The Sterling Heights City Council recently passed new regulations on paving single-family residential front yards with impervious surfaces, in large part to discourage the installation of overly large driveways.
By: Eric Czarnik | Sterling Heights Sentry | Published September 15, 2023
STERLING HEIGHTS — Sterling Heights is setting some new, concrete rules for the paving of front yards and residential driveways, though the regulations are more lenient than proposed ones that were rejected earlier this year.
On Sept. 5, the City Council voted unanimously to adopt the new rules, which were initially introduced at an Aug. 15 council meeting. During that meeting, City Planner and Development Manager Jake Parcell explained how some homeowners pave a large area of their front yards, particularly in order to build bigger driveways.
But city officials say this makes the city less green and has other negative ramifications, including burdening the stormwater system with more runoff, polluting stormwater sent to the Clinton River, trapping heat in neighborhoods, and harming property values via blight.
“The city’s Sustainability Plan acknowledges the need for the city to act and protect its water assets by reducing pollution and supporting its practice in improving water quality within the city,” Parcell said. “This also is a direct result of strategic planning two years ago from the city of Sterling Heights.”
The City Council had discussed the driveway issue March 21 but turned down proposed regulations that were stricter. For instance, the previous proposal would’ve limited impervious materials to 40% of the front yard, would’ve had a maximum driveway width of 24 feet and would’ve required a homeowner to plant a street tree when doing front-yard paving work.
In contrast, the new, revised proposal is more lenient. In general, it allows up to 45% of a front yard to have impervious materials.
“This leads to more unique designs that can be found within the city to accommodate for unique lot shapes and accommodate for different lot widths,” Parcell explained.
“So you are allowed to build horseshoe driveways for two points of access in our busier roads. … It also allows you to have turnaround pads. These are very useful for driveways on residential lots where they need to back in and out, so long as the pad is not exceeding 200 square feet.”
In addition, Parcell said, the new regulations grandfather in a home’s existing driveway that exceeds the 45% limit and allows maintenance repairs to it — so long as the driveway was originally built via a lawful city permit and is otherwise maintained according to code.
Even if there were no permit, an existing noncompliant driveway can still be kept and maintained if the installation was done by a previous homeowner, Parcell said. However, according to the city, if the current homeowner installed the driveway without a permit, the driveway must conform to the new requirements whenever it is “repaired, replaced or resurfaced.”
Parcell said this standard fits with other communities’ best practices and is “fair to the residents.”
When it was time for council members to speak, City Councilman Michael Radtke said he wished that the street tree requirement could still have been part of the regulations.
“Other than that, I think that we’ve resolved the problem, which is that people who have nonconforming driveways currently, if they had followed the rules, they won’t be penalized,” Radtke said.
“But going forward, if you’re not following the rules, you’ll have to bring it into compliance. So I think that kind of squares the circle, so people won’t have to replace their driveway.”
Learn more about the city of Sterling Heights by visiting sterlingheights.gov or by calling (586) 446-2489.