Ankeny, IA Fence Regulations: Fence Permit Requirements (2026)

Section 191.14(1) of the Ankeny Code of Ordinances makes a building permit mandatory before any person erects, alters, or relocates a fence, wall, or other vision barrier anywhere in the city, residential, commercial, or industrial. The fee for that permit is not fixed in the ordinance text itself; instead the code directs that it shall be established by resolution of the City Council, so the current fee schedule comes from a separate council resolution rather than the zoning chapter. Once permitted, the fence still has to comply with the placement and height standards spelled out in the rest of Section 191.14: residential fences are allowed in any yard, but front-yard fences are capped at 48 inches for chain link and 42 inches for other materials, corner-lot fences over those heights must meet the principal building setback under Section 191.05, and side and rear yard opaque or solid fences are capped at six feet unless the upper two feet is at least 70 percent open.

Commercial and industrial fences may not exceed eight feet in side and rear yards, and any fence in a yard facing a street right-of-way on those lots must match the height and location shown on the approved site plan. Every fence, regardless of district, must also satisfy the intersection visibility triangle rules in Section 191.16. The Planning and Building Department, which issues zoning and building permits citywide, checks a fence permit application against all of these Section 191.14 and 191.16 standards before issuing it, and an unpermitted fence can be ordered removed or brought into compliance.