Dearborn Heights, MI Parking Rules: Driveway Rules (2026)

Section 36-364(a) of the zoning ordinance limits required off-street residential parking to a parking strip, a parking bay, a driveway, a garage, or a combination of those, all located on the same premises the parking serves; the ordinance does not authorize parking on unimproved lawn areas or other surfaces outside those designated spaces. Subsection (a)(1) separately bars keeping, parking, or storing any motor vehicle in a residential zoning district unless the vehicle is in operating condition and properly licensed, or is kept inside a building such as a garage.

Two narrow exceptions apply: a vehicle ordinarily used but only temporarily out of running condition is not covered by the operating-condition rule, and if a vehicle is being kept for actual use but its license has lapsed, the building official may grant the owner up to ninety calendar days to renew it before the vehicle is in violation. Recreational vehicles, boats, and similar equipment are carved out of this section entirely and instead follow the separate open-storage standards in § 32-806 of the Traffic and Motor Vehicles chapter.

The parking standard applies citywide to single-family and two-family lots and is enforced by the Building and Engineering Department alongside the rest of Chapter 36's zoning standards; because Chapter 36 is a Class D chapter under the Code's civil-infraction schedule, an owner who keeps an inoperable or unlicensed vehicle parked outside a structure faces escalating fines rather than a single flat penalty. The rule is tied to the same site-plan and zoning-compliance framework that governs off-street parking counts for every other use in the city, so a driveway that has been paved over or expanded still must keep the vehicle itself street-legal and located within the designated parking area.