, no structure or landscape feature other than the principal building may be taller than 1.07 metres, and no hedge, shrub or tree may be allowed to grow so it blocks vision. At a lane and street corner the distance is 6.0 metres, and where two lanes meet nothing above grade is allowed within 3.0 metres.

Where can the driveway go on a corner lot in Burnaby?

If the lot abuts both a street and a lane, Burnaby requires vehicle access from the lane unless the General Manager Engineering decides lane access is unsafe or impractical. Only one driveway access is permitted per lot, and a driveway crossing has to be at least 6 metres from the point where two streets intersect and at least 4.5 metres from a street and lane intersection. A driveway onto a street must be between 3 and 6 metres wide at the property line in the R1 district.

How tall can a fence be on the flanking street side of a Burnaby corner lot?

A fence in a required front yard in Burnaby is limited to 1.07 metres. Anywhere to the rear of the required front yard, including along the flanking street, a fence in a residential district may reach 1.8 metres. The corner itself is the exception: inside the 9-metre sight triangle, fences and retaining walls are held to 1.07 metres total, measured from average grade within 0.9 metres of both sides of the fence.

How do you get privacy in the back yard of a corner lot in Burnaby?

Use the house itself as the screen. Placing the garage or the wing of the house along the flanking street and opening the private yard into the L behind it gives more privacy than a fence can, because the fence along the street is capped at 1.8 metres and drops to 1.07 metres at the corner. Planting inside the fence line adds screening without counting against the fence height, and windows on the flanking elevation are placed and sized with the street in mind.

Does the front door of a Burnaby house have to face the street?

In Burnaby's R1 district, at least one dwelling unit on a lot must have its main entrance oriented to an abutting street. On a corner lot that leaves a real choice between the two streets, and we usually point the door at the addressed front street so visitors, deliveries and the civic address line up, while the flanking street gets a side elevation designed as a second front.

Are corner lots harder to build on in Vancouver or New Westminster than in Burnaby?

Each city writes its own corner lot rules, so the setback distances, sight triangle dimensions and driveway rules in Vancouver, New Westminster or Coquitlam differ from Burnaby's figures. The design questions are the same everywhere: which street is the front, what has to stay low at the corner, where the driveway can touch the road, and how to keep the back yard private with two public faces. We pull the current bylaw for the specific city before the first sketch.