How do I find my zoning in:
Seattle, WA
This is a guide to help those who wish to find the zoning information for a particular property in Seattle by themselves.
It’s helpful to have a guide to make sure you are getting up-to-date, authoritative, and complete zoning information possible. That is what we are providing here.
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Essentially, there are 3 ways to find the zoning information you need to start any design, construction, or land valuation work.
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Hire a local professional (i.e., architect, contractor, land-use attorney)
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Use UrbanForm
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Do it yourself
There are valid reasons to do any of the above. Depending on how you value your time, your pre-existing familiarity with the codes, and other factors, one or another method may be best for any given set of circumstances.
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There are many for whom doing it themselves may be their best option.
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This guide is for those who wish to figure out how best to get the zoning information they need in Seattle, Washington. Please continue reading below.
Navigating the process
Generally, there are 5 steps to the task of acquiring zoning information for any city.
Use the links below to skip to any particular section, or the button below to go back to the very beginning
The first step is always understanding the jurisdictions.
When people say Seattle, they are often referring to the greater Seattle Metro Area, which includes other incorporated cities such as Tacoma, Bellevue, Redmond, and Kirkland, Washington. This Metro area is also called the Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue MSA (a US Census-defined Metropolitan Statistical Area).
For any site, if it is within an incorporated city boundary, zoning authority rests with that incorporated city. Outside of incorporated city boundaries, properties are subject to the county zoning codes. All of the Seattle Metro Area cities reside in King County.
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What is confusing is that the address of a property does not correctly indicate which jurisdiction has authority. For instance, a property may have "Seattle" in its address but may actually be within another jurisdiction. It is important to find the incorporated city boundaries to determine the correct jurisdiction.
The Seattle Metropolitan region includes many smaller cities such as Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, and Mercer Island
UrbanForm currently is available for properties within the City of Seattle boundaries (outlined in dark black above and bounded by water on the east and west), and the following information is only valid for those properties.
To find zoning information for properties in other cities in the Seattle Metro area (such as Bellevue or Mercer Island), you will need to use the old-fashioned methods of hiring a professional or doing the research yourself. The 5 steps outlined in Navigating the Process are always valid, but the following particulars pertain only to the City of Seattle.
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The City of Seattle’s zoning, land use, and other building regulations are currently administered by the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI), and its website can be found at: https://www.seattle.gov/sdci
An online zoning map can be found on the SDCI site here: https://www.seattle.gov/sdci/resources/zoning-map-books
And the text of the zoning code (Title 23) from the SDCI site (via Municode) can be found here:
https://library.municode.com/wa/seattle/codes/municipal_code?nodeId=TIT23LAUSCO
The city government websites seem to constantly be undergoing changes, and the links to the correct information move around, causing confusion since search links often point to legacy or outdated sites.
For the best results, and to make sure you are accessing the latest information, make sure you are accessing sites from seattle.gov
Navigating the process
Generally, there are 5 steps to the task of acquiring zoning information for any city.
Use the links below to skip to any particular section, or the button below to go back to the very beginning
Get an overview of the zoning code.
A screenshot of the SDCI website as of Feb 1, 2023
Unfortunately, I am not aware of any good introduction or overview to Seattle’s zoning code (other than this one).
The best way to orient yourself with Seattle’s zoning code is through the links provided directly by the SDCI (see above). Essentially, this means that the only way to orient yourself with Seattle’s zoning code is to read the zoning code itself.
In fact, the most helpful little piece comes from a footnote at the very beginning of the Land Use code which helps explain how the zoning designation names are organized. That will be discussed later when we explain the structure of the zoning text.
To summarize; the best guide to orient yourself with Seattle's zoning code we are aware of is this one. The rest of this guide will provide a step-by-step guide for making sure you have as complete information as possible from the most authoritative sources.
Basic steps for gathering zoning information in Seattle:
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Decipher the zoning designation name
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Identify the base zone category
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Identify any overlays or location modifiers
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Read through the zoning text, starting at the base zone category (Division II)
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Read through the zoning text for the overlays zone districts (Division III)
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Read through the zoning text for the administrative rules (Division IV)
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Read through the separate Director's Rules
After you've understood the jurisdictions and made sure you have found the right sources for information, the above are the next basic steps for gathering zoning information in Seattle.
Zoning discovery means finding both maps and text, usually in that order, so we’ll begin by discussing how to find Seattle’s zoning maps.
Navigating the process
Generally, there are 5 steps to the task of acquiring zoning information for any city.
Use the links below to skip to any particular section, or the button below to go back to the very beginning
Find the right zoning maps.
An official Generalized Zoning Map
For Seattle, there are four main ways to get the maps you need:
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The Zoning Map Book. These are the official zoning maps, essentially PDFs that you can view and download (see above for one of the maps provided by the SDCI)
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The SDCI GIS app, a website provided by Seattle’s SDCI
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The King County Parcel Viewer, provided by King County
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The land use maps, available in Title 23 via Municodes
We’ll discuss each of these options next.
Sreenshots of the Zoning Map Book as of Feb 1, 2023
From the SDCI website, the most prominent links from the Zoning Code section points you to the Zoning Map Book.
https://www.seattle.gov/sdci/resources/zoning-map-books
This is a small web app that shows the collected official Zoning Maps. Clicking on an area within the small Map Index allows you to download Zoning Maps in PDF for that specific area.
Because they are PDFs, you cannot search by address, and you have to use a comparative map study in order to locate a specific property in question (e.g., have Google Maps open in one window with the Zoning Map PDF in another and navigate them both to identify the correct property you are studying).
What is also confounding is that some of these maps appear to be out-of-date; as of February 6, 2023, certain zone names that have been deprecated are still showing up.
The map legend is dated to 2008, and is still showing SF zones, which are now called NR zones as of June 2022 per ordinance 126509).
A screenshot of the SDCI GIS map as of Feb 1, 2023
Hidden a bit in the SDCI website is actually the most useful map that Seattle provides to find zoning and other site information (though the bar for usefulness in Seattle is quite low).
That map can be found at this link, and it probably is the map that is used by most building professionals:
Seattle Department of Construction & Inspections GIS (arcgis.com)
The webapp is extremely difficult to use; difficult to navigate using the mouse, difficult to find the relevant information, and difficult to isolate relevant parts. Make sure you utilize the layer visibility panel on the right side of the page to understand the information presented;
This map can provide information about Parcel ID, Address, Tax Payer, Existing Use, Current zone, MHA status, and Various overlays and environmentally critical areas (ECAs).
However, as easy as is to zoom in and out and pan using the mouse to locate specific properties, it is frustrating that you cannot search by address (or at least, the ability to do so was non-functional during the time that this guide was being prepared).
This means using a comparative map study again to find specific properties (e.g., have Google Maps open in one window with the SDCI map in another).
A screenshot of the King County Parcel Viewer website as of Feb 1, 2023
The King County website provides a decent, and perhaps more useful property viewing app called the King County Parcel Viewer, available at this website:
https://kingcounty.gov/services/gis/Maps/parcel-viewer.aspx
This Parcel Viewer is helpful in that the search function actually works (you can find properties by typing in an address) and it provides information about current use, lot area, and appraised value, but also has a link that will send you to the King County Assessor’s detailed site about the property.
Although it doesn’t provide you with zoning information, because of the ease of getting property information, many professionals use a combination of the King County Parcel Viewer in conjunction with SDCI’s GIS map and the Seattle Land Use Municode site to gather all the necessary zoning information.
Navigating the process
Generally, there are 5 steps to the task of acquiring zoning information for any city.
Use the links below to skip to any particular section, or the button below to go back to the very beginning
Read through the text to pull out the relevant zoning information.
After you've gathered the maps information using the available maps above, it's time to dive into the text of the zoning code, which for Seattle, is hosted by Municodes at this site:
Mini TOC: Title 23 - LAND USE CODE | Municipal Code | Seattle, WA | Municode Library
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Seattle's Land Use Code (also called zoning code) is found in Title 23 of the Charter of City of Seattle.
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It can be difficult to know where to start looking for relevant information in this very long and complicated text. The information below should help you to start to understand the structure of the code, how the information taken from the maps relate to the information in the text, and where to start looking for the relevant information within Title 23.
Land Use Code structure
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Charter of the City of Seattle
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Title 23 Land Use Code
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Subtitle I – General Provisions
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Subtitle II – Platting Requirements
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Subtitle III – Land Use Regulations
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Division 1 – Land Use Zones
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Division 2 – Authorized Uses and Development Standards
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Chapter (e.g., Chapter 23.41 Design Review)
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Section (e.g., Chapter 23.41.020 Purpose)
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Division 3 – Overlay Districts
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Division 4 – Master Planned Communities
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Subtitle IV – Administration
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Seattle Zoning Maps
From the Preface of the Charter of the City of Seattle:
“The Code is printed in four volumes and organized by subject matter into Titles (such as Title 14), then Chapters (such as Chapter 14.16 in Title 14) and then Sections (such as Section 14.16.050 in Chapter 14.16). In most instances sections are numbered by tens (.010, .020, .030, etc.) to accommodate future provisions without disturbing the numbering of existing provisions. Similarly, Chapters and Titles are numbered to allow for internal expansion. Occasional use is made of divisions like "Subtitle" and "Subchapter" where further classifications are necessary.”
The Divisions that most directly concern building development are highlighted above in bold.
Most often, we will be using Chapters and Sections to reference relevant portions of the Land Use Code (e.g., 23.41.010), but omitting the title, and occasionally adding Section clause designations where appropriate and helpful (e.g., 23.41.010.A.2.d).
Occasionally, you will see the Section referred to with a SMC preceding it; this stands for Seattle Municipal Code (e.g., SMC 23.41).
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To understand where to look first within the code, you will need to know the base zone designation for your property. Here's how to begin:
Base zones:
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Residential, Neighborhood 1 NR1
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Residential, Neighborhood 2 NR2
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Residential, Neighborhood 3 NR3
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Residential, Neighborhood, Small Lot RSL
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Residential, Multifamily, Lowrise 1 LR1
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Residential, Multifamily, Lowrise 2 LR2
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Residential, Multifamily, Lowrise 3 LR3
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Residential, Multifamily, Midrise MR
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Residential, Multifamily, Highrise HR
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Residential-Commercial RC
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Neighborhood Commercial 1 NC1
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Neighborhood Commercial 2 NC2
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Neighborhood Commercial 3 NC3
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Master Planned Community—Yesler Terrace MPC-YT
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Seattle Mixed—South Lake Union SMU-SLU
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Seattle Mixed—Dravus SM-D
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Seattle Mixed—North Rainier SM-NR
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Seattle Mixed - Rainier Beach SM-RB
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Seattle Mixed—University District SM-U
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Seattle Mixed—Uptown SM-UP
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Seattle Mixed—Northgate SM-NG
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Commercial 1 C1
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Commercial 2 C2
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Downtown Office Core 1 DOC1
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Downtown Office Core 2 DOC2
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Downtown Retail Core DRC
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Downtown Mixed Commercial DMC
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Downtown Mixed Residential DMR
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Pioneer Square Mixed PSM
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International District Mixed IDM
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International District Residential IDR
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Downtown Harborfront 1 DH1
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Downtown Harborfront 2 DH2
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Pike Market Mixed PMM
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General Industrial 1 IG1
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General Industrial 2 IG2
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Industrial Buffer IB
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Industrial Commercial IC
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38 base zones total
Seattle has 38 base zone designations, listed above. Which sounds sort of reasonable.
But the way the zone designations are actually recorded on official zoning maps can be extremely confusing, to say the least. This is because alphanumerical prefixes and suffixes are added to the base zone designations to further differentiate the land use categories.
The prefixes and suffixes pertain to height limits, mandatory housing affordability provisions, certain overlay districts, incentive zoning provisions, or any combination of these.
As of February 2023, we’ve found 258 different zoning designations (using the Seattle GIS data as the assumed most recent data available).
This is an awful lot of names, and they are confusingly named, as well.
Here are some examples of zone names:
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MIO-160/140-LR3 (M)
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MIO-160-NC3P-95 (M)
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SM-SLU/R 65/95
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DOC2 500/300-550
The next step is understanding these zone names, as they are the key to navigating through the zoning code itself.
38 base zones
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3 MHA zones (M, M2, M3)
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Certain overlays (MIO, P, R, C)
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Height limits for building typologies (#s)
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258 zone designations total
Decipher the zoning designation name:
To begin to understand Seattle zoning name designations, you first have to study the 38 base zone categories (see above). There is often one or more base zone designations that make up the zoning designation for any particular site. This base zone category will be the initial key to looking up regulations that are applicable.
Then, study the name designation for any modifiers that may be explicitly communicated via the zone designation name. For instance:
If the zoning name has an MIO prefix, that means it is part of a Major Institution Overlay, subject to SMC 23.69.
If the zoning name has in parentheses (i.e., (M), (M1), or (M2)), then it is subject to Mandatory Housing Affordability per SMC 23.58.
If there is a P, R, or C that is appended to the base zone category, that means there may be Pedestrian, Residential, or Commercial modifiers to that apply to the base zone category.
Other zoning modifiers:
Overlays (11 overlay districts)
Urban Villages (32 Urban Villages)
Environmentally Critical Areas (ECA; 7 ECA zones)
Master Planned Communities (MPC-YT)
Director’s Rules for Land Use Codes
Historic Landmarks
Building form
Building use
There are also multiple overlays that affect zoning; some of these are listed above.
Some of these overlays are the same as modifiers which are reflected in the zoning name designation; some are not. For instance, sites in a Major Institution Overlay have an MIO prefix in their zoning name designation, but sites in the Station Area Overlay district are not indicated with any change to their zoning name designation. A Master Planned Community is also an overlay, but it is also a completely distinct zoning name designation (MPC-YT).
Urban Villages have a big impact on development standards, but they are not referenced in their own code section; they are simply referenced as modifiers in the base zone category chapters of Title 23. To determine whether or not these overlays apply to a particular site, you will have to use SDCI's GIS map viewer or the official Zoning Map Boosk (see above).
And finally, building form and usage often modify the development standards completely; for instance, height limits and FAR often vary depending on building use (residential, commercial) and/or building form (apartments, townhouses, etc.)
In general, there is a lot to pay attention to in Seattle’s zoning code.
A map of the 11 Seattle overlays (the individual zones are too small to label legibly on a city-scale map)
Above is a map of the 11 different overlays:
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Seattle Shoreline Master Program
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Station Area Overlay
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Airport Height Overlay
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Special Review District
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Southeast Seattle Reinvestment Area
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Major Institution Overlay
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Mobile Home Park Overlay Disetrict
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Northgate Overlay District
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Sand Point Overlay District
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Pike/Pine Conservation Overlay District
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Stadium Transition Area Overlay District
A map of the 32 Seattle Urban Villages
Above is a map of the 32 different Urban Villages:
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South Lake Union
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Uptown
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Northgate
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Ballard
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Bitter Lake Village
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Fremont
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Lake City
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Mt Baker
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West Seattle Junction
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23rd & Union-Jackson
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Admiral
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Aurora-Licton Springs
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Columbia City
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Crown Hill
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Eastlake
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Green Lake
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Greenwood-Phinney Ridge
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Madison-Miller
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Morgan Junction
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North Beacon Hill
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Othello
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Rainier Beach
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Roosevelt
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South Park
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Upper Queen Anne
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Wallingford
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Westwood-Highland Park
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Ballard-Interbay-Northend
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Greater Duwamish
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Downtown
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First Hill/Capitol Hill
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University District
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A map of the 7 Seattle ECAs (the individual zones are too small to label legibly on a city-scale map)
Above is a map of the 7 different ECAs in Seattle:
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Liquefaction prone areas
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Flood prone areas
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Peat settlement areas
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Forty percent steep slope
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Potential/known slide areas (shown as points on the map)
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Riparian corridors
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Wildlife corridors
A map of the all Seattle overlay districts, Urban Villages, and ECAs overlaid (the individual zones are too small to label legibly on a city-scale map)
Above is all of the Overlays, Urban Villages, and ECAs on one map.
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Once all of the location specifics are studied and gathered, you can then begin to approach the zoning text.
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You will need to start by reading the base zone category, which can be found in Division II of Title 23. Each base zone has a chapter dedicated to it in Division II, as well as chapters that pertain to some of the overlays.
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Then, read through Division III in order to fully understand any of the applicable overlays. Be aware that some of the overlays are discussed in Division II and some are discussed in Division III.
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It's also important to review the Administration rules in Subtitle IV of Title 23. This is where definitions for terms can be found, but also the methods for measurement of dimensions and areas. There are also additional development standards that can be found in that section for certain uses.
Upon reviewing the map, it’s clear that there are many location factors to consider when trying to assess development in Seattle. Furthermore, gathering the data itself is made more difficult in that there is no single source to reference, and each of those sources is limited and cumbersome in different ways. This is what UrbanForm solves.
The text of the land use / zoning code is complicated and references all of these different factors. While there is no substitute for examining and studying the source text information itself, the process of searching, gathering, and documenting many of the factors that need to be studied can be significantly accelerated with the use of UrbanForm.
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A screenshot of the Director's Rules website as of Feb, 2023
Finally, this is a bit of a hidden item, but from what we’ve heard from architects and developers, is often a crucial factor in determining the final interpretation of the regulations.
From the SDCI website, you have to navigate to “Land Use Codes.” From there, you will see a link to the “Director’s Rules”; they are not available if you click on “Zoning codes”.
Director's Rules - Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections
From the SDCI website: “Our Director's Rules (DRs) are binding rules about land use, construction, housing, and other codes we administer. The rules are adopted according to the administration section in the Seattle Municipal Code (SMC Section 3.06.040).”
Basic steps for gathering zoning information in Seattle:
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Decipher the zoning designation name
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Identify the base zone category
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Identify any overlays or location modifiers
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Read through the zoning text, starting at the base zone category (Division II)
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Read through the zoning text for the overlays zone districts (Division III)
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Read through the zoning text for the administrative rules (Division IV)
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Read through the separate Director's Rules
To briefly review, we should have now completed all the steps to gather zoning information in Seattle.
In conclusion, Seattle's zoning code is extremely complex. You need to gather information from multiple sources. It is not easy to determine which of those sources has the most authoritative or up-to-date information. The zoning is modified by many factors, some of which exist within the zoning code and some from without (like the Director's Rules), and some of which are design/developer driven (such as proposed building typology).
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It's crucial to be aware of all the factors that go into making a complete assessment of the zoning regulations, and so we hope that this guide has helped. This is the same work that UrbanForm has automated in order to provide professionals with efficient, accurate, and verifiable access to this information.
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The next step is just documenting this information for collaboration, coordination, further study, and verification. We'll discuss that next.
Navigating the process
Generally, there are 5 steps to the task of acquiring zoning information for any city.
Use the links below to skip to any particular section, or the button below to go back to the very beginning
Document clearly the information and sources you've researched.
Once you've determined the correct jurisdiction, the right sources of information, gotten a general understanding of the structure of the zoning, found the maps, and identified all relevant base zone code designations as well as overlays, plan districts, and other location information, and read through the zoning code to identify the relevant parts, you now need to make sure you can reference this information easily.
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Zoning information needs to be studied, communicated to others, verified it with others, and used to justify your work. So the documentation of the zoning information you've researched is extremely important.
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This no small task, and the one that will save you the most time if you do it properly.
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Professionals often develop their own internal spreadsheets and documents to guide them through this process for each jurisdiction. This should be a part of their internal operations that help them create efficient professional processes.
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But the basic task is the same in any such process:
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identify the relevant information,
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write it down somewhere, and
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note the sources.
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Everything in this guide up until this point was just about accomplishing task number 1 above; each person will have their own preferred way of doing numbers 2 and 3.
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For Seattle, it's helpful to keep in mind the format structure of Title 23, as that is how the source location should be noted for easy reference.
Land Use Code structure
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Charter of the City of Seattle
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Title 23
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Subtitle I – General Provisions
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Subtitle II – Platting Requirements
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Subtitle III – Land Use Regulations
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Division 1 – Land Use Zones
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Division 2 – Authorized Uses and Development Standards
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Chapter (e.g., Chapter 23.41 Design Review)
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Section (e.g., Chapter 23.41.020 Purpose)
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Division 3 – Overlay Districts
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Division 4 – Master Planned Communities
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Subtitle IV – Administration
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Seattle Zoning Maps
For example, 23.41.050.B. refers to Subsection B. of Section 050, of Chapter 41 of Title 23.
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Once this has been accomplished, then you've successfully found the zoning information for a single property. Congratulations!
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Based on surveys with UrbanForm customers, and from our own professional experience, we've found that this process takes between 3-4 hours for someone with decades of experience in that particular jurisdiction, to 2-3 weeks for someone who is doing it for the first time. For an average professional, the median seems to be about 12 hours allotted to the process of acquiring zoning information.
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It's worth noting at this point that this entire process is exactly what UrbanForm has automated. In under 20 seconds, the entire process detailed above can be completed by using UrbanForm.
We understand that there are times when the old-fashioned, manual way of acquiring zoning information may be the most suitable. UrbanForm was developed as an alternative.
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Also, we understand that the sources are constantly evolving. One of UrbanForm's primary values is continual improvement, so if there is anything that anyone sees which could be improved, we'd love to hear from you. Leave a comment or reach out to us at our contact information below.
