Leon County, FL Fence Regulations: Retaining Walls (2026)

The two-foot retaining wall threshold sits inside the county's stormwater management design standards at Sec. 303(11), which groups retaining walls with cut and fill slopes as features that can destabilize a site if built without engineering oversight. Under that provision, cut slopes steeper than 2:1, fill slopes steeper than 3:1, and any retaining wall over two feet tall must be designed and certified by a registered professional engineer retained by the applicant, and the same engineer must certify after construction that the structure matches the approved plans and that the required slope compaction and elevation were achieved.

No slope steeper than 1:1 is allowed unless the County Administrator or designee specifically approves the stabilization technique after the applicant proves it meets the standards of the division. This standard applies to grading and retaining structures built under an environmental management permit, including walls used to hold back detention or retention pond side slopes, where the same section separately caps most pond slopes at 4:1 unless fencing and other conditions are met. Post-construction certification required by Sec. 208 depends on this engineer sign-off before the county will close out the permit.