Rothschild, WI Fence Regulations: Material Restrictions (2026)

Village Code § 590-95B(1) splits acceptable fencing materials by district. In residential districts, Subsection (a) permits only wood, stone, brick, vinyl, wrought iron and chain link; wire mesh, barbed wire and electrified fencing are flatly not permitted, no matter the yard or height. The section's applicability clause reinforces the point for the small no-permit exceptions the code allows for garden fences and plant-protection fencing, stating flatly that barbed wire or the like, or electrified fencing, may never be used. Nonresidential districts are treated differently under Subsection (b): the same base list of materials applies, but wire mesh is added as an acceptable material outright, and barbed wire becomes allowed on security fencing once the fence reaches six feet or taller, subject to Planning and Zoning Commission approval.

That six-foot threshold for barbed wire can itself be waived upward through a conditional use permit under Chapter 590, Article XI. One cross-cutting transparency rule applies regardless of material: any fence sited in a front or street yard, including along a property line that intersects a right-of-way, must be at least 50% transparent, which as a practical matter rules out a solid privacy fence facing the street even where the material itself would otherwise be allowed.