Bristol Township, PA Fence Regulations: Height Limits (2026)

Section 205-134 of the Bristol Township zoning chapter sets fence height by use and by yard. For residential uses, a fence can be no more than six feet in a rear or side yard or in a special setback, and no more than four feet in the front yard. Those caps give way only where the chapter or other ordinances, statutes, or regulations require a greater height. For nonresidential uses the cap is eight feet, under the same exception. Tennis, baseball, and softball backstops and similar fences for recreational facilities are exempt from the section, but only if they are not closer than 50 feet to any abutting residential property.

Location rules sit beside the height rules. Authorized fences go in side yards, rear yards or other portions of a lot behind the front building setback line. In residential and commercial districts, stockade, board-on-board, or other fencing with no openings, holes, or gaps larger than four inches must stay in the rear and side yards only. Where a property fronts on more than one street, a fence can go in the front yard that is not the yard the dwelling faces, at no more than six feet.

Any fence must not obstruct the public sidewalk, encroach within the public right-of-way, or obstruct sight distance or sight triangles defined elsewhere in the chapter. Hedges are treated differently: the yard restrictions of § 205-132 do not apply to hedges less than seven feet above the natural grade. Separately, Chapter 103 requires a commercial or manufacturing use abutting residential property with a residence to erect and maintain an eight-foot stockade-type fence, or equivalent, on all abutting property lines.