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

Three sections of the Effingham County Zoning Ordinance set fence height depending on where the fence sits. Section 3.12 is the general rule: outside planned manufactured home communities, industrial districts, and general and neighborhood commercial districts, no fence, wall, or screened structure other than plants and shrubbery may exceed ten feet in any yard. Section 6.2.2 narrows that for the front yard specifically: a wall or fence up to six feet may be built within any yard a minimum of one foot from the property line, but a wall or fence in the front yard, other than a retaining wall, is capped at 48 inches.

That means the ten-foot ceiling in section 3.12 effectively only reaches side and rear yards once the front-yard limit applies. Section 3.40 layers on a corner-lot visibility rule that overrides both height caps near an intersection: on any corner lot in any district, no fence, structure, or planting taller than 30 inches, measured from the center of the road, may stand within 20 feet of the corner, so drivers can see across the corner. A homeowner on a corner lot therefore has to check all three numbers, the 48-inch front-yard cap, the ten-foot general cap for side and rear yards, and the 30-inch, 20-foot visibility triangle, before setting a fence line.