Burnaby Patio Covers, Awnings & Motorized Screens

The Home Improvement Permits page states that any construction project that includes the excavation, erection, enlargement, alteration, removal, fire repair or demolition of any building or structure including accessory and temporary buildings requires a permit. That is the plainest statement the City publishes, and it is where a Burnaby project starts.

The same page says any change to a building's footprint or an increase in floor area is considered an addition, and it names awnings and patio covers among the existing accessory structures whose expansion counts. The next sentence says new accessory buildings or detached garages are classified as new buildings instead. So the intake path depends partly on whether you are expanding something already there or adding something new.

The residential additions and alterations application form carries a scope of work checklist, and Deck Cover/Canopy is one of the printed options alongside Deck/Patio, Attached Carport and Solar Panels, among others. The same form asks whether a tree permit is required and whether the property is being converted to strata title ownership.

The City publishes a dedicated guide for prefabricated aluminum awnings and patio or deck covers on single and two family dwellings, still linked from the current additions page. It asks for two complete sets of drawings signed and sealed for structural content by a BC registered professional engineer, together with Letters of Assurance Schedule B, and it states that the structural engineer is required to indicate Burnaby climatic design data on drawings. That is why the two published data sets below matter at design stage.

The climatic and seismic values guide, revised 15 January 2025, publishes one data set from an observing site near Simon Fraser University at 330 metres elevation for the SFU area, and another from Burnaby Mountain Terminal at 137 metres for all other areas. Ground snow load Ss at 1 in 50 is 2.9 kPa and 2.7 kPa, associated rain load Sr is 0.7 kPa and 0.4 kPa, hourly wind pressure at 1 in 50 is 0.47 kPa at both, one day rainfall at 1 in 50 is 150 mm and 140 mm, and annual degree days below 18 C are 3,100 and 2,735.

The City posted a process change effective 1 July 2026 stating that for some projects a development permit will be required before a building permit can be submitted or issued. That changes the order of work rather than just adding a step, so it is worth raising at the first call to the City.

The Consent to Construction form, revised 1 July 2026, is titled as an acknowledgement of a lessee or strata owner's authority to build. The person signing certifies that they are the registered owner, strata council or property manager of the land and consents to the work.

The Consent to Construct form appears on the City's submission checklists for R1 additions and alterations, both the existing single family and duplex version and the Part 3 or apartment style version, under the documents required before the building permit application is accepted. Both state that where applicable it must be signed by the strata or land title owners for all units.

The apartment style checklist is the one headed for buildings with more than three floors above grade or a footprint greater than 600 square metres, so it is the version that applies to most mid-rise and tower terraces.

That same checklist lists Letters of Assurance for a Building Envelope Professional at Schedule B and Schedule E-1 where applicable, alongside the structural ones. The City publishes no terrace specific bulletin on fixing method or membrane detailing, so whether a professional is required on a given terrace is answered at intake rather than assumed either way.

Where a planning application is involved and an agent is acting, the Planning Division agent authorization form states in its preamble that all building and demolition permits are issued in the owner's name and only the owner. Separately, in Section 2, it states that if the property is strata titled the strata council represents the owner and strata council meeting minutes are required to show that owners of the strata lots on the property have supported the application. That is the planning form, and its wording is not identical to the building permit consent form.

Bylaw No. 14815 came into force on 1 July 2026 and repealed the 1965 bylaw. It carries a transition provision: where a complete preliminary plan approval application was received under the old bylaw before that date, or a PPA was issued and remains valid, the 1965 bylaw applies to that land for 12 months. For a homeowner adding a cover that changes nothing, but it is the one live caveat on assuming the new text applies.

The bylaw allows an uncovered terrace in any yard in an R or A district, subject to fence height limitations, and states that the provision of an awning or similar temporary covering for such a terrace shall be permitted. Covered decks, canopies and sunshades are handled separately as projections. How the City reads temporary covering against a specific product is not published, so ask before the design is fixed.

Balconies, covered or uncovered decks, canopies, sunshades and their supporting structures may project into a required yard by no more than 1.2 metres, or 50 percent of the width of a required side yard. Balconies are not permitted to project into required yards in the R1 district at all.

Lot coverage calculations exclude covered and uncovered decks provided they project no more than 1.2 metres from the exterior wall of the building, and exclude up to one detached accessory structure under 5 square metres of gross floor area. Separately, for gross floor area in the R1 and A1 districts, covered and uncovered balconies, decks and terraces are excluded provided they are not fully enclosed. Close a space in on all sides and that calculation changes.

In an R district an accessory structure that is not a building, excluding a fence or retaining wall, located outside a required front or side yard, shall not exceed 4.6 metres in height. The R1 district table publishes Accessory Buildings 4.0 m and 1 storey, and an interior rear yard of 3.0 m for the principal building and 1.5 m for accessory. The City does not publish which classification an attached roofed cover on a house takes, so that is a question for staff rather than an assumption.

The Zoning Bylaw carries flood plain regulations for lands within the Fraser River Flood Plain as described in Schedule AA of the Official Regional Plan. For buildings or mobile units with areas used for habitation, business or storage of goods damageable by floodwaters, it sets a 60 metre distance from the natural boundary of the Fraser River and a floor system elevation on an even gradient from 3.392 m at Boundary Road to 4.002 m at Fenwick Street, with a possible 0.6 metre reduction for industrial uses where comprehensive flood proofing is approved. Whether a given south Burnaby address is inside that area is a question for the City.

The City states that the Form and Character DPA applies to all multi-family residential, meaning apartments and townhouses, plus commercial and industrial development in Burnaby, and that property owners inside it must obtain a development permit before undertaking development.

The published exemption list removes permitted uses in the R1 Small-Scale Multi-Unit Housing zoning district, except for supportive housing. It also exempts alterations or renovations to the interior of existing buildings, and accessory buildings of 10 square metres or less. So a patio cover at a detached Burnaby house is not a form and character question.

There is an exemption for exterior building maintenance, minor improvements, changes to existing signage, and minor changes to landscaping that do not materially affect the form and character of the development. The City does not name patio covers, shade structures or screens on either side of that line, so on a strata terrace or a commercial frontage this is the point to put to staff early rather than assume. The City's own advice is to contact planning staff in advance to find out whether a permit is required.

The City lists the development permit areas designated in the Burnaby 2050 OCP, and there are three: Form and Character, Streamside Protection and Enhancement, and Tenant Protection. Burnaby publishes no wildfire interface area and no hillside or steep slope area.

The City states that all parcels shown shaded on its map are subject to a streamside DPA, as well as any other parcel in Burnaby that contains a stream, or is partly or entirely located within 30 metres of the top of bank of a stream, or within 30 metres of the top of a ravine bank for ravines 60 metres wide or less, or within 10 metres of the top of ravine bank for ravines wider than 60 metres. A lot can be caught without being shaded.

The guidelines state that unless an exemption applies, construction of, addition to or alteration of a building or other structure requires a development permit, alongside subdivision of land and alteration of land including clearing vegetation, grading and changes to landscaping. A footing excavation and a new roofed structure both land inside that wording.

The published exemption list runs to eleven items. The closest are interior alterations within an existing foundation, and repair or reconstruction where the footprint after the work will not be larger than the existing footprint or expand into the protected area. A new patio cover adds footprint, so it does not sit inside either.

The City's intake checklist for additions to existing houses states that a streamside development permit is only required if the property is within a streamside protection and enhancement area, that where required it must be applied for prior to applying for a building permit, and that approval is required prior to issuance of the permit. That is a scheduling fact more than a paperwork one.

The Zoning Bylaw sets the minimum width of the protected area against the average width of existing or potential vegetation. It runs from 30 metres down to 5 metres depending on the stream type and that vegetation band, with a footnote making the width the greater of the existing vegetation width and the tabled minimum. Do not read a flat 30 metres off it. Confirm the figure for your own lot with the City.

The City states that a food and beverage business in Burnaby can apply to add outdoor seating in the public realm, and that the temporary installations introduced during the pandemic have been updated to facilitate the transition into permanent outdoor patios. Seating entirely on the property is a different conversation with the City.

The guidelines state that umbrellas or other weather protection are permitted but must sit within the patio footprint and not extend over the sidewalk or vehicle travel lanes, and must be removed and stored at the end of each day. Tents or other structures are not permitted, spaces must allow for ventilation and cannot be enclosed, and umbrellas can only have a single post.

Canopies, awning, umbrellas and other materials or decorations must be flame spread rated per the BC Fire Code, CAN/ULC S109. This is the same standard that governs awning fabric on a commercial frontage, and it is a specification decision rather than an inspection surprise.

The guidelines state that portable heating devices must be CSA or ULC listed and designed for outdoor use only, that propane cylinders are not permitted to be stored indoors, that heaters must be stored per the BC Fire Code and CSA B149.2, and that plumbed gas lines or electrical wiring will need to be approved by Technical Safety BC.

You must be able to remove the patio within 24 hours notice to accommodate construction, maintenance or other activities in and around the patio area. That is the published reason a permanent structure on a Burnaby street patio is not on the table. The guidelines accept umbrellas within the footprint and sidewalk patios under canopies and awnings a building already has, and they do not address adding a new building mounted awning above a street patio, so that is a question for City staff.