Royal Oak Township, MI Building Setbacks & Zoning: Setback Rules (2026)

Section 32-599 requires every building, use and parcel of land in the Charter Township of Royal Oak to comply with the Schedule of Regulations and its footnotes. Section 32-598 adds that no building may be erected, altered, enlarged, renovated or rebuilt, and no open space around a building reduced or encroached upon, except in conformity with the regulations for the district. The schedule prints four setback cells per row: front yard, side yard (least one), side yards (total of two), and rear yard. R-1A reads 25, 5 and 15, then 30 for the rear.

R-1B, which lists a 4,000 square foot minimum lot, reads 30 for the front, 3 and 12 for the sides, and 30 for the rear, all in feet. Footnote (h) sends single-family dwellings in the R-M district to the R-1A setback standards. Footnote (e) governs corner lots: a front yard setback is maintained along each street frontage, but it is not required beyond the point where it would shrink the building envelope on a lot of record to a width under 25 feet. Where the rear yard of a corner lot abuts a side yard of an adjoining lot, accessory buildings on the corner lot keep a rear setback at least equal to the greater of the district's side yard setbacks.

Outside the residential rows, footnote (p) bars any building in an industrial district from standing closer than 30 feet to a residential district boundary, and footnote (i) sets off-street parking back a minimum of 20 feet from any residential district boundary. Under § 32-617(e), the owner of a building or its property must maintain all required setbacks and open space for as long as the building exists, and land counted toward one building's setbacks cannot be counted again for another.