Dearborn Heights, MI Parking Rules: Loading Zones (2026)

Dearborn Heights City Code § 32-169 puts the city traffic engineer in charge of deciding where passenger and freight curb loading zones go and requires signs at each zone that state the hours during which loading is allowed there, so a truck can load or unload only during the posted window and must move on once it ends. A zone is not created just because a business asks for one: section 32-170 says the traffic engineer will not designate or sign a curb loading zone on a special request unless the requester applies for a permit covering the zone and the two signs marking its ends.

Once the traffic engineer approves the application, the city clerk collects a service fee, set by council resolution, for a one-year term or any fraction of it, and deposits that fee with the city treasurer. Every permit issued this way expires automatically at the end of one year, so a business has to renew and pay again to keep its loading zone in place. The city can also impose conditions on how the signs are used and can require the permit holder to reimburse the city if the signs are lost or damaged, or to return them if they are misused or once the permit lapses.

Separately, section 32-172 lets the traffic engineer authorize the city clerk to issue permits allowing a vehicle to back to the curb at an angle for loading or unloading merchandise, a privilege that can go to either the property owner, the lessee, or the vehicle owner, subject to whatever terms that permit spells out. Parking or standing in a marked loading zone outside the posted loading hours, or without the required permit and signs, is treated as a stopping, standing, or parking violation enforced under the city's traffic-control provisions.