6 rules for unincorporated St. Johns County, Florida.
Verified from official government sources
St. Johns County caps residential fences, walls, and hedges at six feet. Within the front twenty-five feet of the property line the limit drops to four feet, and nothing may block the sight lines of oncoming traffic. Corner lots may run six feet along the second frontage.
St. Johns County requires a building permit for most residential fences before work begins. The Building Department reviews the fence against Land Development Code height and setback rules, and the property owner is responsible for confirming a permit is needed to avoid penalty fees.
Florida has no statute forcing neighbors to split a boundary fence's cost, so cost-sharing in St. Johns County is voluntary. A boundary fence built maliciously with no legitimate purpose is a spite fence a court can treat as a private nuisance and order removed.
St. Johns County regulates retaining walls through the Florida Building Code. A wall over four feet, measured from the bottom of the footing, or any wall supporting a surcharge, needs a building permit and engineered design. Walls that divert stormwater onto a neighbor create civil liability.
Every residential pool in St. Johns County must have a barrier at least four feet high with gates that open outward, self-close, and self-latch. Florida's Residential Swimming Pool Safety Act sets the standard statewide, and it is enforced through the county Building Department at construction.
Fla. Stat. § 515.29
The barrier must be at least 4 feet high on the outside. ... Gates that provide access to swimming pools must open outward away from the pool and be self-closing and equipped with a self-latching locking device, the release mechanism of which must be located on the pool side of the gate and so placed that it cannot be reached by a young child over the top or through any opening or gap.
No Florida statute restricts residential fence materials, so wood, vinyl, aluminum, and chain-link are all allowed in St. Johns County. Limits come from the Land Development Code and special districts, which can bar barbed wire or electric fencing in residential zones and govern coastal designs.
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