Porter County, IN Fence Regulations: Height Limits (2026)

Section 5.16 (FW-02) of the Unified Development Ordinance sets height limits specific to residential zoning districts, and they run lower than the general commercial and agricultural fence standards elsewhere in Chapter 05: a fence or wall in a front yard cannot exceed 3 feet, while one in a side or rear yard cannot exceed 6 feet (Section 5.16(C)). Fences and walls are otherwise allowed right up to the property line, but none may sit inside a public street easement or right-of-way, including a right-of-way proposed on the county's Thoroughfare Plan (Section 5.16(B)).

Corner and driveway visibility is handled separately under Section 5.76 (VC-01). A vision clearance triangle with 50-foot legs, measured from the edge of pavement, must be kept clear at every intersection of two streets, a street and an alley, or a street and a driveway. Inside that triangle, no fence, wall, structure, landscaping, or sign may occupy the space between 2.5 feet and 9 feet above the crown of the adjacent roadway, the zone that blocks a driver's sightline; only farm crops, public street signs, and booster stations are exempted from that vertical restriction. Because a residential front-yard fence's 3-foot cap sits barely above the visibility triangle's 2.5-foot floor, a homeowner on a corner lot needs the fence low enough, or set back far enough, to clear the triangle entirely.