Greece, NY Fence Regulations: Material Restrictions (2026)

Town Code § 211-50E states the baseline rule: except as provided in § 211-53, barbed wire or other similar strands of sharpened enclosure material is not permitted, and except as provided in § 211-33C, electrification of any fence is not permitted. Section 211-53 supplies the only route around the barbed-wire ban: the Board of Zoning Appeals, acting under § 211-65A, may issue a special permit for barbed wire or similar sharpened material, including razor wire and razor tape, but only on fences in nonresidential districts, and only where the enclosure protects an area storing materials or equipment or an area that could otherwise be hazardous to public health, safety or welfare.

An applicant for that special permit must specify the number of strands, whether the material slants inward or outward, and its dimensions, location and extent of placement. There is no residential exception; barbed wire is flatly off the table for houses, yards and residential lots in Greece. The electrification cross-reference in § 211-33C sits in the commercial boarding and breeding kennel standards, meaning the only electrified-enclosure allowance in the fence article ties back to that narrow kennel context rather than to ordinary residential or commercial fencing generally.