St. Petersburg, FL Fence Regulations: Height Limits (2026)

The height rules sit in City Code § 16.40.040.3, the fence, wall and hedge charts in the Land Development Regulations. For a residential use, including a mixed use with a residential component, a fence or wall of any style is limited to 4 feet in a front yard. A decorative fence or wall may rise to 6 feet in a front yard along a major street when the top 2 feet are open and the fence is landscaped. On other streets, that 6-foot decorative allowance applies only on a property with more than 150 lineal feet of street frontage.

A front-yard hedge is held to 6 feet on major streets and 5 feet on other streets. In a side yard or rear yard, a fence or wall of any style can reach 6 feet and a hedge can reach 10 feet. Where a corner lot's street side yard abuts a neighbor's front yard, the limit drops back to 4 feet for a fence or wall and 5 feet for a hedge.\n\nNon-residential uses get taller allowances. For other uses, a front-yard fence or wall is 4 feet without landscaping and 6 feet when landscaped in accordance with the Code, and a side or rear yard fence, wall or hedge can reach 8 feet.

In the industrial districts IT and IS, a landscaped fence or wall can reach 10 feet, while an unlandscaped one stays at 4 feet in front yards and 6 feet in street side yards.\n\nWaterfront yards of every use have their own chart: 3 feet for a solid fence or wall, 4 feet for an open fence, 6 feet for a vinyl-coated chain-link fence, 10 feet for an open fence on IC/CRD-zoned property and 6 feet for an open fence at a commercial marina.\n\nSection B adds specific bonuses: 1 extra foot for columns up to 2 feet wide spaced at least 6 feet apart, 2 extra feet for a decorative open arched gate, 4 extra feet for a solid arch structure over a gate, and 2 extra feet for decorative lanterns, urns or planters.

Single-family fences that abut Interstate 275 can be 8 feet high.\n\nHeight is measured from the existing natural grade, or the finished grade at platting, as seen from the abutting property. Lattice, screening, flags or planters added above a fence count toward overall height, and a fence over 4 feet tall next to a sidewalk must sit at least 2 feet back from the sidewalk edge.