How close to the line can a detached garage go?

**Ten feet** — from any side or rear lot line, and also ten feet from your principal building or other accessory building(s).

**Your covenant says something different, and it does not control.** The covenants permit a **three-foot** minimum side yard for a garage or other permitted accessory building located to the rear of the property. Freeman Township requires ten feet, and the Accessory Building Regulations adopt the Township figure.

Where the two differ, the stricter governs — so **ten feet is the number**. A garage placed to the covenant's three feet would be seven feet short.

**Measured at the drip edge.** The distance is taken from the outer edge of the roof overhang, not the wall. Accessory buildings must have at least a one-foot overhang on all sides, so the roof is at least a foot wider than the walls on each side.

**A detached garage is an accessory building**, so the rest of those rules apply too — building height between 8 and 14 feet, no more than 25 percent of the required rear yard if one storey or under 14 feet, and total lot coverage by all structures capped at 25 percent.

**The other setbacks still apply** — 30 feet from the roadway, measured from the 66-foot road easement, and 50 feet from the Water Line on a waterfront lot.

**What the covenants do permit.** One private garage or boathouse, or a combination of the two. However, prior art within the association has made this provision unenforceable, though the restriction on total square footage under roof remains in force.

*Source: Restrictive Covenants, Article VII, Section 3; Accessory Building Regulations (6/8/2025), items 4 and 5; Zoning Ordinance No. 8, Section 4.13.E.*