DADU feasibility · Wedgwood & View Ridge
Building a DADU in Wedgwood & View Ridge
Only about one lot in ten across Wedgwood's 5,821 parcels is under 5,000 sq ft, and 78.3% of homes are detached. Its 32% canopy and 13.3% potential-landslide mapping mean the trees and the eastern ridge still get a say.
If you are looking for the most DADU-friendly lot geometry in Seattle, this is it — and the tree canopy is the reason projects still get reshaped. This profile is measured from City of Seattle open data across 5,821 parcels in Wedgwood/View Ridge — not estimated, and not the same numbers as any other neighborhood on this site.
Lot sizes in Wedgwood & View Ridge
Only about one lot in ten is under 5,000 sq ft. The majority sit between 5,000 and 7,200, and a large block is above 7,200 — this is the original SF 7200 platting, and it shows. Physical fit is almost never the problem in Wedgwood.
Parcel counts by lot size, Wedgwood/View Ridge. Source: King County parcels via Seattle's ADUniverse dataset.
11% of parcels here are under 5,000 sq ft and 89% are 5,000 sq ft or larger — a high share among the 18 areas profiled here. Seattle repealed the old 3,200 sq ft minimum lot area for a DADU, so small lots are no longer excluded; they are simply governed by the floor-area budget instead.
What the ground looks like
Stable ground with modest steep slope along the ravine edges and a pocket of potential-slide ground near the eastern ridge. The real constraint is canopy: this is one of the most heavily treed areas in the city.
Wedgwood & View Ridge against the median of the 18 Seattle areas profiled here. Hazard layers clipped to the neighborhood boundary; canopy is area-weighted by census block group.
What decides feasibility here, in order
Ranked by what this neighborhood's own measurements say — not a generic checklist.
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01
Slope and landslide-prone ground
6.9% of Wedgwood & View Ridge is mapped as steep slope (40% or greater) and 13.3% as potential landslide area, against Seattle medians of 7.7% and 4.4% across the areas profiled here. Land inside an Environmentally Critical Area under SMC 25.09 triggers additional review and, in practice, a geotechnical report before design.
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02
Protected trees
Tree canopy covers 32% of Wedgwood & View Ridge (Seattle median here: 26.9%). Seattle's tree code (SMC 25.11) protects trees by tier, and a Tier 2 tree with its root protection area falling across your rear yard can move or shrink a cottage even on a large lot.
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03
Side sewer, water and electrical capacity
7% of buildings here predate 1940 and 65% were built between 1940 and 1975. Older stock means older side sewers and smaller electrical services — the two utility findings that most often reset a DADU budget.
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04
Liquefaction and soil conditions
4.3% of Wedgwood & View Ridge sits on mapped liquefaction-prone soils (Seattle median here: 8.7%). This rarely stops a project, but it changes foundation design and belongs in the budget before you price a build.
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05
Physical fit on a small lot
11% of parcels here are under 5,000 sq ft. Lot size no longer disqualifies a DADU, but on a tight lot the lot-wide FAR and lot-coverage budget — which ADU floor area now counts toward — usually binds before setbacks do.
Zoning and utilities
Zoning mix
- SF 50003,338 parcels
- SF 72002,145 parcels
- LR2158 parcels
- LR363 parcels
- LR138 parcels
94.2% of parcels are Neighborhood Residential or Residential Small Lot; 4.7% are Lowrise. Zone labels reflect the parcel dataset's legacy single-family categories, which map into today's Neighborhood Residential zone under Ordinance 127376.
Housing age
- Before 19407%
- 1940 – 197565%
- After 197526%
Predominantly mid-century. Panel capacity and the distance from the house to the rear of a deep lot — which drives trenching cost for sewer, water, and power — are the two costs people underestimate.
Wedgwood & View Ridge DADU questions
Can I build a DADU in Wedgwood & View Ridge?
In almost all cases the zoning allows it. 94.2% of parcels in Wedgwood & View Ridge sit in Neighborhood Residential or Residential Small Lot zoning, where detached accessory dwelling units are permitted, and Seattle removed both the old minimum-lot-size test and the owner-occupancy requirement. The real question is whether a compliant cottage physically fits your lot and whether utilities can serve it.
How big can a DADU be in Wedgwood & View Ridge?
The citywide caps apply: 1,000 sq ft of gross floor area for an ADU with up to two bedrooms, or 1,200 sq ft with three or more. On top of that, your lot has a single FAR and lot-coverage budget shared with the existing house — which is what actually limits most projects. With 89% of Wedgwood & View Ridge parcels at 5,000 sq ft or larger, most owners here have room to reach the cap rather than being cut off by it.
What is most likely to block a DADU in Wedgwood & View Ridge?
Slope and landslide-prone ground — 6.9% of Wedgwood & View Ridge is mapped as steep slope (40% or greater) and 13.3% as potential landslide area, against Seattle medians of 7.7% and 4.4% across the areas profiled here. Land inside an Environmentally Critical Area under SMC 25.09 triggers additional review and, in practice, a geotechnical report before design.
Read these before you spend anything on Wedgwood & View Ridge
Free, written for Seattle's code, and picked from Wedgwood & View Ridge's own numbers rather than a generic list.
All 20 guides and notes → · every record we can read on a Seattle parcel →
Next step
Get the report for your address in Wedgwood & View Ridge.
This page tells you what Wedgwood & View Ridge looks like as a whole. The customized feasibility report runs your specific address through the same review — setbacks and FAR headroom, tree tiers, mapped critical areas, side sewer and panel capacity, and a permit path — measured from City records and reviewed by a person. Prefer to self-study? The Pro Guide covers the same rules.