Bloomfield Hills is weighing its biggest rethink of the Woodward Avenue commercial corridor in more than a decade, with a land use study that could open roughly 15 acres of surface parking to residential or mixed-use development and reshape the city's quiet office core.

The Bloomfield Hills Planning Commission meets Tuesday, Aug. 11, at 4 p.m. at City Hall, 45 E. Long Lake Road, according to the city's meeting notice, though a formal agenda has not yet been posted. City officials discussed imposing a moratorium on new non-residential building permits in the City Center at a Thursday, June 18 special meeting as they evaluate potential zoning changes, according to the city's Planning Commission agenda packet.

Consultant Jill Bahm of Giffels Webster presented the study to the Planning Commission on Tuesday, June 9, then to the City Commission that same evening, according to the agenda packet. The study examines what to do with aging office buildings along the corridor, most built in the 1970s and 1980s, as remote work and the growing use of artificial intelligence reshape demand for traditional office space.

Among the options on the table: creating a formal City Center zoning designation at Woodward Avenue and Long Lake Road, consolidating the city's O-1 and O-2 office districts, allowing medical offices and small fitness studios, repurposing the roughly 15-acre P-1 parking district's underutilized lots, updating parking standards and improving pedestrian connections to Woodward.

The strategies are presented as options, not recommendations.

Planning Commission Chair Walter Cueter said at the June 9 meeting that about 90 percent of city tax revenue comes from residents, and that the 2009 and 2012 surveys showed residents "clearly preferred the quiet, low-intensity character of the city's commercial core."

But Commissioner Will Hosler argued conditions have shifted since the city's last community survey in 2012, pointing to a lost restaurant and growing office vacancies. "The survey was critical and should not simply assume the 2012 results still hold," he said, adding that the city should signal to developers that its zoning is accessible, not a barrier.

Mayor Pro Tem Alice Buckley acknowledged that the 2012 results were "fairly unambiguous," saying residents wanted limited development and did not want sidewalks or significantly more retail, but said she supported expanding permitted uses to include medical offices, given the area's demographics.

Mayor Susan McCarthy suggested the City Commission allocate funding for a new professional resident survey, the first since 2012.

City Attorney Mark Roberts explained the legal basis for the moratorium discussion at the June 18 special meeting, saying moratoriums are "a recognized legal tool, established through case law, intended to pause new development for a specific and limited time while new regulations are evaluated."

The city's meeting notice confirms the Aug. 11 date but does not list a formal agenda. Residents can attend at City Hall or call (248) 644-1520 for details.