This layer is the output of the City of Seattle Zoned Development Capacity Model. To estimate potential development, the City of Seattle maintains a zoned development capacity model that compares existing development to an estimate of what could be built under current zoning.\u00a0The difference between potential and existing development yields the capacity for new development measured as the number of housing units and the number of potential jobs that could be added.
Knowledge about capacity enables the City to determine the effects of proposed zoning changes, policy revisions and development trends. \u00a0It also aids in setting and allocating the 20-year growth targets that must be accommodated by the City\u2019s Comprehensive Plan. \u00a0
The model is based on development sites and land use zoning maintained by the\u00a0Department of Construction and Inspections.\u00a0 Model results for any given development site are not a prediction that a certain amount of development will occur in some fixed time period.\u00a0
The actual level of development activity that occurs is a function of a variety of future factors, many of which are beyond our ability to predict or influence.\u00a0 These factors include such things as the future demand for a particular type of development (such as for townhouses, high-amenity multifamily or small-unit multifamily), whether the owner of any particular land is willing to sell or redevelop it, the financial feasibility of developing the land, and the intensity of development when it does occur.\u00a0 Other factors, such as the relative attractiveness of certain areas for living and commerce, and the relative densities allowed by the existing zoning, can cause some areas to be developed earlier or later than others.\u00a0 No one can predict with certainty the total effect of all these factors on the choices made by land developers.
See the data in action in this\u00a0web app.