Decatur, GA Fence Regulations: Material Restrictions (2026)

B of the Decatur Unified Development Ordinance, adopted by Ord. No. 1 on June 19, 2017, sits inside the Building Design Standards for the MU Mixed-Use District created under Sec. 6. That district lets the City of Decatur, DeKalb County, Georgia, approve walkable, mixed residential-commercial redevelopment through a Regulating Master Site Plan, with residential density running up to 43 units per acre in the Village Subarea and 70 units per acre in the Transit Station Subarea under Sec. D. Because MU parcels front public plazas, sidewalk-level dining and downtown streets, the UDO's fencing-materials rule targets visibility rather than banning the materials outright everywhere on the lot: barbed wire, razor wire, chain-link fence, or similar elements may not be seen from any public plaza, ground level, sidewalk-level outdoor dining area, or public right-of-way.

A fence built entirely inside a courtyard or loading area screened from those vantage points is not reached by the text. This is a district-specific rule, not a citywide fence-material ban. Decatur's general fence standard, Sec. 1 of the UDO, caps height at 4 feet in a front yard and 8 feet in a side or rear yard citywide, including in the R-85, R-60 and R-50 single-family districts, but it does not restrict fence material anywhere outside the MU district. A property owner inside the MU district who wants an exception must apply for a special exception under Sec. 8, which the reviewing body weighs against effects on adjacent property use, traffic, public safety and property values.