Escambia County, FL Fence Regulations: Material Restrictions (2026)

LDC Sec. 4(c) restricts residential fence construction to eight listed materials: masonry, chain link, chain link with slatting, wood, cast iron, aluminum, plastic and precast concrete. Anything outside that list, most commonly barbed wire or electrified wire fencing, is not a permitted material in the county's standard residential zoning districts. Sec. 4(a) carves out the exception: barbed wire and electrified fences are permitted only in the A (agricultural), RR (rural residential) and RMU (rural mixed use) districts. Outside those rural zones, below-ground electrified fencing is allowed everywhere in residential areas, and above-ground electrified fencing is allowed only if it sits inside a separate perimeter fence built to the standard height table, is completely enclosed, and never contacts that perimeter fence.

Any electrified wire used must be listed under the electrical building code and still meet the same height limits as an ordinary fence: 3 feet opaque or 4 feet see-through in the front yard, 8 feet in the side or rear yard, with height averaged at eight-foot intervals along the property line. Sec. 4(d) treats commercial and industrial districts differently: there is no maximum fence height there, and barbed wire is allowed on top of a solid or chain-link fence at least 6 feet tall, including on the 8-foot fence a commercial parcel may build along a shared line with a residential district.

Sec. 4(b) further bars any fence, of any material, from obstructing visual clearance along a right-of-way or interfering with site drainage. Permit applications must show fence cross sections, elevations and the material to be used before the county's planning and zoning division approves construction.