Southfield, MI Accessory Structures: Shed & Carport Rules (2026)

Sec. 5.69 allows one or more accessory buildings, including one detached garage, in every single-family residence district, but attaches five numbered conditions. First, no accessory building may exceed 15 feet in height, well below the 25-foot, two-story cap that applies to the house itself under Sec. 5.193. Second, the combined gross floor area of every accessory building on a tax parcel cannot exceed whichever is smaller: 10 percent of the parcel's land area, or the ground-floor area of the principal building. Third, no part of an accessory building may sit within 3 feet of a side or rear property line.

On corner lots, accessory buildings are further barred from the required side yard abutting a street and from the portion of the rear yard nearer the street than the required yard width. The section separately regulates communications equipment: accessory transmitting or receiving towers and antennas cannot exceed 75 feet from grade and cannot stand in any front yard or required side yard, and on a corner lot they cannot occupy the side yard abutting a street. Satellite dish antennas need department of building and safety engineering approval before a permit issues, cannot exceed a 12-foot overall diameter or a 15-foot overall height above grade, and must be permanently ground-mounted rather than roof- or pole-mounted.