Rock Island County, IL Fence Regulations: Material Restrictions (2026)

046(B) of the County Code lists barbed wire and electric fencing as optional, district-limited materials rather than a general residential option. Barbed wire is allowed only in Agricultural or Suburban Estate-1 Districts, and in Industrial Districts only on review by the Zoning Board of Appeals; the bottom strand must sit at least eight feet above grade. Electric fences are likewise limited to Agricultural or Suburban Estate-1 Districts and only for enclosing livestock; they cannot carry a charge greater than 25 milliamperes or a pulsating current lower than one-tenth second in a one-second cycle, and every electric fence charger must carry the seal of an approved testing laboratory.

Both barbed wire and electric fencing are flatly prohibited within five feet of a public sidewalk, or within four feet of the street right-of-way line where no sidewalk exists yet; a property owner can install along the right-of-way line in that gap only if they agree to move the fence back within two months after a public sidewalk goes in. Outside AG-1, AG-2 and SE-1 districts, and outside livestock enclosures, barbed wire and electric fencing are not authorized options under this section at all, which functionally rules them out for ordinary residential and Suburban Estate-2 lots.