Planning department details $180M in 2024 development activity and multiple grant wins

Southfield’s planning department presented its 2024 annual report to the City Council on Feb. 20, reporting roughly $180 million in development activity that included both administrative reviews and projects that required Planning Commission or council approvals.

Deputy City Planner Tom Spayson told the council the department worked closely with five boards last year, including 29 Planning Commission meetings and a joint visioning session with the council. The Planning Commission reviewed rezonings, special land uses, site plans and zoning-text amendments; 2024 activity included nine standard rezonings, 23 site-plan reviews and 97 administrative site plans.

Spayson summarized changes the Planning Commission handled in 2024: delegating additional items to staff in site-plan review; amendments to marijuana retailer hours; updates to fencing rules allowing taller decorative security fences with administrative approval; beekeeping and backyard fowl regulations that the council later codified; and drive-through standards in commercial districts. He said 2024 included a pipeline of retail and restaurant projects — including Panda Express and Culver’s on Telegraph — and several redevelopment efforts such as the Wellspring development and Glassman Kia.

The department said planning-related activity produced about $180 million in development value in 2024, compared with roughly $78 million in the prior year and higher totals in some earlier years tied to large approvals. Spayson highlighted placemaking and nonmotorized projects: 13 bus-stop enhancements, additional solar bollards on the City Center Trail, gateway signage and landscaping, and continued work on the 9 Mile Greenway corridor. He also described multiple grant awards: an MDOT TAP grant for Evergreen-to-Southfield pathway work, an Oakland County Access to Transit award for bridge design, and a Michigan shared-streets and spaces grant that the council approved later in the meeting.

Spayson said the department is pursuing zoning updates and redevelopment-ready work in 2025, including exploring accessory dwelling units (ADUs), tiny homes, infill housing, reuse/adaptive-reuse zoning, and potential consolidation of overlapping commercial and single-family zoning districts. He told the council master-plan updates and major ordinance rewrites will likely require consultants and a multi-year budget plan.

Council members thanked the planning staff for successful grant pursuit and recommended continued focus on reuse of underutilized office corridors and older buildings to encourage small-business incubation and increase the tax base.