Royal Oak Township, MI Building Setbacks & Zoning: Structure Height Limits (2026)

Section 32-599 prints two height columns in the Schedule of Regulations, In Stories and In Feet. R-1A, R-1B and R-M each read 2½ stories and 35 feet. The M-1 district reads 2 stories and 40 feet, and M-2 reads 2 stories and 30 feet. Height is measured as § 32-4 defines it: the vertical distance from the established sidewalk grade at the center of the front lot line to the highest point of the coping of a flat roof, the deck line of a mansard roof, the average height between the eaves and the ridge for the highest gable, hip or gambrel roof, or 75 percent of the height of an A-frame.

Where no sidewalk grade is established, height is measured from the average finished ground level of the building wall. Footnote (c) exempts the structures listed in § 32-632, which are chimneys, church spires, public monuments, water towers and flag poles. Wind-driven energy devices are capped at 35 feet under § 32-632(b)(1), must be set back from all property lines a distance equal to their height, and must sit in the rear yard of a residential district. Detached accessory buildings in residential districts cannot exceed one story and 14 feet under § 32-619(c)(3), and in nonresidential districts they cannot exceed the district maximum or the height of the principal structure, whichever is less.

An attached garage counts as part of the principal building for height under § 32-619(b)(1). Open porches, terraces and decks projecting into a front or rear yard cannot rise more than three feet above finished grade under § 32-621(9).