Bellevue, Washington wants homeowners to be able to buy a ready-made, city-reviewed design for a backyard home or a cottage and get a faster path through permitting. The city is putting together a catalog of up to 10 pre-approved plans, sold at a set price, Downtown Bellevue News reported.
The program covers two kinds of small homes: detached accessory dwelling units, the backyard houses the city calls DADUs, and cottage housing. City Council made simpler permitting for both one of its priorities.
Built on last year's middle housing rules
The groundwork came in 2025. On June 24 that year, council adopted middle housing code changes that allow ADUs and nine types of middle housing on all lots zoned mainly for residential use, according to the city. Those rules opened residential lots across Bellevue to backyard homes and cottages. The pre-approved plans are the next step.
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The city says these homes are "modest in scale" and expects them to be more attainable than a conventional single-family house. With a pre-approved design, an owner picks from vetted plans instead of starting from a blank sheet. Bellevue says that saves time and can lower costs.
Residents get a say in the designs
The city has opened a short survey asking which features matter most: layout, number of bedrooms, exterior style and green building features. The answers will become scoring criteria that designers follow when they submit plans.
City staff also scheduled a session after the Residential Permitting Expo on Saturday, Oct. 17, Downtown Bellevue News reported. A community review panel comes next. It will score the submitted designs and help choose which ones make the catalog.
Three phases, then plans for sale
Bellevue is building the program in three phases. The first gathers ideas and sets the scoring rules. The second picks designs for review. The third gives final approval to up to 10 plans and puts them on a city webpage where owners can buy them.
One kind of backyard home won't be in the catalog. The code allows a DADU up to 28 feet tall when it's built over an existing garage, but the city is leaving those out because existing garages vary too much to standardize a plan.
Bellevue hasn't set a launch date. The city says it's aiming to have the program ready around the time council adopts the next state building code update.
See the Seattle area's latest permit numbers, updated weekly.
Sources
- Downtown Bellevue News, "Shape Bellevue's pre-approved plans for faster permits on backyard homes and cottages" (Oct. 21, 2026): downtownbellevue.com
- City of Bellevue, Pre-Approved Plans program page: bellevuewa.gov
- Photo: Spicypepper999, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons: commons.wikimedia.org
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