In unincorporated St. Joseph County, open fences like chain-link may reach 8 feet and solid privacy fences 6 feet, dropping to 4 and 3 feet within the front setback. The Area Plan Commission's zoning ordinance sets these limits; South Bend and Mishawaka run their own.
The St. Joseph County Zoning Ordinance, administered by the Area Plan Commission, ties fence height to how open the fence is. An open fence more than seventy percent open, such as chain-link, may stand up to eight feet, while a solid privacy fence is capped at six feet. Any fence along the front property line, or along a side line inside the front building setback, drops to four feet if open and three feet if solid. On corner lots over nine thousand square feet, both street-facing lines count as front lines. South Bend and Mishawaka apply their own municipal height limits.
Building a fence above the zoning height draws a violation notice from St. Joseph County Planning and Zoning, which can order it cut down or removed and impose fines.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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See how Mishawaka's height limits rules stack up against other locations.
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