Ames, IA Fence Regulations: Height Limits (2026)

Sec. 29.408(2)(c) of the Ames zoning ordinance sets a four-foot maximum for fences located in front setbacks and front yards, and a six-foot maximum in side or rear setbacks, unless the setback abuts a street right-of-way, in which case the limit drops back to four feet. The code carves out one exception: up to six feet is allowed in a side or rear setback abutting a right-of-way if the lot does not abut the front yard of any other residential property on the same side of the street, and the fence sits at least five feet from the right-of-way line, with that five-foot strip landscaped with one tree per 50 lineal feet and shrubs per ten lineal feet.

Outside any setback, fences may reach eight feet, except that no fence in a front yard may exceed four feet regardless of location. Retaining walls are measured only above the finished grade of the retained embankment, provided that grade extends at least 20 feet or to the principal structure; otherwise the wall is treated as an earthen berm subject to the same fence height caps. Every fence, wall, or screen, whether open, solid, wood, metal, wire, masonry, or earthen, must also clear the visibility triangle defined in Sec.

29.408(5): a triangle measured from the back-of-curb intersection with legs of 100 feet on streets posted above 30 mph, 50 feet on streets posted at or below 30 mph, and half those legs where a stop sign, yield sign, or signal controls the intersection. Within that triangle, no fence, wall, shrub, berm, or sign taller than three feet may obstruct vision between three and ten feet above the curb or pavement edge. These fence height standards apply citywide except in the General Industrial, Research and Innovation, Intensive Industrial, and Planned Industrial zoning districts.