Troy, MI Fence Regulations: Fence Permit Requirements (2026)

Before installing, replacing, or extending a fence anywhere in Troy, the owner must obtain a permit from the Building Department under Chapter 83, Sec. 5 of the City Code. The application has to include enough detail (plans, dimensions, materials, and location) for staff to confirm the fence meets both the Fences chapter and the Zoning Ordinance. Permit fees run through the Fee Schedule in Chapter 60, Sec. 60.03, so the exact cost tracks whatever Council has set there rather than a flat number printed in Chapter 83 itself.

Two conditions can hold up issuance entirely. First, the Building Department will not issue a fence permit until final lot grading has been approved for that lot, so on new construction the grading sign-off has to come before the fence goes in. Second, any fence proposed inside an easement needs the separate approval of the Director of Public Works (or an authorized representative) before a permit can issue, since a fence over a buried utility line can block maintenance access.

The permit sits alongside the chapter's construction standards read in the same pass: residential fences are capped at six feet along rear and side lines and thirty inches in the front-setback area (forty-eight inches on qualifying corner lots with a common rear-yard relationship), electrically charged fences are banned citywide, and barbed wire is barred in residential districts except to guard against an attractive nuisance, where it must clear six feet above grade. An owner who wants to exceed the height limits can ask the Building Board of Appeals for a waiver, which is a separate approval from the base construction permit.