Zoning, building permits and septic rules in Union Township, Michigan

Union Township’s own rules

• Local zoningPresent (with conditions)

  Land inside Charter Township of Union (Isabella County, MI) limits. The township administers its own zoning ordinance and zoning board of appeals.

  • Adopted ordinance number, adoption date and effective date were not verified. The only zoning ordinance text found is a 2020 proposed draft whose ordinance number, draft, adoption and effective date fields are blank.
  • Zoning permits and site-plan review are administered under the township ordinance; the adopted text must be checked before relying on any dimensional figure.

  “planning & zoning zoning ordinance archive new zoning ordinance township plans development pre-application meeting site plans special use pud rezoning subdivision private road boards & commissions”

• Zoning districtsPartial

  Zoning districts inside Charter Township of Union, as listed in the 2020 proposed zoning ordinance table of contents

  • Only the proposed 2020 draft table of contents was read. The adopted district list and official zoning map were not located.
  • Districts seen in the draft include AG agricultural, R-1 rural residential, R-2a and R-2b one- and two-family residential, R-3a and R-3b multiple-family, R-4 mobile home park, B-4, B-5, B-7 business, I-1 and I-2 industrial, OS office service and PUD.

  “section 3.7 r-1, rural residential district 3-9 section 3.8 r-2a, one- and two-family, low-density residential district 3-10”

• Minimum dwelling sizeSpecified

  AG agricultural district (section 3.6) inside Charter Township of Union, per the 2020 proposed zoning ordinance

  • Minimum floor area per unit from the 2020 draft; confirm against adopted ordinance.
  • Taken from the 2020 proposed draft.

  minimum floor area per unit: >= 800 sq ft

  “minimum floor area per unit (sq. ft.) 35 (b) 14 800”

  One more reviewed finding on this topic

  • Specified — R-1 rural residential district (section 3.7) inside Charter Township of Union, per the 2020 proposed zoning ordinance

    “r-1 43,560 150 n/a 50 15 (c)(d) 30 50 35 (b) 18 1,000 40%”

• Minimum lot sizeSpecified

  AG agricultural district (section 3.6) inside Charter Township of Union, per the 2020 proposed zoning ordinance schedule of regulations

  • Taken from the 2020 proposed draft (ordinance number and adoption date blank); confirm against the adopted ordinance.
  • Table layout in the extracted text is column-scrambled; figures assigned to columns by matching the listed order of labels.

  minimum lot area: >= 43560 sq ft · minimum lot width: >= 165 ft · minimum lot depth: >= 165 ft

  “zoning district ag area (sq. ft.) 43,560 width (ft.) 165 depth (ft.) 165 (a)”

  One more reviewed finding on this topic

  • Specified — R-1 rural residential district (section 3.7) inside Charter Township of Union, per the 2020 proposed zoning ordinance schedule of regulations

    “r-1 43,560 150 n/a 50 15 (c)(d) 30 50 35 (b) 18 1,000 40%”

• SetbacksSpecified

  AG agricultural district (section 3.6) inside Charter Township of Union, per the 2020 proposed zoning ordinance

  • Footnotes (c) and (d) govern side yards and were not read; they may change side-yard figures.
  • Section 4.4 permitted encroachments into yard setbacks and section 4.3 footnotes were not read.
  • Taken from the 2020 proposed draft; confirm against the adopted ordinance.

  front yard: >= 50 ft · side yard (one): >= 16.5 ft (footnotes (c)(d) apply) · side yard (total of two): >= 33 ft (footnotes (c)(d) apply) · rear yard: >= 50 ft

  “165 43,560 165 (a) front yard: side yard (one) (c)(d): side yard (total of two): rear yard: 50 16.5 33 50 800 35(b) 30”

  One more reviewed finding on this topic

  • Specified — R-1 rural residential district (section 3.7) inside Charter Township of Union, per the 2020 proposed zoning ordinance

    “r-1 43,560 150 n/a 50 15 (c)(d) 30 50 35 (b) 18 1,000 40%”

• Lot coverageSpecified

  AG agricultural district (section 3.6) inside Charter Township of Union, per the 2020 proposed zoning ordinance

  • Taken from the 2020 proposed draft; confirm against adopted ordinance.
  • Municipal sewer required: 'no' in the same table row for this district.

  maximum lot coverage: <= 40 percent

  “maximum lot coverage by all buildings 40% zoning district ag area (sq. ft.) 43,560 width (ft.) 165 depth (ft.) 165 (a)”

  One more reviewed finding on this topic

  • Specified — R-1 rural residential district (section 3.7) inside Charter Township of Union, per the 2020 proposed zoning ordinance

    “r-1 43,560 150 n/a 50 15 (c)(d) 30 50 35 (b) 18 1,000 40%”

• Building heightSpecified

  AG agricultural (section 3.6) and R-1 rural residential (section 3.7) districts inside Charter Township of Union, per footnote (b) of the 2020 proposed schedule of regulations

  • Exception: silos, elevators, barns and other structures customarily necessary to farming have a maximum height of 99 ft under the same footnote.
  • Setback increases apply for structures above 35 ft under the same footnote.
  • Taken from the 2020 proposed draft; confirm against the adopted ordinance.

  maximum building height: <= 35 ft (farm silos, elevators, barns: 99 ft; setback increase per foot above 35 ft) · maximum building height: <= 2.5 stories

  “b. no building or structure shall exceed a height of two and one-half (2 ½) stories or thirty-five (35) feet, except that silos, elevators, barns and other structures customarily necessary to farming shall have a maximum height of ninety-nine (99) feet, provided that any required setback shall be increased by one (1) foot for each foot that the structure exceeds thirty-five (35) feet.”

  One more reviewed finding on this topic

  • Specified — R-1 rural residential district (section 3.7) inside Charter Township of Union, per the 2020 proposed schedule of regulations footnote (b)

    “b. no building or structure shall exceed a height of two and one-half (2 ½) stories or thirty-five (35) feet, except that silos, elevators, barns and other structures customarily necessary to farming shall have a maximum height of ninety-nine (99) feet”

Still unanswered

We looked and could not find an official answer yet. Silence is not permission; ask Union Township or Isabella County directly.

• Building permit — Building permit for new home construction inside Charter Township of Union
• Owner-builder exemption — Owner-builder exemption for a home inside Charter Township of Union
• Building code adopted — Building code adopted for construction inside Charter Township of Union
• Inspections — Building inspections inside Charter Township of Union
• Certificate of occupancy — Certificate of occupancy for a new home inside Charter Township of Union

Each answer was extracted from an official source and independently re-checked against that source by a second reviewer. That is an evidence check, not legal advice. Rules change; confirm with the authority before you buy or build.