The evidence continues to build that small-lot legislation offered by the Department of Planning and Development makes things worse for everyone involved, including owners of existing single-family homeowners. Matt Gangemi writing at The Urbanist calls the legislation Seattle’s Largest Downzone.

If you live on a lot less than a 3,200 square feet in size, the maximum height has effectively gone from 35 feet down to 23 feet. That addition you dreamed of will never happen, and even if you never planned to expand your house, your home value just went down. The pool of buyers will look more favorably at your neighbor’s slightly larger lot, knowing that they can either build up or at least keep the value in case the next owner wants to build up. Even if the physical home you live in is the same, the potential square footage of your home just went down.

And as we’ve pointed out again, again, and again, this legislation makes what is already a complicated code for single-family infill development even more complicated. That won’t help neighbors know what might get built on their block, it doesn’t provide certainty for builders trying to meet housing demand, and it makes things more challenging for families looking for a single family home.

If that wasn’t enough of a reason to stop this legislation in its tracks now there is the added damage of capping what people can do with their homes that they already own. This is a disaster for growing families looking for affordable ways of expanding their living space. Hopefully Councilmember O’Brien is listening, and we can go back to considering the 80 Percent Rule, a simple, scalable solution to creating more housing and predictability for builders, neighbors, and families.

Contact Councilmember Mike O’Brien and urge him to hold off on this legislation and consider the 80 Percent Rule as a simple way to address the future of infill development in single-family neighborhoods.