Backyard cottages may soon be allowed in Ballard

Geeky Swedes Ballard

Backyard cottages, which have been called mother-in-law units with more breathing room, could be a new housing option for Ballard. Currently, southeast Seattle is the only area allowed to have them, but in March of this year the Mayor proposed allowing backyard cottages throughout the entire city.

At Wednesday’s Ballard District Council meeting, Andrea Petzel with the City Department of Planning & Development presented the idea to the packed room. She explained that a lot will need to be at least 4,000 square feet and the main house and cottage cannot take up more than 35 percent of the lot. Cottages cannot be more than 800 square feet and must comply with the 5 foot setback rule. The cottage on the left is 800 square feet and cost almost $150,000 to construct.The cottage pictured on the right is 437 square feet and cost nearly $50,000 to build. Petzel says that if the Mayor’s plan passes, there will be a limit of 50 permits given each year to build cottages. There will be upcoming meetings to discuss the backyard cottage proposal. You can get on the mailing list and learn more about the idea here. Petzel says that the city council could vote as early as September.

Geeky Swedes

The founders of My Ballard

27 thoughts to “Backyard cottages may soon be allowed in Ballard”

  1. This is a great and well thought through idea. There was an overwhelmingly positive response at last night's meeting. Hats off to Andrea Petzel and her colleagues for working through all the details to put together a solid proposal.

  3. Probably to allow for error, but I don't know. It sounds like they've thought through this, but if they got it wrong, this mitigates potential problems that might not have been anticipated. Especially on a land use issue, get that wrong, and the results are a crying shame.

  6. Well thought out indeed. And where will all of the sewage go. Into an already overloaded treatment plant causing more scheduled outflows into Puget Sound.

  8. No, I think Jack means we should attend to our crumbling infrastructure before adding to the population density.

    The impervious surfaces will remain the same as if the cottage was a garage. The big issues are parking and sewage treatment as Jack points out. I don't know if the DPD is requiring an on-site parking spot for the cottage. Anyone know?

  11. thanks Morgan.

    so what you're saying is that the alley would allow access for the cottage-dweller's car, right? they would still need a space adjacent to the unit or a garage below then? unfortunatley the link you posted didn't work.

    I'm also wondering about height restrictions. currently a garage can only go up 15' I believe. these cottages look much taller. can they be as high as the house proper? (30' or whatever that is)
    I don't think I'd be too keen on a 30' tall building right along the rear property line. this would block A LOT of sunlight in my situation.

  12. I think these look kinda big for being called a “cottage” .
    Remember the guy and gal that were hoping to park their homemade cottage on someone's property while they went to the UW?
    Remember how cute and little that was?
    I was totally ready to have them park it in my back yard but we are not zoned for it…I wonder if they are still interested. Does anyone still have their info?

  13. I don't like it. It reminds me of the normal houses that got torn down with two skinny houses replacing it. Terrible. Skinny houses look like crap.

  14. @eve plumb: The DPD site says “height limit of 15 – 23 foot height depending on lot width.” The city site also says that only 18 people have applied for permits in southeast Seattle since the program started in 2006–so either not many people are building cottages, or not many people are applying for permits. Anyway, that would suggest that 50 permits a year might accommodate most of the demand.

    Very happy to see SPD moving forward with this proposal.

    I'd also like to know where the photos came from.

  15. I don't think that the DPD is exactly busy these days. The limit is weird, but either way I don't really see more than 50 of these a year being built. With the lot requirements and the economy, I would be surprised to see a few in the next year or two.

  16. The height limits have been changed, and vary according to lot width and roof design. The highest allowable would be about 23' .

  17. Yes, and thank Mayor Nickels for the plan. This is an awesome way for density to increase in our neighborhoods without building the typical 4 pack of town homes.

  18. thanks city cottage.
    I saw that afterward when I checked out the link in the actual article.

    I wonder what lot widths they're considering. Most city lots are either 40' or 50' wide. I'd hate to think my 50' wide lot (where the garages can only be 15' high) could accomodate a 23' tall cottage.

    as uncle snuffy suggests, these make for 'skinny houses' which besides being ugly, block lots of light.

  20. I suppose this is great news for people who want to rent out an 800 sq ft space in the $700/month range or less … basically, I see this more as a way of packing cheap 1-bedroom or studio rentals into house-lined streets and allowing the Mayor to say he created “affordable housing.”

    I live on a street with an alleyway … a 25' high cottage on the back property line would be a weird addition, to say the least. Thankfully the city's putting a limit on the number of permits, because I'm not a fan of this idea.

  21. Whether people live in an apartment in Columbia City, Downtown or in a cottage in Ballard the sewage is equal and still goes into the sound. The people are already here, this is just a matter of them living in a different location.

  23. What's really exciting about this is it's a way to add a second floor above our garage and legally move my wife's home office/studio out of the basement of our house…something that wasn't possible before.

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