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

Section 138-11.303 sets the city's off-street loading standards. Paragraph A requires at least one loading space in the rear yard for buildings over 20,000 square feet in the NB, CB and HB districts, sized at a minimum ten by 40 feet, with a side-yard option subject to Planning Commission screening approval. Paragraph B scales loading space count to building size in the I, EC and SP districts, from none required under 5,000 square feet up to a minimum of three spaces for buildings over 100,000 square feet, with spaces at least ten by 50 feet and 14 feet of vertical clearance.

Paragraph C requires screening where a loading space is visible from a right-of-way or residential district, bars loading and unloading in an industrial district's front yard, and prohibits any facility that would require backing directly into a public street. Paragraph D, the loading restriction most directly tied to day-to-day use, confines delivery vehicles and trailers to the designated loading/unloading zones marked on the approved site plan, bars them from loading, unloading or parking anywhere else on the premises, and sets a hard 48-hour ceiling on how long a delivery vehicle or trailer may occupy a designated zone.

Paragraph E lets the Planning Commission modify or waive the loading-space requirement where it finds adequate loading capacity already exists or providing more space is unnecessary or impractical.