The Regional Center District is intended to provide for the combining of high rise office, high rise multiple-family, and hotels and motels in a planned development and to provide for the combining of secondary retail and service uses with high rise office and/or residential development. The district is also established in order that the public health, safety and general welfare will be furthered in an era of increasing urbanization and of growing demand for office and multiple-family residential facilities of all types and design. This district is also provided to encourage innovations and variety in type, design and arrangement of such uses. Because of the intensity of development permitted in the Regional Center Districts, they shall generally be used only abutting one (1) or more major thoroughfares.

Secondary retail business or service establishments as set forth below shall be permitted subject to the restrictions set forth in section 5.141, paragraph (4). Secondary uses are permitted to reduce the dependence of office and multiple-family occupants of the Regional Center District upon goods and services outside of the Regional Center District and to reduce traffic congestion in such areas of intensive development.

Because the arrangement of such diversified land uses in a Regional Center District may not be predetermined in detail, site plan approval of each development is an absolute necessity to assure a compatible arrangement of the varied land uses which are permitted to be mixed and their relationship to surrounding areas. Great emphasis will be placed upon the review of pedestrian and vehicular circulation facilities such as sidewalks, parking, interior streets, pavement widths and rights-of-way because of the anticipated high volumes of pedestrian and vehicular traffic which will be generated.

Editor's note— Ord. No. 678 as amended through November 13, 2005, enacted provisions to be designated as § 5.137. Inasmuch as there already exists a § 5.137, and in order to maintain the numeric style of the Code, said provisions have been redesignated as § 5.138-A.

In an RC, Regional Center, District no building, structure or land shall be erected or used except for the following specified uses unless otherwise provided in this chapter. No building, structure, or land shall be erected or used in an RC, Regional Center, District unless the site plan therefor has been approved per the provisions of section 5.22.

(Ord. No. 1793, § 11, 8-19-24)

In an RC, regional center district, no building, structure, or land shall be erected or used except for the following specified uses, unless otherwise provided in this chapter:

(1)

Primary uses.

(a)

Office uses.

1.

Executive, administrative and professional offices.

2.

Medical offices, including clinics and laboratories.

3.

Facilities for human care such as hospitals, sanitariums, convalescent and nursing homes.

4.

Banks and similar financial institutions.

5.

Libraries and government office buildings, public utility offices, and post offices. Libraries, public utility offices, post offices and other government facilities including offices, warehouses, and outside storage (including the heavy equipment and materials typical to a public works facility).

6.

Private clubs or lodges.

7.

Public or private schools or colleges for general or vocational education.

8.

Data processing and computer centers, including service and maintenance of electronic data processing equipment.

9.

Any uses which are charged with the principal function of education, research, design, and technical training and experimental product development when conducted wholly within a completely enclosed building.

(b)

Hotels.

(c)

Multiple-family uses.

1.

See article 22 - Schedule of regulations for density requirements.

(2)

Secondary uses. Retail business or service establishments as follows:

(a)

Stores of a generally recognized retail nature which supply commodities on the premises, such as, but not limited to, groceries, drugs, dry goods, clothing, flowers, notions.

(b)

Theaters, assembly halls, concert halls, religious institutions, or similar places of assembly.

(c)

Bowling alleys, billiard halls, arcades with a minimum of one hundred (100) gross square feet (9.3 square meters) of floor area per machine and if located within a building or structure containing other uses, the amusement arcade shall be separated and segregated from such other uses by the means of approved walls, rails, fences or similar approved means as to specifically delineate the area in which said machines are to be located, the minimum square footage of floor area per machine being measured thereby, and similar forms of indoor commercial recreation.

(d)

Personal services.

(e)

Nursery schools.

(f)

Studios for professional work or teaching of interior decorating, photography, music, drama, or dancing.

(g)

Restaurants, excluding drive-in restaurants, when located within a building which contains a primary use.

(h)

Indoor recreation centers.

(i)

Health and fitness clubs.

(Ord. No. 1105, 10-11-82; Ord. No. 1223, 2-16-87; Ord. No. 1284, 5-22-89; Ord. No. 1322, 7-25-91; Ord. No. 1642, § 3, 7-19-15; Ord. No. 1745, § 7, 11-4-21; Ord. No. 1779, § 2, 11-13-23)

The following use (uses) may be permitted upon the review and approval of the city council only after a recommendation by the planning commission. The use, or uses, may only be approved when the following general standards have been satisfied and subject to the conditions hereinafter imposed.

(1)

Uses.

(a)

Housing for the elderly upon review and report from the Southfield Housing Commission concerning the suitability and appropriateness so as to not isolate the development either socially or physically from the balance of the community; in relation to accessibility to convenience services such as shopping, banking, health care, community facilities, and transportation. In addition, the housing commission shall review and report on the design of the project and the amenities of the project (such as, but not limited to, recreational, social and other support facilities) and further that:

1.

All dwelling units shall consist of at least a living room, bedroom, kitchen, and private bath and toilet and each unit shall contain not less than five hundred and twenty-five (525) square feet for a one (1) bedroom unit and seven hundred (700) square feet for a two (2) bedroom unit except that not more than twenty-five (25) percent of the units may be of an efficiency type of not less than four hundred and twenty-five (425) square feet. The floor area shall be measured from the interior faces of all walls. This requirement of unit sizes for housing for the elderly has been established to reflect economy as well as efficiency recognizing the absence of children, the lack of need for large entertaining areas within units, and the provision of common areas located within the project.

2.

Parking shall be established parking shall be established per section 5.30, off-street parking requirements assisted living/elderly.

3.

The site shall be so developed as to create a land-to-building ratio on the lot or parcel in accordance with the following schedule:

4.

The owner shall file with the Oakland County Register of Deeds a covenant, approved as to form by the city attorney, in which said owner shall covenant on behalf of himself, his heirs, executors and assigns not to use the property for any other use than housing for the elderly unless the use complies with all requirements of the zoning ordinance. Required compliance includes, but is not limited to, density, unit sizes, parking and setbacks.

(b)

Theaters.

(c)

Restaurants, excluding drive-in and fast-food restaurants, when not located within a building which contains a primary use.

(d)

Motels.

(e)

Smoking lounges, subject to the following conditions.

1.

Must be approved by the State of Michigan Department of Community Health as a tobacco specialty retail store or cigar bar and possess a valid exemption of the State of Michigan smoking prohibition of Section 12603, Public Act 368 of 1978. Smoking lounges not possessing a valid state exemption as a tobacco specialty retail store or cigar bar are not permitted.

2.

Hours of operation are limited to 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m.

3.

Cannot be located any nearer than one thousand five hundred (1,500) feet to any other smoking lounges.

4.

Minimum separation between uses:

i.

Cannot be located any nearer than two hundred (200) feet to any residential use (measured by the shortest distance between the exterior of the portion of the structure occupied by the smoking lounge to the parcel line of the residential use).

ii.

Cannot be located any nearer than two hundred (200) feet to any outdoor playground of a school, childcare facility, religious institution, park, or similar use (measured by the shortest distance between the exterior of the portion of the structure occupied by the smoking lounge to the outer perimeter of the playground).

5.

Outdoor smoking: Outdoor patios used for smoking cannot be any closer than twenty (20) feet from any other business entrance or outside dining area of another business, nor any nearer than three hundred (300) feet to any residentially used parcel or any outdoor playground of a school, childcare facility religious institution, park, or similar use.

6.

Odor control: Smoking lounges shall provide adequate ventilation for the smoke in accordance with all requirements imposed by the building and fire departments. At a minimum, the ventilation system shall also assure that smoke from the smoking lounge is incapable of migrating into any other portion of the building hosting the smoking lounge or into any other building or premises in the vicinity of the smoking lounge. A detailed description of the odor control methods and equipment the smoking lounge will utilize to comply with this section shall be required. Exception: outdoor patios approved per subsection (5) above.

7.

The interior of the smoking lounge shall be maintained with adequate illumination to make the conduct of patrons within the premises readily discernible to persons with normal visual acuity.

8.

No window coverings shall prevent visibility of the interior of the smoking lounge from outside the premises during operating hours. Any proposed window tint shall be approved in advance by the police department.

9.

The maximum occupancy level for a smoking lounge shall be established by the fire department.

(f)

Small box retail subject to the following conditions:

1.

Cannot be located any nearer that one (1) mile (5,280 linear feet) as measured from property line to property line to any other small box retail location.

2.

Hours of operation are limited to 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

3.

Any small box retail location approved prior to the effective date of this section shall be considered a legal nonconforming use.

(Ord. No. 1284, 5-22-89; Ord. No. 1322, 7-25-91; Ord. No. 1435, 9-24-98; Ord. No. 1619, § 4, 3-9-14; Ord. No. 1641, § 5, 5-31-15; Ord. No. 1734, § 5, 4-22-21; Ord. No. 1781, § 2, 12-21-23)

(1)

An RC, regional center, project shall be developed with two (2) or more land uses with a minimum mixture per project as follows:

(a)

Minimum percentage of usable area in a second primary use shall be not less than ten (10) percent of the total usable area, or

(b)

Minimum percentage of usable area in a secondary use shall be not less than two and one-half (2-1/2) percent of the total usable area.

(c)

A primary-primary mixture shall consist of primary uses of section 5.139, uses permitted, ((1)(a)—(1)(c)) and a second primary use of section 5.139, uses permitted, ((1)(a)—(1)(c)).

(d)

A primary-secondary mixture shall consist of at least one (1) primary use of section 5.139, uses permitted, ((1)(a)—(1)(c)) and secondary uses of section 5.139, uses permitted, paragraph (2).

(e)

This land use mixture requirement shall not be compulsory to parcels of land less than ten (10) acres (4.05 hectares) in size and zoned regional center prior to the enactment of this chapter. This exception recognizes the limited capabilities of small sites as they relate to the intent of the regional center districts.

(f)

The city council may, after receipt of a report and recommendation from the planning commission, permit variations from, or deletions of, any of the requirements of this paragraph upon a finding by the city council that:

1.

The property immediately surrounding the development contains a mixture of uses which satisfy the intent of the district as set forth in section 5.137; or

2.

The master plan of the development, as a whole, satisfies the intent of the district as set forth in section 5.137.

(2)

Secondary retail business or service establishments as permitted in subsection (2), section 5.139, shall not exceed twenty (20) percent of the total floor area of any building or structure and must be attached or connected to the principal building it is intended to serve, except when physically designed and oriented to serve more than one (1) building in a complex of buildings, the secondary uses may be permitted in a separate building.

(3)

Not more than fifty (50) percent of the area of any required yard abutting a street shall be used for vehicular parking and driveways. Adjacent to any lot line abutting a street there shall be a continuous landscaped area not less than twenty-five (25) feet (7.625 meters) wide except at points of approved vehicular access to the street. This parking and landscaping restriction is necessary to assure pedestrian and vehicular safety by separating the off-street parking area from the vehicular and pedestrian traffic in the public right-of-way.

(4)

In addition to the landscaping required above, not less than ten (10) percent of the site, exclusive of buildings and the required yards abutting a street, shall be landscaped. No landscaped area having a width of less than five (5) feet (1.525 meters) shall be considered in the ten (10) percent minimum landscaping requirement. This requirement is necessary to provide for the safety and welfare of pedestrians in large areas and to provide for effective traffic control regulations by the development of curbed and landscaped islands at the end of parking bays and divider islands between parking bays. Landscape plans and green infrastructure/low impact development methods required per article 4 subsection 5.31(21)(b).

(5)

Parking requirements:

(a)

The off-street parking requirements for a building where the greatest percentage of gross floor area is devoted to an office use shall be determined by applying a parking requirement found in section 5.30 for the total gross floor area of the office use in the building and by adding to this figure the parking requirements of section 5.30 for the remaining primary uses in the building.

(b)

The off-street parking requirements for buildings where the greatest percentage of gross floor area is devoted to multiple family use or hotels/motels shall be determined by applying a parking requirement of four (4) parking spaces per dwelling unit or hotel/motel unit for ten (10) percent of said units in the building and by adding this figure to the parking requirements of section 5.30 for the remaining primary uses in the building.

(c)

In addition to required landscaping, landscaping may be provided in lieu of ten (10) percent of the total number of parking spaces required, provided the landscaping is arranged such that parking may be installed at a later date if such a demand arises, and further provided, that the owner agrees to provide such parking at the city's request.

(6)

Parking structures shall be designed so all architectural and vehicular lighting is shielded or screened from view from adjacent properties. No lighting shall be so located or visible as to be a hazard to traffic safety. Parking structure locations shall be governed by:

(a)

The setbacks established in article 22, "schedule of regulations;" and

(b)

Proper traffic engineering as reviewed and approved by the city traffic engineer.

(7)

The outdoor storage or display of goods or materials shall be prohibited irrespective of whether or not they are for sale.

(8)

Warehousing or indoor storage of goods or material in quantity greater than normally incidental to the above permitted uses shall be prohibited.

(Ord. No. 1678, § 10, 7-6-17; Ord. No. 1699, § 11, 12-27-18)

See article 22, schedule of regulations, which limits the height and bulk of buildings, determines the minimum development area and provides minimum yard setback requirements.