Macon County, IL Fence Regulations: Material Restrictions (2026)

048(B) in Chapter 155: ZONING, which applies to the unincorporated area outside Decatur, Forsyth, Mt. Zion, Maroa, and the county's other municipalities. Subsection (B)(1) sets a general eight-foot height cap on lot-line fences, walls, and hedges in residential districts, then carves out the material restriction: no electric or barbed wire fence is permitted in any residential district, with a single exception for the RE5 and RMH5 Single Family Estate zones, where larger acreage lots make wire fencing for livestock or estate boundaries practical. Everywhere else in the county's residential districts, whether R1, R2, R4, R6, or the manufactured-home RMH1-RMH4 zones, an electric or barbed wire fence is not an allowed material regardless of height or use.

048(A) separately exempts land actually used for agricultural purposes from the chapter's zoning requirements altogether, so a working farm's boundary fencing is not reached by this restriction unless the parcel stops being used solely for agriculture. Homeowners in a covered residential district who want a wire enclosure, for a dog run or garden barrier, need a compliant material such as wood, chain-link, vinyl, or masonry instead. The Planning and Zoning Department issues zoning certificates and can flag a nonconforming fence during a building permit review for another structure on the same lot.