Kitsap County, WA Fence Regulations: Retaining Walls (2026)

16) that applies only to the unincorporated county, not to Bremerton, Port Orchard, Poulsbo or Bainbridge Island, each of which enforces its own building code. The rule is short and absolute: any rockery or other retaining structure taller than four feet triggers a separate building permit, and the county measures that four-foot threshold from the base of the wall itself, not from the surrounding ground surface, so a wall built into a slope can present a taller downhill face without hitting the permit trigger if its own base-to-top run stays under four feet.

010 adopts by reference through Title 14 for anything the grading chapter does not directly address. 100 makes the applicant responsible for keeping erosion-control and drainage facilities tied to the project in good working order at all times. 110 if work does not proceed continuously. 060 treats any excavation, embankment or fill that becomes a hazard to public safety, adjoining property or a drainage channel as a violation of the title, an unpermitted or failing retaining wall can still be cited on that basis after construction is complete.