Bristol Township, PA Fence Regulations: Material Restrictions (2026)

The material rule in Bristol Township sits in subsection C of § 205-134, the fence section of the zoning chapter. It prohibits three fence types outright: electrified fences, barbed wire fences, and razor wire fences. The code prints the prohibition as 'shall be erected maintained,' so the text as written covers both putting one up and keeping one. Two exceptions are listed. First, barbed wire fences used on farms for restraint of livestock are allowed. Second, barbed wire additions, not exceeding one foot, are allowed on the top of a fence for security purposes at industrial uses.

Nothing in the subsection carves out a residential or commercial exception, so a homeowner or shop owner in Bristol Township cannot use barbed or razor wire, and cannot run an electrified strand, on the strength of this section. The chapter's definitions describe a fence as a barrier or partition having any combination of posts, wire, lumber, stone, brick, or similar materials in which the principal dimensions are height and length, so wire-based barriers fall inside the term. Material choice also feeds into location. Under § 205-134(B)(2), in residential and commercial districts stockade, board-on-board, or other fencing with no openings, holes, or gaps larger than four inches in dimension belongs in the rear and side yards only.

Height still applies alongside material: six feet in a residential rear or side yard, four feet in a residential front yard, and eight feet for nonresidential fences. Chapter 103 adds that the buffer fence a commercial or manufacturing use must build along abutting residential lots is to be of a stockade type or equivalent.