Motorized Screens, Patio Covers & Awnings in Port Moody

Section 5.3 of Building Bylaw, 2019, No. 3200 lists what the bylaw does not apply to, and an accessory building with a floor area of less than 10 square metres is on that list, beside fences and soil retaining walls under 1.2 metres. The Good Neighbour Guidelines state the same figure in plain language. Most covers worth building are larger than that, and the wording is about the floor area of an accessory building rather than the roofed area of an open cover, so the honest starting assumption is that a permit applies. Confirm your own structure with the City before assuming it either way.

Port Moody's definition of a deck carries the roof with it and sets an enclosure ceiling of 60 per cent. It reads: an exterior floor structure more than 0.6 m above the adjacent grade, which is not enclosed greater than 60 per cent and which may include a roof. Read next to the Good Neighbour Guidelines line that a building permit is required for a deck more than 0.6 metres above the ground or attached to a building, the raised deck a cover usually lands on was already a permitted structure before the roof arrived. Our reading is that this makes the cover an alteration to an existing permitted structure rather than a new standalone one, but that is our reading and not the City's published position.

Section 5.2.2(b) states that where an accessory building or structure is attached to the principal building it shall be considered a part of the principal building and shall comply in all respects with the requirements for the principal building. In RS1 that swaps a 1.5 metre accessory rear setback for a 7.5 metre principal rear setback, and swaps a 3.7 metre accessory height cap for the principal building envelope. Freestanding and attached are not two ways of doing the same job here, they are two different regulatory problems.

Lot Coverage is defined as the sum of all areas within the outside perimeter of all buildings and structures on a lot, including all decks and projections, but excluding structures less than 0.6 m in height, eaves up to 1.2 m in depth, and stairs. Two things follow. A new cover consumes coverage even where it encloses nothing, and a deck that was already there was already counting. On a lot that already carries a garage, a shed or a laneway unit, the 65 square metre accessory cap is often the binding number rather than the setbacks.

The RS1 zone states as a condition of use that any accessory building or structure shall be located rear of the front building face, and the Good Neighbour Guidelines repeat it in plain language while noting the one street where it does not hold. The RS1 accessory numbers are 3.7 metres of height for a flat roof and 4.5 metres for a roof steeper than 3 in 12, 1.5 metres from an interior side lot line, 3.0 metres from an exterior side lot line, 1.5 metres from the rear lot line and 2.0 metres between buildings. Over a deck already lifted above grade, the height figure arrives sooner than people expect.

Section 5.3.2(b)(ii) is the provision an attached awning or a cantilevered shade element usually lives in. In the RS and RT zones, where decks, porches, eaves, cornices, leaders, gutters, chimneys, stairs, canopies or Sunlight Control Projections project beyond the face of the principal building, the required distance to an abutting lot line may be reduced by 0.8 m toward an interior side lot line, 1.5 m toward an exterior side lot line and 1.8 m toward a front or rear lot line, with both side yard reductions capped at 50 per cent of the required setback. A different set, 0.9 m and 1.5 m, applies in every zone other than RS and RT under section 5.3.2(a)(iv).

Since the bylaw never names a pergola, a patio cover, a louver, a gazebo or an awning, the nearest defined term is Sunlight Control Projection, meaning an appendage to the exterior wall that moderates the amount of solar heat gain and daylight that enters a building. It appears by name inside both setback relief provisions above. It is worth using that phrase when you call, because it is the one the bylaw will recognise.

The guide to applying for a residential building permit lists constructing a new accessory building, adding to an existing building, and altering, renovating or repairing existing buildings or structures among the work that requires a permit, with no size threshold attached, and lists landscaping, including patios and decks less than 600 mm above grade and independently supported, among the work that does not. Set that beside the Building Bylaw exclusion and the sensible reading is that the size question is settled by the City rather than by a tape measure.

Section 5.4.5 of the Zoning Bylaw is a table grouped by shore and watershed. Each stream carries a Riparian Protection and Enhancement Area measured perpendicularly from top of bank, running from 10.0 to 30.0 metres, with a 5.0 metre Riparian Transition Area on most of them. Noons and Mossom each carry 30.0 metres with no transition area added, so the total there is 30 metres rather than 35. Unlisted watercourses fall back to 15.0 metres for Class A, 10.0 for Class B and greater than 5 metres for Class C. Which line of that table governs a given back yard is a question for the City's mapping and for the City, not something to read off an address.

The streamside part of the bylaw defines Development for its own purposes and the definition is wide. It catches buildings, retaining walls and other structures, and clause (d) catches creation of non structural impervious or semi impervious surfaces, so a stamped concrete pad poured in advance of a future cover is already Development inside a protection area. Clause (a) catches vegetation, shrub and ground cover removal, which is usually the first thing anybody does.

Section 5.4.4(b) lists what may be permitted inside a Riparian Transition Area and construction of ancillary buildings is on that list, alongside landscaping works, trails, stormwater systems and riparian protection fences. The protection area list is much shorter. It covers reconstruction or repair of a permanent structure on its original foundation, riparian restorative and enhancement works, and stream crossing connections, and it has one further route: development authorized under a development permit for Development Permit Area 4. The bylaw also allows a protection area of 20 metres or more to be reduced by up to 20 per cent at any given location, provided no total area is lost and the reduction does not run beyond half the setback length. What we take from that is that establishing which band a post lands in is worth doing before design rather than after. The City decides, not us.

Tree Protection Bylaw, 2026, No. 3531, adopted by Council on 10 March 2026 and repealing the 2015 bylaw, protects any tree with a diameter at breast height of 30 cm or more anywhere in the city. Inside a Riparian Management Zone or an Environmentally Sensitive Area, and on a lot subject to a development approval, the threshold falls to 10 cm. Six named species, including arbutus, Pacific dogwood and Pacific yew, are protected at 10 cm everywhere. A 10 cm trunk is a modest tree, so on a creekside lot the practical result is that most of what is growing there is protected.

The Critical Root Zone is defined as a circle with a radius of the trunk diameter multiplied by six, and the Tree Protection Zone is defined to contain that circle at a minimum, set by an arborist to the satisfaction of City staff and marked by a barrier. Section 6.4 deems a list of actions to constitute Damage, and placing a structure inside the protection zone is on it, as is placing fill or building materials there, as is operating or parking heavy equipment there, and as is raising the grade by more than five centimetres within a one metre circumference around the trunk and a further five centimetres out to the edge of the zone. Removing more than 25 per cent of a tree's live foliage or bud bearing branches is also deemed Damage, which matters when a new roof wants the branches above it gone.

Stream and Drainage Bylaw, 2023, No. 3426 ties the ESC permit to the permit rather than to the size of the disturbance: an ESC permit is required prior to any construction works that require a building permit or development permit. The bylaw's definition of Construction Works expressly includes construction of any building or structure and paving or concrete pouring. There is a lighter application package for single and two family dwelling work and a heavier one, with a letter of appointment, a detailed cost estimate and a security at the greater of 120 per cent or 5,000 dollars, for everything else. Which package a residential accessory structure attracts is not spelled out, so ask Engineering and Public Works before you budget.

The provision states that notwithstanding any other siting provisions of the bylaw, no building, structure, or impervious or semi pervious parking or storage area shall be constructed within 7.5 m of the natural boundary of the sea. It is written as an override of every other siting provision, and it reaches past buildings and structures to catch parking and storage areas by name. Note where it stops: the bylaw's definition of Structure covers any construction fixed to, supported by or sunk into land or water, but it expressly excludes fences and walls under 1.2 metres and concrete and asphalt paving or similar surfacing of a lot. So a plain patio slab is not a Structure here, while a paved parking or storage area inside the 7.5 metres is caught by name. Where the natural boundary sits on a given waterfront lot is a survey question and a City question.

Four elevations apply to the underside of the floor system: 0.6 m above the 200 year flood level where it has been determined, 4.5 m above mean sea level at Canadian Geodetic Datum, 1.5 m above the natural boundary of a lake, wetland or pond, and 0.6 m above the natural ground elevation on the fan of Noons Creek. Note what the provision is actually written about, which is areas used for habitation, business, or storage of goods damageable by floodwaters. Whether an open, unenclosed cover falls inside or outside that wording is not something the City publishes, and the answer may well differ for a commercial patio and a back yard one. This page does not state an answer, because there is not one to quote.

Section 8.7.7 of the RS3 zone rewrites the ordinary rules for waterfront lots on Alderside Road. Three clauses matter to an outdoor structure: where the road allowance is a dedicated 6.0 m width the front lot line setback for an accessory building or structure is 1.5 m, the building setback from the high water mark is 3.0 m without any further siting exceptions, and an accessory building or structure is allowed in the front yard, which reverses the citywide rule. The Good Neighbour Guidelines flag the same exception in plain language. The final clause closes the door on anything else: allow no further siting exceptions.

Development Permit Area 5 covers soils potentially susceptible to earthquake liquefaction, the Harbour Heights escarpment, and areas mainly at the foot of the Chines hillside at risk from flooding or debris flow during abnormal storm events. A geotechnical report by a professional engineer or professional geoscientist can be required. The exemption is written as uninhabited accessory buildings of 10 square metres or less in size, where no excavation or filling is required. A post footing is excavation, so our reading is that the footing design on such a lot is settled by a report rather than by a standard detail, and the sequence matters more than the hardware. The City's building official decides.

Port Moody has two Heritage Conservation Areas, Moody Centre and Ioco Townsite, both established in the Official Community Plan. The City's Heritage Alteration Permits page states you must apply if you add a structure or add to an existing structure, and that in most cases it can take two to five months to process. The exemption list runs to interior work, maintenance and repairs that do not affect heritage character, and landscaping that does not affect it. An added exterior structure is not on it.

Appendix 4 of Port Moody 2050 sets out awning and canopy guidance for the Moody Centre Heritage Conservation Area. Encouraged: opaque fabric awnings fitted to the structural opening they cover and not passing in front of vertical structural elements, in three point form with or without a valance, retractable awnings of appropriate period design, and glass canopies. Discouraged: arched, barrel, dome, convex, concave or random shapes. Prohibited materials: sheet metal, wood panelling, shakes, shingles or siding, plastic or fibreglass, and concrete. Encouraged materials: non shiny opaque outdoor awning fabric, metal as the frame system for a fabric awning or glass canopy, and glass.

The same appendix advises earth tones and natural pigment colours, calls bright oranges, yellows, reds and blues inappropriate, says primary colours should be avoided and fluorescents never used, and advises against white because it was not used historically. It then states that for existing buildings the colour schemes already in place may be maintained, and that any proposed change in colours will require a Heritage Alteration Permit.

The introduction to Appendix 2 lists what does not require a development permit inside Development Permit Areas 1, 2, 3 and 6, and replacement or addition of canopies and awnings is named explicitly, alongside small building additions of 46.5 square metres or less and accessory buildings of 46.5 square metres or less where the design and exterior finishing are in keeping with the principal building. The City adds that conformity with the guidelines is still encouraged with respect to colours, landscaping and signage, and the environmental and hazard overlays carry their own separate exemptions that this list does not override.

The C6 zone exists to let a single detached building be used commercially while keeping a residential appearance. Its condition of use requires all permitted uses to be enclosed within the principal building, except that customer service areas to a maximum of 12.0 square metres are permitted on porches or patios within the front yard. Twelve square metres is roughly four two person tables. The Sign Bylaw then goes the other way on the same zone: canopy and awning signs are permitted in commercial, industrial and public service zones excluding C-6 Adaptive Commercial. So you may cover a small front patio there, and you may not put your name on the cover.

The Light Industrial M1 zone lists Animal Daycare, Commercial Athletic and Recreation, Laboratory, Light Industrial, Recycling Return Centre, Trade School, Veterinary Clinic and Child Care as permitted principal uses. Neither Restaurant nor Liquor Primary Establishment is among them, and Accessory Food Service appears only as a secondary use. Light Industrial is itself defined as a use enclosed within a building. The City's Temporary Use Permit page states that a TUP may allow for temporary commercial and industrial uses on a property that would not be currently permitted by the Zoning Bylaw, for up to three years and renewable once, and the City published a notice in March 2025 for a draft TUP at 3012 Murray Street covering Assembly, Retail, Office and Liquor Primary Establishment uses. We are not stating the zoning of any particular business, because we have not verified it lot by lot.

The off street parking table sets Restaurant and Liquor Primary Establishment at one space per 18 square metres of Floor Area, one of the heaviest rates in the table. Floor Area is defined as the sum of all areas of floors in a building, calculated from the outside of the exterior walls. An open, unenclosed patio has no such floors. Whether a covered outdoor seating area is treated as adding Floor Area is not answered on the face of the bylaw, and it is the question we would put to Planning first on any hospitality project here, because the answer changes the feasibility.

The Sign Bylaw's rules for canopy and awning signs set a minimum clear height of 2.40 m from the nearest finished grade, a maximum of 7.62 m that can never exceed the roof line or wall of the building, a projection limit of 40 cm beyond the edge of the canopy, and a limit of 1.20 m above its lower edge. The bylaw also separates an Awning, a flexible retractable hood or cover projecting from a wall, from a Canopy or Marquee, a permanent non retractable one. That distinction decides which sign rules apply to a given installation.