Lakewood, WA Fence Regulations: Material Restrictions (2026)

090(B)(12)(d) draws a hard line on fence materials in residential zoning districts: fences cannot be constructed of barbed wire, razor wire, embedded glass, or other similar materials, construction, or anti-entry techniques that may cause injury, regardless of yard or height. That ban applies citywide in every residential district, R1 through MF3, with no variance path listed in this subsection. Electric fences are not a residential option at all. Subsection (e) allows an electric fence only in the C1, C2, C3, TOC, IBP, I1, I2, and P/I zones, all commercial or industrial, and only after a director's determination process.

Where allowed, an electric fence must be built to International Electrotechnical Commission Standard 60335-2-76, powered by a battery not exceeding twelve volts DC charged primarily by a solar panel, and stand between eight and ten feet tall. It must be completely surrounded by a nonelectrical perimeter fence or wall at least six feet tall, with a four-to-twelve-inch gap between the two barriers, and it cannot sit within 150 feet of a residential property line, school, or day care unless the perimeter fence is solid-covered. Warning signs reading Warning, Electric Fence must appear at intervals of no more than thirty feet, and the fence may only be energized when the public lacks legal access to the protected property.

Because electric fencing is excluded from residential zones outright and barbed or razor wire is banned there too, a Lakewood homeowner's material choices for a residential fence are limited to conventional wood, vinyl, chain link, or masonry construction.