Farmington Hills, MI Parking Rules: Loading Zones (2026)

Farmington Hills addresses loading and unloading in two distinct ways. First, the Zoning Ordinance (Chapter 34) requires off-street loading and unloading spaces for nonresidential development that depends on regular truck deliveries, so businesses receiving regular deliveries along the Twelve Mile, Orchard Lake, and Grand River corridors must accommodate them on private property rather than on the public street. Second, on the on-street side, Chapter 30 (Traffic and Motor Vehicles) of the City Code authorizes the installation of signed loading-zone restrictions where business density or street geometry requires reserved curb space for commercial deliveries; signage follows federal MUTCD standards and is installed by the Farmington Hills Department of Public Services traffic operations staff. A vehicle may not park in a signed loading zone unless actively loading or unloading passengers or property within the posted time allowance. Michigan Vehicle Code MCL 257.674 (Stopping, standing, or parking prohibited in specified places) treats stopping, standing, and parking distinctly: a vehicle actively engaged in receiving or discharging passengers or property generally has limited exceptions to specific prohibitions, but the underlying distance setbacks still apply (fifteen feet from a fire hydrant, twenty feet from a crosswalk at an intersection, no stopping on a sidewalk, in an intersection, on a crosswalk, in front of a driveway, or within thirty feet of a flashing signal, stop sign, or traffic-control signal at the side of a roadway). Posted local time limits or no-parking signs along commercial frontages on Twelve Mile, Orchard Lake, and Grand River control on top of the statewide baseline. Property owners and tenants planning regular loading operations on private property handle them under the property's posted signage and the Zoning Ordinance. Complaints about vehicles blocking signed loading zones go to the Farmington Hills Police non-emergency line at (248) 871-2600.