Farewell, My McMansion

The Seattle City Council may put the kibosh on supersized construction, according to the Seattle P-I. City Council President Richard Conlin has drafted a proposal that would limit home sizes on single-family-zoned lots, dropping the current cap of 5,250 square feet down to 4,350. This construction reduction would also increase green space between lots, and would provide wider buffers between houses. (Good, especially when the neighbor kid is drumming along to his Rush albums.)

What’s more, this city-proposed downsize does well by neighbors who feel crowded by behemoth homes, or who aren’t necessarily pleased with the sore-thumb looks of a megamanse in, say, a Craftsman-heavy Seattle ‘hood. And, with 65 percent of the Emerald City zoned single-fam residential, there exist all manner of lots primed for new biggie digs.

Conlin’s proposal, which should see discussion a next month’s Council meeting, seems to be coming at the right time: says the P-I piece, demand for homes in the $900,000+ bracket is diminishing. Likewise the pining for extra square footage, as I blogged last week.

Yet even if the proposal passes, it still may leave neighborhoods in the lurch. Take away 900 square feet, and you’ve still room for a potential view-killer. Plus, a 4,350-square-foot home provides no more urban density than does a place that’s one story taller. Of course, most of the single-family lots in this town don’t allow for subdivision anyhow, and, with the recent crackdown on eyesore townhomes, c’est la guerre.

I do wonder about the motive behind Conlin’s proposal. Is it concern for the architectural aesthetic of Seattle? Is it a community-minded move, spurred by the piles of complaints the city has received due to the steady build-up of these West Egg megahomes? Or is it a green push, one that will ride on the coattails of the bottled water ban in city offices and precede the proposed bag tax and styrofoam container censure?

Call me a cockeyed optimist, but I’m hoping for all three.