Bonner County, ID Fence Regulations: Height Limits (2026)

Section 12-712 of the Bonner County Revised Code is the one fence height rule with numbers in it. Under subsection A, fences or walls, excluding seawalls, taller than thirty six inches (36") cannot be located closer than forty feet (40') from the shoreline. Subsection B narrows what is allowed inside that 40 foot band: fences that are generally perpendicular to the shoreline can be permitted under subsection A, but only along property lines, and fences in other locations within forty feet of shorelines, including those placed parallel to shorelines, are prohibited. Subsection C exempts fences erected for the pasturing of livestock.

Away from the water, the code sets no printed height cap for a fence in a yard. Section 12-420 E says that notwithstanding other provisions of Title 12, fences, walls and hedges can be permitted in any required yard, unless otherwise restricted by provisions of the title. The corner rule in section 12-420 I limits what can stand at an intersection. On a corner lot in any district, nothing can be erected, placed, planted or allowed to grow in such a manner as to materially impede vision between a height of two and one-half feet and ten feet above the centerline grades of the intersecting streets, within the area bounded by the right of way lines of the corner lot and a line joining points along those right of way lines twenty five feet from the point of intersection. A solid fence on a corner lot has to respect that sight window.

Height also decides whether a building permit enters the picture. Section 11-219 excepts fences not over eight feet in height, measured at grade, from the structure definition, and retaining walls not over four feet. A fence taller than eight feet falls outside that exception. Fences of any height still answer to the Title 12 land use standards. In floodplains, Title 14 adds a separate concern, targeting fences that have the potential to block the passage of floodwaters, such as stockade fences and wire mesh fences, in regulated Special Flood Hazard Areas. Zoning enforcement belongs to the Planning Director under section 12-130 A.