Asheville, NC Fence Regulations: Retaining Walls (2026)
Key Facts
- Facing required above
- 8 ft (stone, brick, form-liner, or vegetation)
- Screening trigger near streets
- over 6 ft within 35 ft of street
- Screening trigger regardless of location
- over 20 ft
- Screening exemption
- 15 ft or less if stone-faced
- Max height per terraced wall
- 20 ft
- Terrace wall setback
- 5 ft between successive walls
- Governing section
- City Code § 7-10-5
Summary
Asheville requires retaining walls over 8 feet to be faced in stone, brick, form-liner art, or vegetation, and adds landscape or vine screening for walls over 6 feet within 35 feet of a street. Terracing is allowed, but no single terraced wall may exceed 20 feet.
Retaining walls in excess of eight feet in height shall be faced with natural or artificial stone, brick, form-liner art or patterns, or vegetation in order to avoid a stark appearance. Foreground landscaping or attached vegetative screening of retaining walls or retaining wall sections over six feet in height and closer than 35 feet to a public or private street shall also be required... Retaining walls 15 feet or less in height shall be exempted from the foreground landscaping or attached vegetative screening requirements if faced with natural or artificial stone. Terracing of retaining walls is allowed and encouraged, provided that no single retaining wall shall exceed 20 feet in height and each successive wall shall be setback at least five feet from the face of the lower wall.
Full Breakdown
Sec. 7-10-5 governs retaining wall appearance and screening citywide. Any retaining wall taller than 8 feet must be faced with natural or artificial stone, brick, form-liner art or patterns, or vegetation so it does not present a stark appearance. Separately, foreground landscaping or attached vegetative screening is required for any retaining wall or wall section over 6 feet in height that sits closer than 35 feet to a public or private street, and that landscaping/screening requirement applies to any wall or wall section over 20 feet regardless of its distance from a street.
The code sets a graduated table of minimum foreground landscaping or attached vegetative screening tied to wall height bands (over 6-10 feet, over 10-20 feet, over 20-30 feet, and over 30 feet), each specifying planting-strip width, bush and tree spacing, and the percentage of wall face that attached vine screening must cover. A wall 15 feet or less in height is exempted from the landscaping/screening requirement if it is faced with natural or artificial stone. Terracing of retaining walls is expressly allowed and encouraged, but no single retaining wall in a terraced series may exceed 20 feet in height, and each successive wall must be set back at least 5 feet from the face of the lower wall below it.
Where walls are terraced, the landscaping/screening requirement is calculated on the cumulative height of the terraced walls, though the code allows a one-level reduction in the required landscaping from the height-band table to account for the terracing.
Violations & Fines
A retaining wall over 8 feet built without the required stone, brick, form-liner, or vegetation facing, or a wall over 6 feet within 35 feet of a street built without the required foreground landscaping or vegetative screening, does not comply with Sec. 7-10-5 and must be brought into compliance before site plan or permit approval is finalized. A single terraced wall segment exceeding the 20-foot cap, or successive terraced walls set back less than 5 feet from the wall below, likewise fails the section's terracing standard.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Asheville require a special facing on tall retaining walls?
Can I stack multiple retaining walls instead of building one tall wall in Asheville?
When does a retaining wall need landscaping or vine screening in Asheville?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Asheville
Compare Asheville to another location·View the North Carolina fence regulations overview
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