Workshop addition meets Seattle SDCI

Update 18 Nov 2024: Left a voicemail for Faye Emmanuel. Found an online form for requests (response within 2 days, they say). The form takes attachments, so I need to prepare a basic drawing (like the one below).

Maybe the new ADU design is not legal.

Here's the problem: Tip 220, updated August 9, 2024. I touched on this in Code Analysis 18 months ago.

The problem in an NR1 zone is 23.44.016 Parking and garages: F.1.a "no portion of a garage...[attached or detached]...may be closer to the street lot line than 80% of the...non-garage." So, if the main house is 29.1' from the property line, then the garage has to be 29.1' feet back as well. With that language, 1 foot closer to the street is not allowed. Put another way, the existing house at 29.1 effectively resets the front setback from 20' to 29.1'.

A garage is not required and only 1 spot is needed. There's no problem parking in a yard, just not the front yard.

As I noted last year: "F.3.c says "The Director may waive or modify the standards of this section based on..." One point is "Configuration of proposed or existing structures on the lot"; and another is "Location of exceptional trees as defined in 25.11.020." Another reason for exception is design features of modulation, screening, and landscaping."

We would request parking on the driveway in the front yard. We're not constructing a garage, but the workshop requires a roll-up door.

• The new workshop would align with the garage on the property to the west, which is non-conforming with F.1.a.
• Front setbacks on the street vary from 76' on the house to the east (801), 29.1' on the existing house (817), 20' on the house to the west (823). Both neighbors are non-conforming with F.1.a.
• We want to build the workshop on the north side to avoid building in the backyard, which is adjacent to Carkeek Park and is designated ECA.
• The new workshop preserves two exceptional trees as defined in 25.11.020.

The existing 1947 house is 68' wide on a 90' frontage; 48' living area the new workshop is 20' wide. 

We need a drawing like this to persuade the Director:

Here's the neighbor to the west:

For questions about Director's Rules, we're supposed to call Faye Emmanuel (206) 684-0114.