Carmel City Code Section 6-50 prohibits electrifying barbed or razor wire, bars such wire within 3 feet of any street, sidewalk, alley, or public way, and requires warning signs on electric fences. The UDO also bars primarily wooden subdivision fences along major streets and requires black wire mesh for athletic/institutional fences.
Two layers of Carmel rules limit fence materials. First, Carmel City Code Chapter 6, Article 4, Section 6-50 (Barbed Wire Fences; Electric Fences) provides that no barbed or razor wire fence within the City limits shall be electrified, and that no barbed or razor wire fence shall be located within three (3) feet of any street, sidewalk, alley, or other public place or way; all electric fences must have warning signs (e.g., 'Danger: Electric Fence') in letters at least one inch tall, on both sides, at intervals no greater than 100 feet. Second, the UDO's Fence and Wall Standards (5.09) restrict materials by context: no primarily wooden fences or walls may be constructed in any required front yard adjacent to a Collector, Arterial, Parkway Arterial, Primary Arterial, or Primary Parkway street (5.09(B)(7)); open wire-mesh athletic-court fences and institution/park/school fences must be black unless the Director of Community Services approves otherwise (5.09(F), (G)); and residential front-yard fences must be at least 25% open, with wrought iron or pickets cited as examples (5.09(B)(2)). Solid stone or brick walls are expressly contemplated as an alternative to open front-yard fencing.
Violations of Section 6-50 (electrified barbed/razor wire, wire too close to a public way, or missing warning signs) are enforced under the Carmel City Code's public-safety provisions and can carry ordinance-violation penalties. UDO material violations (a wooden fence along a major street, a non-black athletic-court fence) are enforced by Code Enforcement through notices of violation requiring modification or removal. Because Section 6-50 addresses safety hazards near public ways, those cases are prioritized.
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