Edmonds, WA Building Setbacks & Zoning: Lot Coverage Limits (2026)

The site development standards table at ECDC 16.20.030(D) sets a uniform 35 percent lot coverage maximum for buildings across all three overlays of the LDR (low-density residential) zone: LDR-S, with a 6,000-square-foot minimum parent lot; LDR-M, with an 8,000-square-foot minimum; and LDR-L, with a 12,000-square-foot minimum. Unlike the setback and lot-width standards in the same table, which vary by subdistrict, the coverage limit does not scale up on larger lots; a home on a 12,000-square-foot LDR-L lot is held to the identical 35 percent ratio as a home on a 6,000-square-foot LDR-S lot.

This coverage standard applies not only to detached single-family homes but to middle housing types built under the same chapter, cottage housing, courtyard apartments, duplexes through fourplexes, since ECDC 16.20.030(A) requires that development regulations for middle housing be no more restrictive than those for detached single-family residences, including the lot coverage standard specifically named in that subsection. By contrast, the RM (multiple residential) zone allows a higher coverage ratio of 45 percent under ECDC 16.30.030(A) across its four subdistricts (RM-1.5, RM-EW, RM-2.4, RM-3), reflecting the denser development pattern permitted there, and the P (public use) zone caps coverage at 35 percent under ECDC 16.80.030(C) unless the applicant obtains a conditional use permit allowing more.

Accessory structures, garages, decks and other impervious surfaces on an LDR lot count toward the same 35 percent lot coverage figure, since the standard measures coverage by buildings and other structures on the site as a whole rather than isolating the primary residence.