Clinton Township, MI Environmental Rules: Flood Zones (2026)

Chapter 1150, FW Floodway District, Flood Hazard Areas and Wetlands, governs development within the Township's mapped flood plains. 03(a) makes it unlawful, without first obtaining a development permit from the Charter Township of Clinton, to locate any operation, obstruction, or structure on land in a 100-year flood plain; to make substantial improvements to an existing obstruction or structure there, with routine maintenance not counted as a substantial improvement; or to locate any public or private institution or place of assembly in a flood plain at all.

Subsection (b) separately prohibits dredging, filling, dumping, or backfilling in the flood plain unless compensating excavation preserves the plain's flow and impoundment capacity. Subsection (c) extends the permit requirement to off-street parking, streets, roads, bridges, play equipment, sheds, garages, boathouses, utility lines, signs, fences, and similar structures, allowing them only if an engineer certifies the structure will not raise water surface elevation, obstruct flow, or reduce impoundment capacity, and the equipment is anchored against flotation. Certain low-impact uses, listed in subsection (d), such as crop cultivation, pasture, wildlife sanctuaries, and open-space recreation without a principal building in the floodway, are allowed without a permit.

The chapter was adopted under the combined authority of the Township Rural Zoning Act, the state Flood Plain Control Act, and the federal National Flood Insurance Act, and the current text was re-adopted by Ordinance 260-A-499, passed December 22, 2025. 09.