In unincorporated Lake County's residential zoning districts, fences and walls may reach 6 feet along interior side and rear lot lines, but only 3.5 feet in street (front) yard areas. Business/industrial districts allow up to 8 feet.
The Lake County Unified Development Ordinance (UDO No. 2560), administered by the Lake County Plan Commission for unincorporated land, sets fence heights by district. In residential (R) districts, fences up to 6 feet are permitted along interior side and rear lot lines and in interior side/rear yards; fences in street yard areas are capped at 3.5 feet and may not sit within existing or planned street rights-of-way. Height is measured from average finished grade on the inside of the fence to the top; posts may exceed the fence by up to 12 inches. Incorporated cities and towns (Gary, Hammond, Crown Point, Merrillville, etc.) set their own limits.
A zoning violation is a nuisance per se. Prosecuted as a common nuisance or citation, penalties are up to $2,500 for a first violation and up to $7,500 for a second or subsequent violation under IC 36-1-3-8.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
Lake County, IN
Backyard composting of yard and food scraps is allowed in Lake County and encouraged by the Lake County Solid Waste Management District. A compost pile must ...
Lake County, IN
Lake County has no county-wide ban on artificial turf for residential yards. Installation is governed mainly by local zoning and stormwater rules and, in dev...
Lake County, IN
Native-plant and prairie landscaping is allowed in Lake County, but it must still comply with local rank-vegetation and detrimental-plant rules. Intentional ...
Lake County, IN
Collecting rainwater is legal in Indiana and Lake County imposes no barrel ban. Rain barrels for outdoor irrigation are unrestricted, though any barrel or ci...
Lake County, IN
Lake County, Indiana sets no county-wide day-of-week lawn watering schedule. Northwest Indiana is not a drought-rationing region, and outdoor water use is go...
Lake County, IN
Indiana law makes property owners destroy detrimental plants. IC 15-16-8-1 lists Canada thistle, Johnson grass, Columbus grass, bur cucumber, and shattercane...
See how Crown Point's height limits rules stack up against other locations.
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