Royal Oak Township, MI Home Business: Zoning & Home Occupation Permits (2026)

Section 32-622 opens with a prohibited list: animal hospitals or commercial kennels, antique shops, barbershops and beauty parlors, concrete or excavation contractors, fortunetellers, landscape installation and maintenance businesses including lawn mowing, medical clinics and hospitals, millinery shops, private clubs, repair shops and service establishments, restaurants, snow plowing and removal businesses, vehicle or trailer rental, and vehicle and engine repair businesses. The list is partial, and a use must satisfy every requirement of the section to qualify. Subsection (b) covers the general practice offices of accountants, doctors, insurance agents, lawyers, real estate agents, tax preparers and veterinarians: they face a default prohibition, with an exception for home offices where the residence is used only for consultation, emergency treatment, business matters, or procedures the professional can complete alone.

Beyond the permit, § 32-622 requires the use to be clearly incidental to the dwelling, forbids outdoor display or storage, and bars changes to the home's appearance by color, materials, construction, lighting, signs, sounds, noises or vibrations. Traffic is capped at one additional vehicle at a time, parking must be off the street and outside the required front yard, and signs are limited to one nonilluminated nameplate of one square foot. No home occupation can require alterations or equipment that change the structure's fire rating, create noise, dust, vibration, smell, smoke, glare or electrical interference beyond what a similarly zoned residential district normally generates, or involve the sale of regulated substances outside federal, state and local law. Section 32-619(a)(6) separately bars business use of accessory buildings in residential districts. Section 32-231 requires a fee with any building or zoning permit request.