DuPage County, IL Fence Regulations: Material Restrictions (2026)

DuPage County Zoning Ordinance Sec. 1 sets the General Requirements that apply to every fence, wall or shrubbery erected anywhere in unincorporated DuPage County, in every zoning district from single-family residential to industrial. Subsection F flatly prohibits any fence with an electrical charge sufficient to cause a shock: the rule carries no carve-out for livestock containment, dog containment or garden protection, so an invisible-fence style electrified perimeter fence is not permitted anywhere in the county. Subsection G addresses barbed wire separately and limits it to two use categories: fences built for industrial uses and fences built for public utility and service conditional uses.

A residential lot, home business or ordinary commercial property cannot add barbed wire under any circumstance. Where barbed wire is allowed, three numeric conditions apply together: no more than three strands may be strung, the lowest strand must sit at a fence height of not less than eight feet above grade, and the vertical supports holding the strands must slant away from the property line at an angle of not less than forty-five degrees from vertical, so the wire cannot overhang a neighboring lot or public right-of-way.

These material rules sit alongside the county's general fence permit requirement in Sec. 1(C), meaning an industrial fence with barbed wire still needs a permit from the Department of Economic Development and Planning before erection. The fence rules also cross-reference the vision clearance triangle in Sec. 3, which caps obstructions at three feet within twenty-five feet of a street or driveway intersection regardless of material.