The 25 Foot Setback Comes First
West Bloomfield regulates a strip of land called the environmental features setback: the 25 feet measured from the edge of a wetland or watercourse. According to the township, no work, filling or clearing can happen in a wetland, watercourse, floodplain or that 25 foot setback until a township permit is granted, and that includes landscaping and removing vegetation. Properties inside a designated woodland are regulated too, and you are expected to contact Planning and Development Services before disturbing trees in any of these areas.
So on a lake or wetland lot, the first question for a new patio, a lawn extension or a planting plan is where that line falls. It is far easier to design around it from the start than to redraw a plan after the fact. The township’s Planning and Development Services office is at (248) 451-4818. Outside the regulated areas, the township does not regulate tree removal, though your homeowners association may.
Landscape Design and Plantings
On an established West Bloomfield lot, design work rarely starts from a blank slate. It usually starts with a mature property where the plantings have filled in, the shade has changed as the trees grew, and the beds near the water stay wetter than the ones by the street. A good plan sorts the yard into zones: shade beds under the canopy, sun beds by the house, and wetter ground toward the low side of the lot, each planted with things that will actually do well there.
On the lake side, deep rooted plantings along the slope hold soil better than turf mowed to the edge, and they do not need the fertilizer that ends up running into the water. Near the house, the goal is usually a cleaner, lower planting that stops blocking windows and views of the lake.
Outdoor Lighting for Lake Lots
Lake lots tend to be long and sloped, with steps and paths that are hard to see after dark and a view that disappears at sunset. Low voltage path and step lights make the walk down to the water safe at night, and a few fixtures aimed up into the trees give the yard depth from inside the house. We keep the light pointed down and away from the water and from the neighbors, which looks better and is kinder to everyone else on the lake.
Retaining Walls on Sloped Lots
Grade changes are common on West Bloomfield lots, especially near the water. A wall can turn an unusable slope into a flat patio or planting terrace, but on clay soil it needs drainage stone and a drain pipe behind it or water pressure will push it out of line within a few winters. Any wall or grading near a wetland or the water’s edge also falls under the setback rule above, so it gets checked before it gets drawn.
