Berkley's Zoning Ordinance
The Regulations to Realize our Vision for the Future.
The City Council has approved the new Zoning Ordinance after a positive recommendation from the Planning Commission. The ordinance will be effective April 16, 2025, and is available by clicking the button below.
You can also explore an interactive map to see where changes are being made by CLICKING HERE.
Community Development
3338 Coolidge Hwy.
Berkley, MI 48072
248.658.3320 phone
248.658.3321 fax
building@berkleymi.gov
Office Hours
M-F 8:30AM-5PM
Closed from 1-2PM every day
Zoning Ordinance
Rebuilding Process
The Zoning Ordinance Steering Committee has completed their work and the City Council and Planning Commission are continuing discussions on the full draft document, which is available by clicking the button below. Stay tuned for more details!
Zoning Ordinance FAQs
The State of Michigan enables municipalities to enact a Zoning Ordinance. A Zoning Ordinance typically regulates land use, building size and placement, parking, landscaping, and parcel size. These regulations, using “zones” to allow different uses and buildings in different places, define how each individual property within the City may be developed or redeveloped.
The City of Berkley last comprehensively updated its Zoning Ordinance in 1993. In the past three decades, buildings and land uses have changed as well as how we work, shop, move, and play. The Zoning Ordinance needs to be rewritten to implement the recently updated Master Plan, comply with state and federal law, and deliver the quality and type of development envisioned by the Berkley community.
City officials and staff, along with the consultant team, are committed to crafting regulations that protect the community, implement the City’s vision and values, and create sustainability in Berkley.
City staff and consultants facilitated a two-year process with four phases:
- Current ordinance assessment
- Development of draft regulations for new ordinance
- Review of full draft of new ordinance
- Zoning Ordinance adoption
Zoning Ordinance Rewrite
Steering Committee
The City’s Zoning Ordinance rewrite was guided by an Ad Hoc Zoning Ordinance Steering Committee which worked alongside City staff, Planning Commission, and Carlisle Wortman Associates in order to best represent the ideals of the community.
Committee Members:
Dennis Hennen, City Council
Ross Gavin, City Council
Lisa Kempner, Planning Commission
Lisa Hamameh, Planning Commission
Sue McAlpine, Zoning Board of Appeals
Marty Smith, Community Representative
Kristen Kapelanski, Community Development Director
Kim Anderson, Zoning Administrator
About Carlisle Wortman Associates
We take pride in building relationships with our client communities based on trust and integrity that lasts decades. Over the past 30 years, Carlisle Wortman Associates (CWA) has prepared and updated over 100 master plans for communities, including the City of Berkley, and nearly the same number of zoning ordinances. CWA works with communities to create zoning regulations that implement their vision. Learn more at www.cwaplan.com .