Pinellas County, FL Fence Regulations: Fence Permit Requirements (2026)

Pinellas County Code § 138-3702 sets the operative height and permit standards for unincorporated Pinellas County; St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Largo, Pinellas Park, Dunedin, Tarpon Springs and the beach cities each run their own fence codes. In residential districts, a fence or wall inside the required side or rear setback tops out at 6 feet for any style, rising to 8 feet for a decorative fence or wall along secondary arterial and collector frontages; waterfront rear-yard fences must be semi-opaque rather than solid. Inside the required front setback, the base limit is 3 feet for any style, with staged increases to 4 feet (opaque decorative), 5 feet (semi-opaque decorative), 6 feet (any style at the front setback line on a primary frontage, or on a secondary, unaddressed frontage of a multi-frontage lot) and up to 8 feet for a decorative perimeter wall along a collector or arterial, which additionally requires site plan review with plans sealed by a Florida-registered engineer certifying no sight-distance obstruction.

Rural residential districts (R-A, R-E, R-R) may use split-rail fencing up to 6 feet in the front setback if at least 50 percent transparent. Nonresidential fences follow a parallel but separate 6-foot side/rear and 3-to-6-foot front scale. Fences and walls cannot be installed within public rights-of-way or other public property without agency authorization, and any fence taller than 3 feet next to a public right-of-way requires a zoning clearance to confirm compliance with the county's sight-visibility-triangle standard in § 138-3508.