DADU feasibility · Wedgwood & View Ridge
Building a DADU in Wedgwood & View Ridge
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 Seattle repealed the old 3,200 sq ft minimum lot area for a DADU, so small lots are no longer excluded; they are simply governed by the floor-area budget instead.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.
Do I need a feasibility study before designing a DADU in Wedgwood & View Ridge?
You are not required to have one. But the checks that decide feasibility — setbacks against the existing house, FAR headroom, tree tiers, mapped critical areas, side sewer condition, and construction access — are all cheaper to answer before you commit to an architect or a plan set than after. In Wedgwood & View Ridge specifically, start with the trees — at 32% canopy, an arborist's read on tier and root protection area often determines where a cottage can sit.
Next step
Run these checks on your own Wedgwood & View Ridge lot.
This page tells you what Wedgwood & View Ridge looks like as a whole. The Seattle DADU Pro Guide walks your specific address through the same review — setbacks and FAR headroom, tree tiers, mapped critical areas, side sewer and panel capacity, the permit roadmap, and a scoring template you fill in yourself.