Chapter 25.20 RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS

Chapter 25.20
RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS

Sections:

25.20.020 Maximum density.

25.20.030 Use restrictions.

25.20.040 Single-family restrictions.

25.20.050 Multifamily residences.

25.20.010 Purpose.

(1) The purpose of the R-3 district is to implement the single-family land uses called for in the comprehensive plan, specifically within the Historic Village, and El Rancho Madrona subdivision, where single-family density averages three units per acre.

(2) The purpose of the R-4 district is to implement the single-family (SF) land uses called for in the land use tables of the comprehensive plan, where single-family density averages four units per gross acre. This district is appropriate for Hoffman Hill Village and Sequalitchew Village.

(3) The purpose of the R-5 district is to implement the single-family land uses called for in the land use tables of the comprehensive plan, where single-family density averages five units per acre. This district is appropriate for Palisade Village, Yehle Park Village and Edmond Village.

(4) The purpose of the R-12 district is to implement the multifamily land use called for in the land use tables of the comprehensive plan, where multifamily density averages 12 units per acre.

(5) The purpose of the residential reserve district is to designate property not needed for the city’s 20-year growth projections (currently ending in 2012) for the northerly portion of the Sequalitchew Village planning area. The residential reserve district is intended as an interim measure to provide time for future studies and analysis to be conducted for subsequent comprehensive plan amendments. As such, the density for this district is one dwelling unit per five acres. This designation will be reviewed as part of the city’s five-year plan update cycle and may be considered earlier through the city’s once every two-year plan amendment process if necessary.

(6) All provisions of this residential district chapter apply to all districts listed above unless stated otherwise. (Ord. 02-707 § 1)

25.20.020 Maximum density.

(1) The average single-family density of the R-3 district shall not exceed 3.5 single-family residences per gross acre.

(2) The average single-family density of the R-4 district shall not exceed 4.5 single-family residences per gross acre.

(3) The average single-family density of the R-5 district shall not exceed 5.5 single-family residences per gross acre.

(4) The average multifamily density of the R-12 district shall not exceed 12.5 dwelling units per gross acre.

(5) The average single-family density of the residential reserve district shall not exceed one single-family residence per five gross acres.

(6) Density of particular single-family developments shall be set in the process of reviewing short plats and subdivisions. (Ord. 02-707 § 1)

25.20.030 Use restrictions.

(1) Permitted Uses.

(a) Single-family residences;

(b) Multifamily residences when designated within an approved preliminary plat or short plat as provided in DMC 25.20.050;

(d) Home occupations;

(e) Family day care;

(f) Adult family home;

(g) Underground utilities;

(h) Above-ground utility and communication structures under 50 square feet in area and 7.5 feet in height, such as switchboxes and minor pump stations.

(i) Accessory Uses. Attached and detached residential garages within the Historic Village shall be located behind the principal residential structure.

(2) Conditional Uses.

(a) Schools;

(b) Child day care centers;

(d) Senior housing and retirement homes with up to 120 units;

(e) Nursing homes with up to 180 beds;

(f) One accessory residence per lot;

(g) Churches;

(h) Public uses other than parks;

(i) Commercial recreation facilities such as golf, tennis, or swimming and all indoor commercial recreation facilities;

(j) Above-ground utility and communication structures over 50 square feet in area or 7.5 feet in height, such as electrical substations.

(3) Prohibited Uses.

(a) Attached and freestanding wireless communication facilities; and

(b) Multifamily in the residential reserve district.

25.20.040 Single-family restrictions.

(1) Maximum Building Height.

(a) Thirty-five feet for principal building, except in the Historic Village. Twenty-five feet for detached garages unless the detached garage contains an approved accessory residence above in which case the detached garage may not exceed 35 feet.

(b) In the Historic Village, 25 feet for principal building and 12.5 feet for detached garages. If an approved accessory residence is located above, the detached garage may not exceed 25 feet.

(2) Minimum Front Yard Setback. Either 20 feet or 16 feet provided the principal building on the adjacent lot is setback in excess of two feet to effect a variety of setbacks within the block, except:

(a) Covered unenclosed porches may extend six feet into the required front yard;

(b) Bay windows, chimneys and similar appurtenances may extend two feet into the required front yard provided the appurtenance does not constitute more than 20 percent of the wall facade to which it is attached;

(c) Eaves may extend two feet beyond the line of the appurtenance or two feet into the required front yard, whichever is greater;

(d) Houses abutting at least 20 feet depth of open space in the front need not have a front yard setback;

(e) Garages facing the front shall be set back 35 feet minimum, or 31 feet minimum when the principal building is set back 16 feet. An exception allowing garages to be set back five feet from the face of the house shall be made when:

(i) Not more than 10 percent of the lots in a preliminary plat are identified and approved for front facing garages at the time of the preliminary plat approval and no such lots are on main streets identified on maps of each village in the city’s comprehensive land use plan;

(ii) The width of the garage facing the front is less than or equal to 50 percent of the width of the residence at the front setback line;

(iii) The appearance of the garage is mitigated by one of the following methods: a porch roof extends across the face of the residence and garage, or an overhead trellis extends at least three feet out across the face of the entire garage, or a second story protrusion beyond the face of the garage at least three feet, or some approved combination of the methods is provided to create shadow and downplay the prominence of the garage door; and

(f) For townhouse development of up to six attached units on platted lots, where so designated in a subdivision approval, the individual units may be further subdivided into fee simple lots with or without front yard setbacks down to the perimeter walls of the unit as long as the unit is set back from the exterior boundaries of the parent lot, street and alley rights-of-way, tracts, and private and public open spaces the distances required in this section for front yards.

(3) Minimum Rear Yard Setback. Fifteen feet, except:

(a) Zero feet for storage sheds less than 100 square feet in area and eight feet in height and decks, provided the deck is maximum six inches above finish grade;

(b) Bay windows, chimneys and similar appurtenances may extend two feet into the required rear yard provided the appurtenance does not constitute more than 20 percent of the wall facade to which it is attached;

(c) Eaves may extend two feet beyond the line of the appurtenance or two feet into the required rear yard, whichever is greater;

(d) Fifteen feet from the centerline of the alley for garages, where an alley exists for only Palisade Village, Yehle Park Village, Hoffman Hill Village, Edmond Village, Sequalitchew Village;

(e) Five feet for single-story garages where no alley exists, for only Palisade Village, Yehle Park Village, Hoffman Hill Village, Edmond Village, Sequalitchew Village, and El Rancho Madrona;

(f) For townhouse development of up to six attached units on platted lots, where so designated in a subdivision approval, the individual units may be further subdivided into fee simple lots with or without rear yard setbacks down to the perimeter walls of the unit as long as the unit is set back from the exterior boundaries of the parent lot, street and alley rights-of-way, tracts, and private and public open spaces the distances required in this section for rear yards with exceptions as described in subsections (3)(b) and (c) of this section;

(g) The rear yard setback for detached garages on nonalley load lots in the R-4 and R-5 residential districts can be zero feet abutting other residential lots, nonresidential lots, or open spaces providing that garages on the lots abutting said zero lot line garage or garages shall have a minimum rear yard garage setback of five feet unless the garages are off-set from each other. A minimum three-foot-wide no-build maintenance easement shall be provided for all zero lot line, noncommon wall garage setbacks. Any garage constructed with a rear yard zero lot line shall comply with existing building code requirements; and

(h) The zero rear lot line garage walls cannot be used as a part of a screen fence or wall abutting the perimeter street frontage of a subdivision. However, the wall of a zero lot line garage may directly abut the back side of a screen fence.*

*DMC 25.20.040(3)(g) and (h) were added by Ord. 03-751 as DMC 25.20.040(3)(f) and (g) and were editorially renumbered to avoid duplicative numbering.

(4) Minimum Side Yard Setback.

(a) For Palisade Village, Yehle Park Village, Hoffman Hill Village, Edmond Village and Sequalitchew Village, the minimum side yard setbacks depend on lot width. Except as provided in subsections (4)(d), (e), (f) and (g) of this section, the following minimums shall apply:


Lot Width	Less than 45 feet	45 – 80 feet	Over 80 feet
Noncorner lots	5 feet, and the 2 sides must total 10 feet	5 feet, and the 2 sides must total 15 feet	5 feet, and the 2 sides must total 20 feet
Corner lots*	10 feet	10 feet	14 feet

*These minimums pertain to the street frontage other than the front yard.

(b) For El Rancho Madrona the minimum side yard setback is five feet and the two side yards must total 20 feet, except as provided in subsections (4)(d), (e), (f) and (g) of this section. Corner lots shall provide a 14-foot setback from the street side property line to the principle building.

(c) For Historic Village the minimum side yard setback is 10 feet, except as provided in subsections (4)(d), (e), (f) and (g) of this section. Side yard setbacks for the following improvements are indicated as follows:

(i) Five feet for detached accessory structures;

(ii) Fourteen feet for side yards on a corner lot;

(d) Bay windows, chimneys and similar appurtenances may extend two feet into the required side yard provided the appurtenance does not constitute more than 20 percent of the wall facade to which it is attached. However, no appurtenance may be directly opposite of an appurtenance on an adjacent lot;

(e) Eaves may extend two feet beyond the line of the appurtenance or two feet into the required side yard, whichever is greater;

(f) No minimum side yard setback shall apply to storage sheds less than 100 square feet in area and eight feet in height and decks provided the deck is maximum six inches above finish grade.

(g) In zero lot line housing, where so designated in a subdivision approval, there may be zero setback on one side of the residence provided:

(i) The side yard in question does not front on a street;

(ii) The other side yard setback is at least 10 feet, or 15 feet depending on lot width, per subsection (4)(a) of this section; and

(iii) The subdivision approval indicates which side yard will receive zero setback, stipulates that any windows in walls with zero setback shall be designed to diffuse light such that objects beyond cannot be distinguished; and provides for easements allowing homeowners to maintain walls with zero setback;

(h) For townhouse development of up to six attached units of platted lots, where so designated in a subdivision approval, the individual units may be further subdivided into fee simple lots with or without side yard setbacks down to the perimeter walls of the unit as long as the unattached end unit structure is set back from the exterior boundaries of the parent lot, street and alley rights-of-way, tracts, and private and public open spaces the distance required for multifamily residences as described in DMC 25.20.050, Multifamily residences, and the requirements of Chapter 25.65 DMC are met. Wherever a zero lot line exterior wall does not abut another zero lot line exterior wall a three-foot-wide no-build maintenance easement shall be maintained at the property line;

(i) The side yard setback for detached garages on lots in the R-4 and R-5 Residential Districts can be zero feet abutting other residential lots, nonresidential lots, or open spaces providing that if the side yard zero lot line is used for a detached individual single-story garage, the garage side yard for the abutting garage is a minimum of five feet. A minimum three-foot-wide no-build maintenance easement shall be provided for all zero lot line, noncommon wall garage setbacks. Any garage constructed with a side yard zero lot line shall comply with existing building code requirements; and

(j) The zero lot line garage cannot use the side lot line adjacent to the street on a corner lot as its zero lot line. The wall of a garage cannot be used as a part of a screen fence or wall abutting the perimeter street frontage of a subdivision.*

*DMC 25.20.040(4)(i) and (j) were added by Ord. 03-751 as DMC 25.20.040(4)(h) and (i) and were editorially renumbered to avoid duplicative numbering.

(5) Lot Coverage.

(a) For Palisade Village, Yehle Park Village, Hoffman Hill Village, Edmond Village and Sequalitchew Village, maximum lot coverage is as follows.


Lot Width	Less than 45 feet	45 – 60 feet	Over 60 feet
Maximum lot coverage	45%	40%	35%

(b) For the Historic Village and El Rancho Madrona maximum lot coverage is 35 percent.

(d) For townhouse development of up to six attached units on platted lots, where so designated in a subdivision approval, the lot coverage on the fee title lot may be 100 percent; provided, that the unit is set back from the exterior boundaries of the parent lot, street and alley rights-of-way, tracts, and private and public open spaces the distances required in DMC 25.20.040 for all yards.

(6) Fences.

(a) No fence shall exceed six feet in height, except that the city may, in the conditional use permit process, allow fences up to eight feet tall around utility and government facilities.

(b) No fence shall be allowed in the front setback area.

(7) Common Maintenance. In any instance where the combined areas of the fee title lots is less than the area of the parent lot, the remaining area shall be governed and maintained through a common maintenance agreement among all of the fee title lot owners. Said agreement shall be reviewed and approved by the city as to form.*

*DMC 25.20.040(7) was added by Ord. 03-750 as DMC 25.20.040(6) and was editorially renumbered to avoid duplicative numbering.

(Ord. 07-854 § 1; Ord. 03-751 §§ 1, 2; Ord. 03-750 §§ 1 – 5; Ord. 02-707 § 1)

25.20.050 Multifamily residences.

(1) Location and Size Limit. Multifamily projects shall not exceed 120 units. Projects with more than 80 units shall be separated from one another by at least 250 feet regardless of the district in which the multifamily project is located.

(2) Height. The maximum building height shall be 45 feet for MFR buildings separated from a single-family residence by another building, a public street, or at least 100 feet of open land, or 55 feet for MFR buildings that include parking under the building for a minimum of 75 percent of the building ground floor area. For MFR buildings not separated from a single-family residence by another building, a public street, or at least 100 feet of open land, the maximum height shall be 35 feet.

(3) Front, Side, and Rear Setbacks.

(a) The front, side, and rear setback requirements for two-story MFR buildings shall be the same as those for the residential district except that the side-to-side distance between more than two MFR buildings containing more than two units shall average at least 15 feet. (That is, if three fourplexes adjoin, and if the distance between two units is 10 feet, then the distance between the other two shall be at least 20 feet.)

(b) For three-story MFR buildings, the front yard setback shall be the same as for two-story MFR buildings. The side-to-side distance between three-story MFR buildings shall at least average 20 feet with no distance between buildings less than 15 feet. The rear setback for three-story MFR buildings shall be at least 20 feet.

(4) Townhouses. For townhouses, side yard setbacks shall refer to the overall structure, not individual units.

(5) Lot Coverage and Fences. The provisions for lot coverage and fences shall be the same for MFR as per DMC 25.20.040(5) and (6).

(6) Site Plan Approval. Site plan approval is required for all multifamily development projects. Multifamily development projects and expansions less than 80 units shall be processed with a Type II procedure. Multifamily development projects larger than 80 units shall be processed with a Type III procedure. Processes for all procedures are set forth in DMC 25.175.010.

(7) Design Review. Design review is required for all multifamily projects. Multifamily design review shall be processed with a Type I procedure as set forth in DMC 25.175.010. (Ord. 07-854 § 1; Ord. 03-736 § 1; Ord. 02-707 § 1)