Ankeny, IA Fence Regulations: Material Restrictions (2026)

Section 41.08, Barbed Wire and Electric Fences, makes it unlawful for a person to use barbed wire or electric fences to enclose land within the City limits without the written consent of the Council, unless such land consists of ten (10) acres or more and is used as agricultural land. That single sentence sets the whole local rule: inside Ankeny's corporate limits, barbed and electric fencing is presumptively prohibited on any parcel under ten acres or on land not devoted to agriculture, and even a landowner who qualifies for the acreage exception still needs the Council's written sign-off if the land is not agricultural.

The zoning code layers a separate permit requirement on top: § 191.14 requires a building permit, priced by Council resolution, before anyone erects, alters or relocates any fence, wall or vision barrier, and it caps ordinary residential fence height at 42 inches in front yards (48 inches for chain link) and six feet in side and rear yards, rising to eight feet if the top two feet are 70% open. Ankeny's Planning and Building Department reviews fence permits, and Police and Code Enforcement staff investigate complaints about unpermitted or prohibited fencing.

Chapter 41, Public Health and Safety, is one of the chapters the Code's standard penalty section, § 1.14, applies to, so a § 41.08 violation is treated the same as a simple misdemeanor under Iowa law, minus the possibility of jail time, with each day the fence remains up counted as a separate offense.