The Clawson Planning Commission on Oct. 28 voted to set a public hearing for Nov. 25, 2025, on two zoning ordinance amendments: (1) reduce the rear-yard setback to 5 feet in portions of the City Center and Central Mixed-Use (CMD) districts where appropriate; and (2) remove the CMD prohibition on front-yard parking for the stretch of south 14 Mile Road where the ordinance requires a 45–65-foot front setback to accommodate parking bays.

Staff explained the reasoning for both changes. For rear yards, the current standard sets a 10-foot setback from an alley and a 30-foot setback where there is no alley. Staff said that in much of City Center and CMD the existing buildings are already near alleys or adjacent buildings, and the 10/30 requirement creates repeated variance requests; staff proposed reducing the standard to 5 feet where sites are adjacent to City Center or CMD uses while retaining a 30-foot rear-yard when a lot backs onto single-family residential.

On the CMD front-yard parking issue, staff identified a conflict created when the CMD frontage standard (45–65 feet on the south side of 14 Mile) was combined with a separate rule that generally forbids parking in front yards; that prohibition makes sites with required front setbacks effectively unworkable. Staff recommended removing the front-yard parking restriction for that specific portion of CMD so properties can provide on-site parking consistent with the setback dimensions.

Commissioners spent substantial time discussing a separate insertion for the Core Residential (CR) district intended to clarify density for attached single-family units. Staff had drafted language tying allowed density to RM-1 standards; several commissioners warned RM-1 may be too dense for many CR locations and suggested alternatives: specifying a minimum lot area per unit (staff suggested ~3,000 sq. ft. per unit in examples), cottage-court development, row houses with 20–25-foot widths, or pursuing a planned unit development (PUD) or site condominium approach for complex parcels. Commissioners flagged three recurring practical concerns: whether an area would be perceived as spot zoning, how to ensure fire-truck access and turnaround on narrow parcels, and the potential to preserve some parcels as on-site parking if needed.

Staff recommended further study for the CR district and said it would draft illustrative options showing how different text changes would look in practice (setbacks, unit yields, and fire access). For the two changes the commission acted on — rear-yard setback (City Center and CMD) and removal of the front-yard parking limitation in the specified CMD area — a motion to set a Nov. 25 public hearing passed on a roll-call vote.

Commissioners also received several project updates and were informed that the Nov. 11 meeting is cancelled for Veterans Day. Staff said they would return draft ordinance language and illustrative diagrams for CR for subsequent review prior to any council submittal.