Kauai County, HI Fence Regulations: Material Restrictions (2026)

Section 423.2 states flatly that barbed or razor wire shall not be used for the construction of any fence, then carves out specific exceptions. Barbed or razor wire may be used where it is placed at or above 6 feet from the ground, subject to Fire Department approval, on premises that are a public utility as defined in Section 269-1, Hawai'i Revised Statutes; premises zoned industrial and used for storage or handling of hazardous materials; zoos keeping animals or birds for public view; and jails, prisons, reformatories, or other law-enforcement or military institutions where security against entry matters.

A separate exception lets barbed wire be used lower down, without the 6-foot Fire Department condition, on premises in open or agriculture-zoned districts when the fence encloses pasturing farm animals. Outside those listed uses, ordinary residential and commercial fences on Kaua'i cannot use barbed or razor wire at all. Section 423.4 separately governs electrically charged wire fences, requiring their installation to conform to Chapter 142, Part III, Section 142-61 of the Hawai'i Revised Statutes, the state statute on electric fences, rather than setting its own county standard; a property owner installing an electric fence still has to satisfy that state provision even though the county code is what points to it. Section 423.3 also cross-references Chapter 33 for fences used as construction-site safeguards, distinct from the permanent-fence material rules in 423.2 and 423.4.