Southfield, MI Parking Rules: Driveway Rules (2026)

Section 5.29, Off-street parking provisions, opens with a blanket mandate that every land or building use provide off-street vehicular parking before the city will issue a certificate of occupancy. Paragraph (4) narrows that requirement for houses: residential off-street parking spaces must consist of a parking strip, a driveway, a garage, or some combination of the three, and the space has to sit on the same premises it serves rather than on a neighboring lot or a remote area. Read together with paragraph (1), which limits the required parking area to passenger vehicles of no more than three tons and bars using it to store merchandise, vehicles for sale, or vehicles under repair, the section defines both where residential parking has to be and what it can be used for.

Paragraph (10) adds that where lighting is installed at a residential parking area, it has to be arranged to reflect away from adjacent residential districts, tying the parking rule back into the city's broader glare standards. The section works alongside Sec. 5.30's detailed schedule of required parking spaces by use, and any use existing before the chapter's effective date is grandfathered at its current parking layout under paragraph (7) unless it expands.