Peoria, IL Fence Regulations: Material Restrictions (2026)
Key Facts
- Minimum legal height for barbed wire
- 6 feet above ground
- Covered locations
- Streets, alleys, walks, drives, parks, city land
- Enforcement
- Director of public works removes it immediately
- Governing section
- City Code § 26-13 (since 1957 Code § 36-13)
- Electric fences
- Not addressed in this chapter
Summary
Peoria's code prohibits any fence or barrier under six feet high made wholly or partly of barbed wire along city streets, alleys, public walks and drives, through or around public parks, or on any land the city owns or controls. The director of public works must remove noncompliant wire immediately, no advance notice required. Barbed wire built at six feet or higher, or kept off public property, falls outside this section.
Sec. 26-13. - Barbed wire fences or barriers—Prohibited. No person shall build, construct, use or maintain any fence or barrier at an elevation of less than six feet above the ground consisting or made of what is called "barbed wire," or of which barbed wire is a part, within the city, along the line of or in or upon or along any street, alley or public walk or drive; or through, along or around any public park; or in or about or along any land or lots or parks owned or controlled by the city. Sec. 26-14. - Same—Removal. Wherever in the city in, along or through any public street, alley or park, barbed wire is found in use in part or in whole for a fence or barrier, the same shall forthwith be removed by the director of public works.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 119).
Full Breakdown
Peoria City Code Section 26-13, unchanged since the 1957 Code (§ 36-13), targets barbed wire specifically rather than fencing generally: it bans any fence or barrier under six feet in elevation that consists of or contains barbed wire when it sits along the line of, in, upon, or along a street, alley, public walk, or drive; through or around any public park; or in, about, or along any land, lot, or park the city owns or controls. The six-foot threshold matters: a barbed-wire topper on an eight-foot commercial or industrial security fence set back from the public way is not reached by this section, since it targets low wire near public property rather than height-restricted fencing generally.
Section 26-14 backs the ban with a removal mechanism separate from the notice-and-hearing process used for other street obstructions under Section 26-16: wherever barbed wire is found in use, in whole or in part, as a fence or barrier along a public street, alley, or park, the director of public works must have it removed immediately, with no waiting period for the property owner to act first. That is a materially faster process than Section 26-16's ten-day cure notice for other fence and porch encroachments onto public ways, reflecting the added public-safety concern with low-hung barbed wire near sidewalks, alleys, and city parks.
Chapter 26 does not separately address electric fencing; no electric-fence provision appears there, so any restriction on electrified fencing in Peoria would have to come from the zoning or unified development code rather than this street-and-public-property chapter.
Violations & Fines
There is no separate fine schedule written into Sections 26-13 or 26-14; the remedy is removal, not a citation. The director of public works has standing authority to remove any low barbed-wire fence or barrier found along a city street, alley, public walk, drive, or park, or on city-controlled land, without prior notice to the owner. General obstruction violations elsewhere in Chapter 26 route through the Section 1-5 penalty schedule, but the barbed-wire sections themselves rely on immediate removal as the enforcement tool.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I put barbed wire on top of my fence in Peoria?
What happens if I install low barbed wire along a public alley?
Does Peoria regulate electric fences the same way?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Peoria
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