Durham, NC Fence Regulations: Material Restrictions (2026)

UDO Sec. 2(B) directly prohibits razor wire, concertina wire, barbed wire, and similar fencing materials in two overlapping sets of locations. First, they're banned in all residential districts and on any site adjacent to a residential use, except within the Rural Tier, which is treated differently because of its larger agricultural and low-density lots. Second, the ban also reaches the SRP-C District (the county-only Southern and Research Triangle Protection tier), every Design district, and the CI (Commercial Industrial) District, meaning the prohibition is not purely a residential-protection rule but extends into specific commercial and mixed-use zoning categories that the City-County Planning Department treats as more visually sensitive.

The only exception written into the section is for barbed wire associated with a major or minor utility use, which recognizes that substations and similar infrastructure may need this security fencing regardless of the surrounding district. This sits alongside, but is separate from, the section's chain-link and electric-fence rules: uncoated chain link is separately restricted in the CI District, and electric fencing has its own permitting and voltage requirements elsewhere in Sec. 2. Because the UDO is a joint City-County ordinance, this residential-district ban applies both inside Durham's city limits and in the unincorporated parts of Durham County that fall under the same zoning districts, it is not a city-only rule.