Rochester Hills, MI Parking Rules: Driveway Rules (2026)

Section 138-11.102.D sets the residential parking standard within the off-street parking article of the Zoning Ordinance. It requires residential off-street parking for single-family and two-family dwellings to consist of a parking strip, driveway, garage or a combination of those, located on the premises the parking serves. The section then states flatly that no parking is permitted in the front yard of a single-family or two-family dwelling except in a driveway or garage, closing off the common workaround of parking on the lawn or an unpaved strip beside the driveway.

It also names the acceptable driveway surface materials: asphalt, concrete, brick pavers, gravel, aggregate or similar materials, which rules out an unimproved dirt or grass surface as a legal driveway. This sits alongside the broader construction standard in Section 138-11.307, which requires parking areas generally to be surfaced in asphalt, concrete, brick pavers or an equivalent material, surfaced within one year of permit issuance, and graded so surface water does not drain onto adjacent property. Together the two sections mean a resident cannot expand usable parking by driving onto the lawn, and any new or replaced driveway has to use one of the listed hard or semi-permeable surface materials rather than bare ground.