Rochester Hills, MI Right to Farm: Agricultural Zoning Protection (2026)

Section 138-4.401 sets the City's own zoning line for where farming is a permitted use rather than a special exception. Subsection A limits full agricultural operations to parcels that are separately owned, sit outside the boundaries of a proprietary or supervisor's plat (meaning not part of a platted subdivision), have an area of not less than five acres, and comply with the City's health and sanitation provisions; those conditions apply across the R-1, R-2, R-3, R-4 and RE districts named in the section's opening sentence.

Subsection B carves out a narrower allowance for smaller parcels: agriculture, meaning crop or plant cultivation, may continue on land under five acres, but the keeping or raising of livestock is barred there unless another provision of the Zoning Ordinance says otherwise. In practice this means a Rochester Hills homeowner on a standard subdivision lot can maintain a garden or similar agricultural use but cannot keep chickens, goats or other livestock, while an owner of five acres outside a plat can run a fuller agricultural operation subject to the City's sanitation rules.