East Orange, NJ Fence Regulations: Height Limits (2026)

East Orange's fence height limits come from § 159-202 of the Property Maintenance Code, adopted February 22, 1982 by Ordinance No. 2-1982 as Part 5 of Chapter 159. Subsection A governs residential street frontage: between residential premises and any street line, no fence exceeding seven feet in height can be placed or maintained within seven feet of the street line, and any fence over 7 feet must be set back from the street line by at least as many feet as its own height, so a 10-foot fence needs a 10-foot setback.

Subsection B sets a hard citywide ceiling: no fence exceeding 15 feet in height can be placed or maintained in the City of East Orange, a limit that applies in every zoning district from the R-1 single-family blocks to the B-3 business corridor and the I industrial areas near the Garden State Parkway and I-280. The zoning chapter, Chapter 51 Land Use, does not carry its own fence-height schedule, so § 159-202 is the only height rule a homeowner, landlord or business needs to check before installing or replacing a fence anywhere in the city.

Fence permits and inspections run through the Department of Policy, Planning and Development, which also administers the zoning and property-maintenance code. Because Part 5 has no dedicated fine, a fence that exceeds either the 7-foot street-line setback or the 15-foot citywide ceiling is enforced through the Code's general penalty at § 1-15, the same provision that backs the barbed-wire material restriction in the same section.