Fort Collins, CO Fence Regulations: Material Restrictions (2026)

11(B) of the Transitional Land Use Code, the City's supplementary development standards, prohibits barbed wire, other sharp-pointed fencing, and electrically charged fencing citywide, with two narrow carve-outs. In the Urban Estate (U-E), Rural Land (R-U-L), and Foothills Residential (R-F) Districts, barbed wire and portable electric fencing are allowed for livestock and pasture management: electric fencing must run within permanent fencing, must carry warning signage every 300 feet at a minimum of 36 square inches where it borders a public right-of-way, and is capped at 2,600 volts on a 500-ohm load at 17 milliamperes using an interrupted, low-impedance commercial energizer that complies with the National Electrical Code.

In the Employment (E) and Industrial (I) Districts, the Director may issue a revocable use permit, renewable every three years, for security arms and barbed-wire strands atop protective fences, provided the lowest strand sits at least 10 feet above grade and the site has automatic, inward-facing security lighting. Chain-link, slatted or bare, is separately barred from use as a screening material anywhere in the city. This fence-materials standard governs development applications and building permits submitted before May 17, 2024, under the City's Transitional Land Use Code; Fort Collins adopted a new Land Use Code that day, so confirm current fence-material rules with Planning and Zoning Services for any application filed later.