Over the past year the Seattle City Mayor and City Council have been working on changes to portions of Seattle's zoning codes that deal with back yard cottages and mother in law units in single family neighborhoods. The changes are hoped to encourage greater density and a wider variety of housing options, including more units for lower income families.

In response to the proposed changes the Queen Anne Community Council (QACC) filed an appeal in an attempt to block the legislation. The appeal is set to be heard on this coming Wed. 8/31/2016 at 9:00am.  

It is hard to guess how the appeal will go and how the timeline for the changes will play out but here are our thoughts...

• The Appeal succeeds -
  • If the QACC's appeal is successful it will most likely have a significant drag on the timeline for the changes. We believe that some change will still likely occur however, it appears that the mayor and city council has the will to push the proposed changes regardless of the outcome of Wednesday's hearing.
• The Appeal Fails -
  • If QACC's appeal fails it will help clear the path and speed up the proposed changes. That said there seems a good chance that the QACC (or someone else) may try another tactic to stall or block the changes if this one fails. Because of this is hard to know how long any changes will be delayed.

Of the proposed changes on the table, if we were placing bets, here's what we expect to pass council vote whenever that may be -

• Highly Likely - 
  • Increased max gross floor area for cottages
  • Increased max height limit for cottages
  • More flexibility for entry locations
  • Reduction of parking requirements
  • Easing of lot size requirements
  • Easing of rear yard coverage requirements
• Possible -
  • Total elimination of parking requirements
  • Garage area does not count toward total max gross floor area
  • A sunset clause for Owner Occupancy (we expect 3or more years on this one)
• Unlikely -
  • ADU + DADU on same lot
  • Complete removal of Owner Occupancy Agreement

---

Wow, strong support for all of the changes to the DADU / backyard cottage code!

Last night, CM Mike O'Brien and Nick Walsh from the city planning office had an open house to take the temperature of the community with regards to a series of incremental revisions to the DADU code.  Some of the proposed changes on the table, plus results from the straw poll as of the beginning of the meeting: 

25 for/ 9 against eliminating the owner occupancy requirement

23 for /6 against allowing a DADU and an ADU on the same lot (and possibly change the number of unrelated persons allowed to live on an Single Family lot.  

14 for / 5 against /13 maybes for Increasing the Rear Yard Coverage allowed

28 for/4 against eliminating the parking requirement

I didn't get the tallies for the height limit increase and other development standard improvments but they were also supported by a plurality.  

The reception was generally positive and civil, and more importantly according to the straw vote for the various measured, there was overwhelming support for all of the provisions.  

Next open house is 6 pm, February 3rd at the Wallingford Community Center. 

---

In a city where the land use policy discussions are centered around density, the lack of new housing units, affordability even rent control and sustainability, why aren't Backyard Cottages more popular and more prevalent?  

On Thursday, I'll be on a panel discussing the state of Seattle's Backyard Cottages with City Council from 12-1 pm.   The premise of the 'Lunch and Learn' is one, to assess the status of current planning efforts and two, look at some alternative strategies from Portland.  

--Matt

---

A triumph for the 'Seattle Way'--years of contentious hearings, studies, tweaks resolve into ultimately a unanimous decision.  There is a certain super-tanker inertia about the city process that eventually prevails but it does it take a quite a while to steer the ship of state toward higher goals. Big thanks to Councilmember Sally Clark, the DPD staff, and CORA supermen:  Brandon Nicholson, Bradley Khouri, and David Neiman.

The new Multifamily Code is scheduled to come up for a vote before Council on Monday.  After years of process, hearings, and work shaping the outcomes, the new code will have some new attributes geared toward more flexibility in heights, parking, setbacks, and density.  It disincentivizes the '6 pack' townhomes everyone dislikes and gives out bonuses for green building, designs that hid parking and give a better streetscape.

For those of us who participated in the sausage-making legislative process over the years, it is great to see that it will finally come up for a vote.  If you want to see the vote, and who wouldn't, it will be at City Hall at 2pm Monday.

The Seattle channel recently interviewed myself and CAST clients Kate Lichtanstein and Ric Cochrane regarding the backyard cottage we are currently working on together. They included our project in a broader story that profiles an owner of a recently completed backyard cottage and gives a basic outline of the new Seattle backyard cottage ordinance.

Seattle Channel Video can be played in Flash Player 9 and up

UPDATED AUG. 8th 2019

Now that the new legislation is in place we’ve updated Quickstart Guide for 2019. Please keep in mind that this information is intended as a high level primer for the code that governs backyard cottages in Seattle… It should only be used as a basic starting point for planning. If you would like to move forward with the design and permitting of a backyard cottage for your home we recommend careful scrutiny of the entire ordinance and the assistance of an architect or design professional.

Download guide as a printable pdf

We've seen an unexpected level of interest in backyard cottages in the 2 months since the new ordinance has been in effect. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the projects is the diversity of needs for each one... We have a young couple with a small house on a large lot that would like an outbuilding with a workshop and guestroom. We have a couple planning to build and occupy a cottage in their backyard in order to open up their home for their children and grandchildren to live in. We have a third couple who have separated but are committed to raising their children together. They currently live in the same house and believe that adding a backyard cottage to the property will maintain the proximity they need to raise their children together while providing them the space they need as individuals.

In a bit of a surprise, we have yet to see anyone looking to build a cottage for the sole purpose of rental income. Although one of the guys here at the office has been running the numbers and is strongly considering building a cottage for rent in his backyard.

The Department of Planning and Development (DPD) has posted a new client assistance memo (CAM) to outline the citywide backyard cottage ordinance. CAMs are guides intended to help people navigate the building permit processes in the city of Seattle.

CAM 116B, Establishing a Backyard Cottage (Detached Accessory Dwelling Unit) "This Client Assistance Memo (CAM) explains the requirements and process for establishing a detached accessory dwelling unit (also called a DADU or mother-in-law unit) on an owner-occupied Single Family zoned lot in southeast Seattle."

If you are considering building a cottage in your backyard it is still worth reviewing the DPD's older, more comprehensive (but now somewhat inaccurate) publication: "A Guide to Building a Backyard Cottage in Southeast Seattle."

Greenwood resident Kate Lichtenstein contacted us last spring to help her design a backyard studio / guest house for her modest 650 square foot 1920's one bedroom home (shown above). While the home's scale fits nicely with Kate's desire to have a simple and ecologically responsible lifestyle it falls a little short when it comes to a rough and ready workshop space for art, bicycle repair, ski tuning and building projects. Kate's home also lacks the space for a home office / guest room - something that she would like to integrate into the new structure.

Our initial goal was to have her project under construction by late summer 2009 but we were unable to get the project off the ground by that time. In hindsight, the stalling of the project turned out to be a stroke of luck...

In March of 2009 Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels proposed legislation that would allow Seattle homeowners to construct backyard cottages on their property. The legislation was reviewed and ultimately passed by the Seattle city council on November 2nd 2009 (with a 9 to 0 vote too! Kudos to Seattle voters for electing progressive urbanists for city council members!).

For Kate the ordinance has opened up new possibilities for a structure that can both accommodate her current needs and provide a potential source of income as a rental unit if her finances ever fall on hard times. Besides allowing for a legal detached rental unit the ordinance also allows for the construction of a two story structure – an arrangement that will work well for Kate’s needs and will help to preserve the spaciousness of her backyard.

Kate is planning to build with a mind toward sustainability and has a special interest in using recycled building materials whenever possible (she is, at this time, planning to write a parallel blog on the topic of recycled building materials). For us at CAST architecture Kate's project is an exciting chance to test out the new backyard cottage ordinance and work with a client who is committed to building green. We see her project as an excellent opportunity to provide the general public with information about the process of designing and building a backyard cottage in Seattle. Kate and her partner Ric Cochrane are always game for an adventure and have graciously agreed to allow us to share their experience with you. To that end, we are planning to blog about Kate's project as we travel through the design and construction process. Please subscribe to our feed if you would like to follow along in future posts…

The ordinance  to allow backyard cottages in the other three quarters of Seattle just passed 9-0!  The council's comments focused on the exhaustive community outreach, successful pilot program and benefit of having this housing choice for Seattle. Excellent work by the planning commission, DPD and council.

Usually, the city's process oriented decision making can be cumbersome, and having spent hours in meetings, testifying, and communicating with council, I feel vindicated that our involvement has helped in some small way to bring some innovation to the Single Family zoning.

We're excited to design some of these--in part because of the opportunity to foster multi-generational housing, and the option of building a smaller free standing structure rather than building an addition.  Plus, it is a really fun scale--I think more people will be thinking about bonus studios rather than housing units.

With the impending vote on the backyard cottage ordinance, everyone in the office has been doing a little daydreaming about the DADUs and what they would build.  I have been working on a idea that started with a little ink drawing. It's now developed into a preliminary model/floor plans.  I've flipped the shed roof to have more volume in the shop/studio and worked out the bathroom so that my shop could easily be converted into an open kitchen/living space.

I have also been working out a simple steel structure, clad with structural insulated panels for easy construction and minimization of waste.  The goal is prefabrication of the components offsite, then assemble.

I'd love to try out using a geothermal pre-heating loop, with a hydronic radiant system run of a domestic hot water heater and test the new PV shingles, but that might get a bit expensive.