Champaign, IL Fence Regulations: Material Restrictions (2026)

Section 9-2(b) prohibits erecting or maintaining any fence 'equipped with or having barbed wire, spikes or any similar device, or any electrical charge sufficient to cause shock,' within seven feet of ground level anywhere in the City. Above that seven-foot threshold, such devices are allowed outside residential districts, but the section goes further for residential property: no barbed-wire or electrified fence may be erected or maintained in a residential district at all, regardless of height. The only path around these restrictions is the exception process in § 9-2(c), which lets the Planning Director grant a permit for a nonconforming fence where a specific hazard exists, such as a public utility station, freestanding telecommunications tower, transmission tower or public swimming pool, or where the property has five or more acres, is immediately adjacent to railroad tracks or commercially/industrially zoned land, and has a chronic trespassing or criminal-activity problem verified in writing by the Police Chief.

The application must include a legal description, site plan, a drawing specifying materials and height, and a written justification, and the Planning Director must issue a written decision within thirty days or the request is treated as denied.