Scottsdale, AZ Fence Regulations: Material Restrictions (2026)

Sec. 18-14(a) bans the use of barbed wire, razor wire, razor ribbon, concertina wire, electrified fencing, or similar features as a fence or wall, in whole or in part, on all residential land throughout the city, a rule adopted by Ordinance No. 4133 in 2014. Subsection (b) carves out a single exception: barbed wire and electrified fencing used to control livestock is permitted, but only within a residential district that meets the criteria for rural residential lifestyle under Sec. 18-2(33), meaning a lot improved with a single-family home and zoned R1-190, R1-130, R1-70, R1-43 or R1-35, and only if the fencing complies with Arizona Game and Fish Department guidelines for Wildlife Compatible Fencing and does not exceed the city's regular fencing height standards.

Sec. S. Section 3-1201, so the exception tracks whatever animals that statute covers rather than a locally defined list. Because the ban sits in Chapter 18 rather than the zoning ordinance, it applies on top of, not instead of, the dimensional fence-height and setback standards found elsewhere in the code; a rural-lifestyle property using the livestock exception still has to keep the fence within the city's normal height limit even though the material itself is otherwise prohibited citywide. The prohibition was added twelve years after Chapter 18 was rewritten in 2002, and was amended again by Ordinance No. 4370 in 2018 to add the wildlife-compatible fencing language.