Ann Arbor's Unified Development Code and Property Maintenance Code do not restrict the number, size, or style of residential lawn ornaments, statuary, or religious displays. Restrictions arise from Local Historic District guidelines under Chapter 103, private HOA covenants, and federal/state law protecting political signs and flags.
Ann Arbor's UDC regulates structures, accessory buildings, and signs but does not restrict decorative lawn ornaments, statuary, fountains, or religious yard displays at single-family or duplex properties. The Property Maintenance Code requires only that the property be free of blight conditions — broken, deteriorated, or abandoned ornaments could be cited. Political signs are protected as content-based speech under the First Amendment and Reed v. Town of Gilbert, 576 U.S. 155 (2015); Ann Arbor's UDC sign provisions permit non-commercial signs in residential zones subject to general size limits during campaign periods. In Local Historic Districts under City Code Chapter 103 (Old West Side, Old Fourth Ward, Division Street, Broadway, and others), visible permanent installations — sculpture, fountains, built-in shrines visible from the public right-of-way — require a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic District Commission. Flag display on residential property is largely outside municipal authority; the federal Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 preempts HOAs from prohibiting reasonable U.S. flag displays. Private HOAs and condo associations in newer Ann Arbor subdivisions and condos may impose architectural-review requirements enforceable only privately under MCL 559.101.
Rare. Code Enforcement may cite ornaments that are damaged, deteriorated, or overgrown into blight conditions, or signs exceeding UDC sign-area limits. Historic district installations without a Certificate of Appropriateness may be ordered removed.
Ann Arbor, MI
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Ann Arbor, MI
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Ann Arbor, MI
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Ann Arbor, MI
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Ann Arbor, MI
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Ann Arbor, MI
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