St. Petersburg, FL Fence Regulations: Material Restrictions (2026)

C of the Land Development Regulations sets the city's fence-material design standards, and item 3 bans barbed wire outright wherever residential character is present: any residential use, any mixed-use with a residential component, any residentially-zoned parcel regardless of how it is actually developed, any property zoned DC (Downtown Center) or CCT-2 (Corridor Commercial Traditional-2), and any lot within ten feet of a residentially zoned or developed property. Where barbed wire is otherwise allowed, it must face the interior of the property and counts toward the fence's total permitted height, and it can never appear on a fence in a yard fronting a major street.

Low-voltage electric fencing, addressed in item 11 of the same subsection, is permitted on any property citywide except within the NT, NS, NTM, NSM and NPUD single-family and multi-family residential zoning districts. Where it is allowed, the electric fence cannot stand alone: a complete nonelectric fence or wall must enclose the entire outside perimeter, and the electrified fence itself must be built two feet taller than that surrounding nonelectric barrier. The buffer table appended to this subsection further requires a 20-foot landscaped buffer around an electrically charged chain-link perimeter, 15 feet for solid wood or vinyl, and 10 feet for masonry, each planted with shade trees or palms plus continuous shrub screening, and mandates a warning sign at least every 30 linear feet along any electrified run plus guaranteed emergency-personnel access to the property.