Santa Fe, NM Fence Regulations: Height Limits (2026)

5(B)(2) sets Santa Fe's baseline fence heights, measured from finished grade at the base of the fence and excluding any retaining wall it sits on. On residentially zoned or residentially developed property, no fence can exceed six feet, except along a common property line shared with a nonresidentially zoned or developed property, where the cap rises to eight feet, and within a residential compound, which also gets the eight-foot allowance. Nonresidential property, developed or undeveloped, is capped at eight feet flat. Pedestrian and vehicular gates are exempt from either height limit and may rise above it.

The height rule applies broadly to fences, screen walls, similar structures and hedges, though protective railings required by the building code are exempt when built to the minimum code height and designed to maximize transparency. 1(F)(2): along residential driveways on subcollector or lane streets, no fence, wall, hedge or planting can obstruct a driver's view between three and six feet high within the visibility triangle, measured as the more restrictive of five feet along the driveway edge by fifteen feet along the street property line, or fifteen feet back from the travel lane by thirty feet along it.