Pottstown, PA Fence Regulations: Height Limits (2026)

Pottstown's design guidelines for fences and walls sit in Section 317 of the Zoning Ordinance (Chapter 27, Part 3, Districts), most recently amended by Ordinance No. 2203 on April 12, 2021. The Borough's own background note explains the intent: traditional Pottstown fences were kept low enough that neighbors could talk over them, a standard the code now writes into a height table. A fence in a front yard is capped at 4 feet, built of vinyl, composite, wood, ornamental iron, aluminum, or steel styled to look like a picket fence, or of brick or stone.

A side yard fence adjacent to a street, excluding alleys, is held to the same 4-foot limit, with an approved material list that includes brick, stone, vinyl, composite wood, ornamental iron, aluminum, or steel. Move to an interior side yard and the code lets the fence rise to 6 feet in any common fence material and style, with rear yards getting the same 6-foot allowance. Every fence must be erected with its finished side facing outward, toward the adjoining property or street. Separately from the height table, the code flatly bars any screening or buffering, meaning fences, hedges, trees, shrubbery, walls, plantings, or similar obstructions, from sitting inside a public right-of-way at all, and whatever fence or landscaping a homeowner installs must preserve sight distance for both vehicles and pedestrians, functioning as Pottstown's corner-visibility rule even though the code does not use that exact phrase.