My expertise in land use is in identifying and reorganizing legal lots hidden in property located in Snohomish County.
In 1973, the State of Washington enacted the subdivision law. No longer could a landowner divide the land by simply conveying a part of it to another person.
Later, the State enacted the Growth Management Act, which limited the size of lots outside of cities to a 5-acre minimum lot size. That meant a landowner could not subdivide the land into lots of less than 5 acres.
The purpose of the Growth Management Act is a good one – to keep our rural areas looking rural and not like Los Angeles. But it caused two problems. First, by limiting the number of available residential lots, it significantly increased the price of homesites. Second, it restricted the wealth of those whose land was less than 10 acres, who could no longer subdivide and sell the extra lot(s) (to finance their retirement, increase their savings, raise their families).
Snohomish County is not insensitive to these problems, and it has recognized an exception that helps ameliorate them. Depending upon the history of your lot before 1973, what you thought of as one lot may be multiple lots. To determine whether this is so, takes a great deal of historical research – all the way back to Washington’s territorial days. But it is worth it when you decide to sell, since two homesites are worth a lot more than one. I know how to do the research, apply to the county for lot recognition, and adjust boundaries of the newly recognized lots. It is not a simple process, but can be a rewarding one.
