Madison County runs both a zoning office and a Building Inspection Department for unincorporated land, so fence work is checked against the county zoning resolution. Call Alabama 811 before digging; cities handle their own permits.
Because Madison County exercises zoning and building authority over its unincorporated area—unlike counties that cannot zone—fence projects outside city limits are reviewed under the county zoning resolution administered by Public Works, and the county Building Inspection Department enforces the adopted building codes. A boundary survey settles the true property line before posts go in, and Alabama 811 must be called so buried utilities are located first. Inside Huntsville, Madison, Gurley, and New Hope, each city's building department issues fence permits and enforces its own setbacks. HOA architectural review is a separate, contract-based approval in many metro subdivisions.
Fence work that ignores the county zoning resolution can draw a correction or stop-work order from county Public Works. Inside a city, building without the required municipal permit brings its own penalty.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
Madison County, AL
Madison County has no ordinance regulating holiday lights, inflatables, or yard displays in unincorporated areas, and Alabama has no statute on them. A homeo...
Madison County, AL
Garage-sale signs face no Madison County zoning rule on your own property. But Alabama Code §23-1-6 makes it illegal to plant a sign in a state highway right...
Madison County, AL
Madison County imposes no zoning signage rules, so political signs on your own land need no county permit. Alabama Code §23-1-6 bars signs in a state highway...
Madison County, AL
Unincorporated Madison County has no rental registration. The county runs zoning and building inspection but no landlord registry, so it cannot license, regi...
Madison County, AL
Alabama has no just-cause eviction rule, and Madison County cannot add one. Under Alabama Code §35-9A-421 a landlord ends a tenancy with a seven-business-day...
Madison County, AL
Rent control is illegal in unincorporated Madison County. Alabama Code §11-80-8.1 bars every county, city, and town from enacting or enforcing any ordinance ...
See how Madison County's permit requirements rules stack up against other locations.
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