Ashwaubenon, WI Fence Regulations: Material Restrictions (2026)

Ashwaubenon's fence rules sit in Chapter 5, Article 8 of the Village Code, and Section 5-8-766 flatly prohibits barbed wire and electrically charged fencing across every zoning district in the Village, with one narrow carve-out: parcels larger than ten acres that are actively farmed. Outside farmland, no residential, commercial or ordinary industrial lot may run a barbed wire or electric fence line, no matter how the property is used. The Village allows one other, narrower exception for industrial security: a seven-foot security fence in the heavy industry or industrial park zoning districts may carry strands of barbed wire along its top, but that height and district limit is the only circumstance where barbed wire is permitted outside a farm.

The same section separately bars any fence built with sharp or pointed pickets, or one that is otherwise dangerous to life and limb, regardless of material, and Section 5-8-766(A) forbids any fence within a dedicated street right-of-way. Section 5-8-763(A), the residential fence section a few pages earlier in Article 8, echoes the same ban for one-family districts, confirming this is not a stray provision. Under Section 5-8-765, a fence that predates the current ordinance and does not conform, including one carrying barbed wire outside the farm exception, cannot be altered, enlarged or replaced without bringing the entire fence into compliance with Article 8. These provisions trace to Ord. No. 19(11).