Rochester Hills, MI Zoning Overlays & Bonuses: Downtown Design Guide (2026)

Section 138-6.303 of the Rochester Hills Zoning Ordinance sets binding design standards for the BD, Brooklands District, the city's closest equivalent to a traditional downtown design overlay. Every building element must include a top or cap feature such as a parapet or cornice, storefronts must be defined by vertical design elements, and horizontal expression lines must mark building stories. Exterior materials are split into primary materials (brick, stone, exposed logs or timber, or comparable durable substitutes) which must cover at least 60 percent of exterior wall area, and accent materials capped at 40 percent.

Plain concrete block, plywood or T-111 panels, and vinyl or aluminum siding are flatly prohibited on any facade in the district. The section also sets minimum window transparency: 65 percent visible light transmittance on ground floors and 45 percent on upper floors, with ground-floor nonresidential uses required to hit 70 percent facade transparency measured between two and eight feet above grade. These standards apply on top of the district's separate building typology rules for shopfront, arcade, and forecourt frontages adopted under Section 138-6.302. Compliance is reviewed by the Planning and Economic Development Department and Planning Commission through the site plan process before a building permit issues; a project that does not meet the material ratios or transparency minimums cannot receive site plan approval. The BD district covers the Auburn Road corridor in the Brooklands area of Rochester Hills, not the separate City of Rochester's own downtown.