A land capacity analysis of Seattle’s Single Family and Residential Small Lot zones reveal the total developable land available for infill housing opportunities. There are 109,359 single family parcels greater than or equal to 4,000 square feet in the City of Seattle, which accounts for 36.4 square miles of land. Current land use policy designates single family parcels greater than 4,000 square feet as the minimum parcel size required to build a DADU in Seattle. This restriction prohibits the 21,764 single family parcels that are smaller than 4,000 square feet. It also does not include the 6,947 parcels zoned as Residential Small Lots within urban village boundaries. Together, these 28,711 parcels would create a 7% increase in buildable land in Seattle. Beyond the sheer increase in single family parcels made available for infill housing, the proposed single-family parcels below 4,000 square feet are centrally located in their respective neighborhoods which increases access to transit and localized services like grocery stores and post offices. This would further serve Seattle’s sustainability initiatives by locating infill housing near existing transit hubs so that new residents would become less reliant on automobiles.
GIS Infill Housing Spatial Analysis