Kalamazoo, MI Building Safety: Scaffold & Sidewalk Shed (2026)

The City Commission adopted this scaffolding cap inside Article IV, Blight, within Chapter 21, Nuisances. Section 21-31 sets minimum exterior-maintenance requirements for every property in the City of Kalamazoo, and Subsection F targets scaffolding specifically: it may remain only for the period reasonably necessary to finish the project it serves, never longer than 90 days or the length of the associated building permit, whichever is longer. The 90-day/permit-length test means scaffolding tied to a permit that runs past 90 days is not automatically in violation, but scaffolding left standing after a permit expires, or after work has stalled beyond what is reasonably necessary, is.

The same section also caps stored building materials at 90 days (Subsection C) and forbids permanent storage of machinery or materials in a trailer (Subsection D), so the scaffolding limit sits inside a broader set of property-maintenance rules the City uses to keep active job sites from becoming blight. Community Planning and Economic Development administers the building permits that set the alternate deadline, and inspectors who handle blight complaints under this chapter can cite a property once scaffolding outlasts the deadline. Because § 21-31 falls under Chapter 21's general nuisance-enforcement scheme, a citation follows the same municipal civil infraction process as other blight violations, and inspectors have authority to enter and examine exterior conditions under § 21-3 when investigating a complaint.