Freehold Township, NJ Fence Regulations: Material Restrictions (2026)

Section 190-165 of the Land Use chapter, the same section that sets fence heights, also restricts fence materials. Subsection E bans barbed wire generally, stating that barbed wire fences shall not be permitted except on farms and in the industrial zone, and even there it comes with conditions: in business and/or industrial zones barbed wire may only be used when needed for security purposes and must be mounted on top of a fence having a minimum height of six feet above ground level. Barbed wire is barred outright inside a designated Scenic Corridor Overlay Zone District regardless of the underlying zone.

Subsection F limits electrically charged fences to farms only, and requires any electrically charged fence to be posted with warning signs describing its presence and nature; an electric fence around a residential yard outside farmland is not a permitted material anywhere in the Township. Subsection H is a general hazardous-material ban that applies in every zone: no fence may be embedded with or made of pieces of glass, sharpened metal, or sharp or otherwise hazardous material, and no fence may be built with the intent to injure people or animals, though the code carves out an express exception preserving the narrower barbed wire allowance in Subsection E.

Together the three subsections mean a homeowner cannot top a residential fence with broken glass or spikes under any circumstances, and cannot use barbed or electric wire unless the property is farmland or, for barbed wire only, an industrial-zoned security perimeter.