Raise High the Roofbeams, But Only Five Feet

Many fixer descriptions mention the zoning of a home, or suggest improvements to the property that a new owner may choose to make. Can you really turn the basement into a mother-in-law? Are fantasies about overlaying your dream home on top of the existing house realistic? A professional will likely have the best answer for you, but there’s some initial legwork you can do on your own, if you’re inclined.

First, you’ll only be able to change what your land use zone will allow. For a broad overview of Seattle’s zoning, check out this pdf map from the City of Seattle’s website. While you’re there, you can zoom in and see what’s nearby in an unfamiliar neighborhood, such as commercial districts and clusters of multi-family homes.

Here is a list of the zoning classifications. You can find out a property’s zone, history, and legal square footage by researching its parcel data, at the City’s or County’s websites. The County’s iMAP zooms down to the parcel, and will even tell you if the house next door was once a meth lab.

For those properties zoned single family residential, the City has a pdf that outlines general codes. For example, my house is zoned SF5000, so my house has to be twenty feet from the front lot line. However, since both of my neighbors have front yards that are less than 20′ deep, I may be able to shorten my front yard to meet theirs.

There are other easy-to-digest publications available on land use compliance from the Seattle’s Department of Planning and Development (DPD). You wouldn’t plan a project without licensed professionals to advise you, but if you want to know how a certain restriction applies to your home, you can ask the DPD.

Chances are there’s a compromise between your vision for a home and what’s legal, affordable, and possible. But if not, better to know from the outset than try to rework your ideas later.