Seattle's zoning reform hailed by market-oriented urbanist

Zoning changes in Seattle, adopted by a council committee, appear to have some form-based components. Blogger Stephen Smith, who is a proponent of both urbanism and a free market, likes the changes, which include the following: 

1. Instead of the current generic land-use standards, the new regulations include five different allowed housing types: Cottage housing (collections of small single-family-style houses), row houses (rows of units attached by a single wall), townhouses (attached units that occupy space from ground to roof), autocourt townhouses (townhouses that each have a private garage), and apartments.

2. The maximum allowable height would be increased from 25 to 30 feet (basically, from three to a potential four stories)—a change that prompted commenters like Eastlake gadfly Chris Leman to accuse the council of supporting “larger and taller condos… that are bulkier and …. really worse than the worst townhouses” because they would block views, make it impossible to plant trees, and displace low-income housing.

3. The size of new developments would be determined by floor-area ratio (the ratio of a building’s floor area to the lot on which it is built) rather than simple building footprint, allowing more flexibility in building size.

4. Row houses would not be subject to the same density limits as auto-oriented townhouses, allowing them to cover more of a lot.

5. The law also includes new design standards to improve the appearance of new low-rise buildings and make them fit better into neighborhoods;

6. The changes would reduce the setbacks required between housing and the street (and between low-rise townhouses or row houses and each other), allowing more development on a lot;

7. Require developers to provide space for garbage, recycling, and food waste bins for smaller buildings, making it easier for residents of small town houses and apartment buildings to recycle and compost their waste;

8. And, perhaps most significantly, the new law would eliminate the minimum amount of parking developers must build in low-rise multifamily areas (currently one space per unit), allowing developers to build housing without dedicated parking (saving tens of thousands of dollars per unit).

The original source for this list was an article on the website Publicola.