Bulloch County, GA Fence Regulations: Height Limits (2026)

Section 404 of the Bulloch County Zoning Ordinance (Appendix C) sets a flat six-foot cap for fences and freestanding walls in residential districts: no fence or freestanding wall, other than a retaining wall, located in a required setback area for a residential zoning district may be more than six feet in height above finished grade, except as required for screening. That exception matters because the ordinance's separate buffer, screening and landscaping standards in Section 405 and Section 406 can require taller or different screening devices around specific uses, such as dumpster enclosures or industrial buffers, and those requirements control over the general six-foot cap where they apply.

The Zoning Ordinance's definitions article reinforces the height limit for the front yard specifically: the definition of \"fence\" in Section 202 caps front-yard fencing (facing the street the dwelling fronts on) at four feet, and further restricts materials to chain link, decorative wood, decorative vinyl, or ornamental wrought iron unless the building and zoning official approves an alternative. Read together, a homeowner in an R-80 through R-3 residential district, or in the AG-5 agricultural-residential district, faces a four-foot ceiling on a front-yard fence and a six-foot ceiling on side and rear fences located in the required setback, with retaining walls exempted from both caps.

Section 405 separately restricts chain-link fencing to side or rear yards, requiring dark vinyl coating if it faces a street. Planning and Development, through the building and zoning official, administers these standards and reviews fence placement as part of any building or zoning compliance review for the unincorporated area.