Dearborn Heights, MI Animal Ordinances: Veterinary Clinic Zoning (2026)

Sec. 36-173 places veterinary clinics under the same use-standards article that governs kennels, adult uses, and other specialized commercial activity in Dearborn Heights. Subsection (a) requires any outdoor enclosure or run to be screened from street rights-of-way and from adjacent residential districts and uses under subsection 36-392(e), Screening. Subsection (b) sets four operating conditions. First, the clinic must be run by a licensed or registered veterinarian. Second, boarding is limited to animals actually brought in for treatment or surgery; a clinic that wants to board pets more broadly must separately qualify and be approved as a kennel under Sec.

36-232. Third, other than the outdoor runs themselves, every clinic activity must take place inside a completely enclosed building built so that noise and odor cannot be perceived beyond the lot line, and outdoor exercising is allowed only if an employee accompanies the animal and immediately bags and disposes of its waste in a sealed container; no animal may be kept or quartered outside the building between 8:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. Fourth, clinics remain subject to every permit and operational requirement imposed by other regulatory agencies, on top of these zoning conditions.

Because Sec. 36-143(c)(3) separately lists veterinary clinics among the uses expressly prohibited as a home occupation, a veterinary practice cannot be operated out of a residence in Dearborn Heights at all; it must locate on a commercially zoned site that meets the Sec. 36-173 standards.