Seattle's NR1, NR2 and NR3 zones no longer exist — and county records haven't caught up

Building the parcel checker surfaced something no guide we have seen mentions. Ordinance 127376 — the same January 2026 ordinance that ended Seattle's ADU floor-area exemption — also collapsed the old NR1, NR2 and NR3 subzones into a single Neighborhood Residential zone, effective January 21, 2026. Seattle's own zoning layer records the change with its ordinance number and date. King County's assessor records do not: a parcel the county still lists as NR2 is simply NR today, and has been for eight months. We found this because our validation harness compared the city's zoning against the county's for twenty parcels and they disagreed on nine of them — the city was right every time. If you are working from a county property report, or from any tool that reads one, check the subzone against the city before you rely on it. The Seattle page now records the collapse.

Current verified rules: Seattle ADU rules · All Washington cities