Portage Rewrote Its Zoning for Smaller Lots and Duplexes. The Next New Homes Were Approved Under the Old Rules.
November 5, 2026
November 5, 2026
In June, Portage passed its first major zoning overhaul in 66 years. The vote was 4 to 3, with Mayor Patricia Randall breaking the tie, according to MLive. The new rules allow smaller lots, more duplexes and townhomes, and clustered neighborhoods with shared open space. If you're shopping for new construction in Portage this fall, though, you'll mostly find large lots and detached homes priced from the mid-$400,000s up.
The reason is timing. Portage's Planning Commission minutes say projects submitted before the residential rules took effect are reviewed under the old zoning standards. Portage's next round of subdivisions was already working through approvals while the new code was being written. So the zoning change will show up in a different order than most buyers expect.
The friction starts with a name. Firestone Site Condominiums is a 49-home project on 21.8 acres at 4221 Zylman Avenue. The city describes the land as one of the few active farms left in Portage. Every home will be a detached single-family house. Mary Beth Block, the city's public information officer, told MLive that prices will run from about $425,000 to $750,000.
City officials told the same outlet that "condominium" here describes how the land gets divided into parcels for sale. Buyers will own both the house and the land under it. Developers choose this route because the other one, a traditional subdivision plat, takes longer. If you filter Portage searches by property type, keep this in mind. A "site condo" search and a "single-family" search can return the same kind of house, and checking only one box can hide new construction from you.
The residential Unified Development Ordinance, adopted June 23 as Ordinance Amendment #25/26-3, cut Portage's residential zoning districts from eight to four. Before the vote, multifamily housing was allowed in only two of the eight old districts. The city's June 23 presentation lays out how the old districts map onto the new ones:
| Old district | New district | Minimum lot, old | Minimum lot, new conventional | What's allowed now |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| R-1A | Residential Neighborhood, RN | 7,800 sq ft | 7,000 sq ft per single home | Mostly single homes, plus ADUs and limited duplexes |
| R-1B | Residential Neighborhood, RN | 9,600 sq ft | 7,000 sq ft per single home | Same as above |
| R-1C, R-1D | Residential Estate, RE | 12,000 sq ft with water and sewer | 12,000 sq ft, water and sewer required | Single homes and ADUs only |
| RM-1, RM-2, part of R-1T | Residential Mixed, RM | Varied | Varied | Full range of housing types, including 3 to 12 unit cottage courts |
Most of the city is now RN. MLive's coverage reports that RN caps duplexes at 30% and townhouses at 35% of a development. RE land is mostly in the more rural parts of south Portage. New streets change too. The presentation calls for public and private residential pavement of at least 24 feet, or 28 feet where parking is designed for both sides, so less land goes to asphalt and more to lots. The city's June 17 release said some of the districts being replaced dated back to the 1960s.
According to the Aug. 20 Planning Commission minutes, the residential rules took effect in late August. Senior City Planner Eric Feldt confirmed at that meeting that projects submitted before the effective date "will use the old zoning standards." Firestone's timeline shows how far ahead of that date the next round of homes was moving:
Oakland Farms, just west of the Oakland Drive and Shaver Road intersection, shows how much of the pipeline was already in motion. City Council unanimously approved 21 more homes there on Aug. 25 for the subdivision's No. 4 area on Honey Creek Trail and Loganberry Lane. Developer Hyland Associates LLC still needs final state approval before construction, MLive reported. The lots run from 12,000 square feet to just over 30,000. Council had already approved the public infrastructure work back in May. In the earlier No. 3 section on Ashford Trail and Windflower Lane, 13 ranch-style and two-story homes have sold, with prices starting in the $500,000 range. Those lots are 5,000 to more than 23,000 square feet larger than the new RN minimum for a single home.
Taken together, these two projects show what new construction in Portage looks like for the next year or so: detached homes, mostly at $425,000 and up, on lots the old code would have allowed anyway. Land that was already designed, reviewed and partly approved has a schedule of its own, and the new code doesn't reach back into it.
Since the subdivision pipeline is locked in, the first visible effects of the ordinance are more likely to come from two other places.
Existing RN streets. The new code allows duplexes in established neighborhoods. Each one has to be designed to match the homes next to it in garage location, scale, color, front porch design, window size, and a single front entry door. Duplexes are not allowed on lakefront lots. A conventional RN duplex lot needs at least 5,000 square feet per unit and 10,000 square feet in total. This is the part of the ordinance that drew the most debate. MLive reported that many of the speakers opposed to the change lived on East Shore Drive along Austin Lake, an area that was rezoned to RN. Mayor Pro Tem Jim Pearson voted no, saying the decision "affects a lot of acreage that hasn't been developed yet."
New conservation developments. These need at least five acres and have to be new projects. At least 20% of the site must stay open space, or 15% if the developer adds amenities like a playground, pavilion, dog park or pool. The outer lots also have to be similar in size to the existing lots next door. In exchange, minimum lots drop to 5,000 square feet for a single home, 4,500 per duplex unit, 2,250 to 3,150 per townhome unit, and 1,800 per unit for multiplexes of up to four units. Up to 35% of the homes can be attached. This is where a smaller, lower-priced new home could eventually appear in Portage. It can only happen on a project filed after late August, and that project would still need to go through the review steps Firestone is still working through.
The city's presentation also points out that zoning controls a building's form, location and size but cannot control who owns it. A house or a unit can be owned or rented. For investors looking at duplex infill, the question is lot size and design compatibility. Ownership type doesn't factor in.
Since 2026 new construction in Portage still means large lots and the mid-$400,000s and up, the zoning change matters more for resale shopping right now than for new builds. Here are a few things worth checking on any Portage listing:
Commercial and industrial rules weren't part of this rewrite. The city's presentation lists them as phase 2, along with a review of procedures. A $50,000 Michigan State Housing Development Authority grant awarded in 2023 helped pay for the residential work, according to MIRS.
Does the new zoning change what's allowed on my current lot? It may. Large parts of the city moved into RN, which now allows ADUs and limited duplexes that have to match the homes around them. Lakefront lots are excluded from the duplex option. City planning staff can confirm which district your parcel is in.
When can buyers expect new Portage homes built under the new standards? That depends on when developers file projects designed under the new code. Projects submitted before the late-August effective date stay under the old standards.
Is Firestone Site Condominiums under construction? As of MLive's August report, it had preliminary approval from City Council and still needed final city approval before infrastructure work could start.
This post is general information about what Portage's ordinance allows. It isn't legal, tax or financial advice, so before you buy, build or add a unit, check your parcel's details with the city and the right professional.
If you own a home in Portage and want to know whether the new RN or RE rules change what your lot could support, or what it's worth to the next buyer, Atwood Properties Group can walk your parcel with you. As a builder and broker, we look at both what you could build and what the house would sell for. Start with your instant home valuation, and we'll add the zoning context.
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