Farmington Hills, MI Parking Rules: RV & Boat Parking (2026)

Section 17-52 of the city's anti-blight regulations for residential areas lists the outdoor storage of unlicensed recreational equipment as a blighting factor that no property owner, tenant or occupant may maintain. The ordinance defines recreational equipment broadly: travel trailers, pickup campers or coaches, motorized dwellings, tent trailers, boats and boat trailers, snowmobiles, horse trailers, dune buggies and similar equipment. The equipment must sit inside a completely enclosed building unless it is currently licensed for use on Michigan highways. A narrow exception applies to gear eligible for a Michigan six-month license: it may remain unlicensed in the open for no more than six months before the storage itself becomes the violation. The same article also bans outdoor storage of junk automobiles (any vehicle unlicensed or inoperative for more than 30 days) and building materials without an active permit, so an RV parked next to an unpermitted stack of lumber can trigger two separate blight citations at once.

Enforcement runs through the building inspector or code enforcement officer under Section 17-53. An owner or occupant found in violation gets written notice, served personally or by registered mail, and 10 days to remove the equipment or move it into an enclosed structure. If the violation persists, the code enforcement officer can refer the matter to the city manager's designee for a show-cause hearing; an order to remove or eliminate the blighting factor follows if the finding goes against the property owner. Ignoring that order for more than 10 days lets the city remove the equipment itself and place a lien on the property, or add the removal cost to the tax roll, for full cost recovery including administrative and legal expenses.