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

13 of the Unified Development Code governs every fence or wall in unincorporated Forsyth County, whether it's open or solid and whatever it's built from: wood, metal, wire, or masonry. The only carve-out is for agricultural parcels or lots that sit outside a final platted subdivision, which are exempt from the section entirely. For everyone else, height depends on the yard. In the front yard established by the applicable zoning district, fences and freestanding walls are capped at 48 inches, or four feet. Move to a required side or rear setback and the limit jumps to 8 feet.

Front-yard gates get their own, slightly taller allowance: up to six and one-half feet. Retaining walls and non-integral wing walls are treated separately from ordinary fences: they're permitted in the setback regardless of height, but once a retaining wall or wing wall exceeds six feet, measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall, it needs a permit and an engineer's stamp. Because the height caps are tied to yard type rather than to the whole lot, a fence that is compliant along the rear property line can become noncompliant the moment it wraps into the front yard at the same height, since the front-yard limit is 48 inches rather than 8 feet.