Piscataway, NJ Fence Regulations: Material Restrictions (2026)

Section 21-619.3 of the Fences article is a flat material ban that applies Township-wide, in every zone: no fence, wall or enclosure may be erected with barbed wire, and none may be topped with metal spikes, regardless of whether the fence sits in a residential, commercial or industrial district. The prohibition sits inside the same numbered fence article that sets Piscataway's height limits, Section 21-619.1 for residential front yards and Section 21-619.2 for commercial and industrial districts, so a fence that otherwise meets the applicable height and solidity limits still fails inspection if it is topped with spikes or strung with barbed wire.

Section 21-619.5, printed two subsections later in the same article, adds an installation-orientation rule rather than a material ban: every fence must be installed with its finished side, the side without exposed rails, posts or structural framing, facing outward and away from the area being enclosed, so the smoother, more finished face is presented to the street or to the neighboring property rather than to the fence owner's own yard. Piscataway reserved Section 21-619.4 in the same article without printing a rule there. Corner-lot fences remain subject to the separate sight-triangle standard at Section 21-606 regardless of material, and any fence exceeding six feet requires conformance with the Uniform Construction Code's foundation requirements described elsewhere in the chapter's flood-hazard sections. The Zoning Officer enforces the fence article as part of the general zoning compliance requirement in Section 21-601.