DPD

  

Director’s Rule 13-97
Applicant:
City of Seattle
Department of Construction and Land Use		 Page

 

 Supersedes: 11-87

 

  		Publication: 10-2-97 Effective: 11-3-97
Subject:
Adjustment of Boundaries of Undersized Lots		 Code and Section Reference:
23.44.010 and 23.28.030
Ordinance Authority:
3.060.040 SMC		 Type of Rule:
Code Interpretation
Index:
Land Use Code		 Approved Date

Section 23.28.030 provides that the Director of DPD shall approve an application for a lot boundary adjustment if it is determined that (in part):

No lot is created which contains insufficient area and dimensions to meet the minimum requirements of the zone in which the lots affected are situated, except as provided in Section 23.44.010.

Section 23.44.010B sets forth exceptions to minimum lot areas required for single family zones.

RULE:

If a lot in a single family zone does not meet the minimum lot area requirement, but qualifies as a legal building site pursuant to the lot area exceptions of Section 23.44.010B, the lot lines of that lot may be modified through the Lot Boundary Adjustment process if:

1) the area of the undersized lot is not decreased, and

2) no nonconformity of that lot or of other lots involved in the Lot Boundary Adjustment is created or worsened, and

3) the criteria for Lot Boundary Adjustments are otherwise met.

No variance from lot area requirement shall be required in order to adjust the lot boundaries in this manner, or to develop the resulting lots.

REASON:

This Rule is intended to give applicants and owners of undersized lots more opportunity to determine how to configure their properties, while helping to promote a more regular development pattern and streetscape. As an illustration of what this Rule allows, consider two adjacent lots, both zoned SF 5000 (5000 square feet is the minimum lot size required of new lots). One lot, created prior to 1957, contains 3500 square feet and qualifies as a legal building site under the provisions of 23.44.010B. The second lot has 6000 square feet, with 1000 square feet more than the minimum required. Under this Rule, the lot lines could be adjusted through an LBA to create two different lots, one of 4500 square feet and the other of 5000 square feet, so that the first lot becomes more conforming and the second lot remains conforming.

Under the former standard, superseded by this Rule, the Lot Boundary Adjustment process was not available to modify the boundaries of an existing undersized lot, even in cases where the proposed adjustment would have either increased or had no effect on the size of the undersized lot which was to be modified.