Farmington Hills laid out a multi-year work program Monday, July 20, to overhaul zoning along two of its busiest commercial corridors, where more than 900,000 square feet of office space sits vacant.

The timeline, presented at a rare joint study session of the City Council, Planning Commission, and Zoning Board of Appeals at The Hawk Conference Center, targets first code changes by fall 2026.

No votes were taken at the study session. The priority table will guide staff work ahead of formal Council action beginning this fall.

The two headline items: expanding and rewriting the Grand River Corridor overlay district between October 2026 and February 2027, and creating an entirely new zoning framework for the 12 Mile Road and Orchard Lake Road corridor between April and October 2027.

Both corridors sit in the city's commercial spine but are hemmed in by decades-old zoning rules that city officials say block the kind of development residents and businesses want. The data underpinning Monday's work program was first presented in February.

"The primary obstacle to activating this demand is zoning, which currently restricts many uses such as cafés in OS2 office districts," Economic Development Director Cristia Brockway told Council at a February 23 study session, presenting market data showing the two corridors serve a combined trade area of nearly 1.4 million people with more than $34 billion in annual consumer spending potential.

The Orchard Lake Road corridor has more than 100,000 square feet of vacant office space but only 32,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. The 12 Mile corridor is even more lopsided: 800,000-plus square feet of office vacancy, with six sites the city identified as preparing for mixed-use redevelopment, according to the February session minutes.

What changes, and when

The city's priority table, dated July 15, lists six high-priority items on a phased timeline:

• Site plan review streamlining — May through October 2026, with Council adoption expected October or November 2026
• Zoning ordinance reorganization — October 2026 through October 2027, led by Ann Arbor-based Carlisle Wortman Associates
• Grand River Corridor overlay rewrite — October 2026 through February 2027, expanding the existing GR-1 overlay with form-based standards that regulate building shape and placement rather than use alone
• PUD ordinance update — March through June 2027, reorienting planned developments around public benefits like public art, affordability, and transit connections
• 12 Mile/Orchard Lake corridor framework — April through October 2027, a new zoning district or overlay addressing building form, parking, pedestrian access, and streetscape
• Master Plan implementation — multiple years

Carlisle Wortman Associates, which directs planning for more than 60 Michigan communities, completed a preliminary audit in April 2026 that found the current ordinance "overly complex, difficult to navigate, and inefficient to administer." Swimming pool regulations alone appear in roughly 13 different code sections.

Council chose a middle path at its June 1 study session: a general reorganization rather than a full rewrite, which would have taken 18 to 24 months.

Why it matters for businesses

The existing Grand River overlay was flagged in the corridor market study as "difficult to use." The rewrite will replace it with clearer standards meant to make the development review process more predictable for applicants.

A ZBA variance analysis covering 26 meetings from January 2023 through June 2026 found that 95% of all variance requests are dimensional, not use-based. Most nonresidential variances involve older commercial sites bumping into parking, loading, or façade rules that appear repeatedly, suggesting standards misaligned with how businesses operate.

Acting City Manager Karen Mondora cautioned at the February 23 session that rezoning must avoid creating non-conformities that could hurt existing property owners' financing. The city plans to research grandfathering provisions.

What's next

Site plan review amendments are the first item headed to a Council vote, targeted for October or November 2026. Grand River overlay work begins in October 2026, though no formal public hearing date has been set. The 12 Mile/Orchard Lake framework follows in spring 2027. Brockway told Council at the February 23 session that achieving the full corridor vision could take approximately 12 years.