Josephine County, OR Fence Regulations: Material Restrictions (2026)

030(C)(1) singles out sight-obscuring fences, the seven-foot screening fences permitted under subsections (A) and (B) for residential, commercial and industrial interior yards, and bars them from being built out of temporary or portable materials. The code names the prohibited materials directly: root balls, hay bales, junk, appliances, inoperable vehicles or equipment, plastic sheeting, or tarps. The list applies whether the fence is meant to be permanent or temporary, so a property owner cannot stack junked cars, unused appliances or tarp-covered hay bales along a property line to create screening and call it a temporary fence.

The composition rule sits inside the same section that lets sight-obscuring fences reach seven feet in an interior yard, or three and one-half feet in a commercial or industrial front yard, and that lets any sight-obscuring fence sit directly on the property line. It does not reach ordinary open fencing, only fences and walls built to obscure sight. Josephine County enforces the rule through the Planning Director under the Rural Land Development Code's general violations chapter. 040. 010 sets a conviction penalty of up to $500 for a noncontinuing violation and up to $1,000 if the violation continues. The provision was amended by the Planning Director on October 28, 2016 and again by Ordinance 2017-001 and Ordinance 2025-003.