Erie County has no countywide retaining-wall ordinance. Retaining walls are regulated by your city, town, or village, often through the building code and zoning. Taller walls typically need a permit and engineered drawings.
Retaining-wall rules are municipal, not countywide, in Erie County. Your town, village, or the City of Buffalo sets permit thresholds and setbacks through its zoning and building codes, which enforce the New York State Uniform Code locally. A common threshold statewide is that walls retaining more than about 4 feet of soil require a permit and engineered plans, but confirm the figure with your municipality. Zoning codes often treat a necessary retaining wall differently from a fence. For example, the Town of Amherst exempts a necessary retaining wall from the 3-foot front-yard fence limit. Check your local code for permit height, drainage, and setback requirements.
Enforced by the local building department; unpermitted or failing walls can bring stop-work orders, fines, and required corrective engineering.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
Erie County, NY
Animal hoarding in Erie County is investigated by the SPCA Serving Erie County and prosecuted as cruelty by the Erie County District Attorney's Animal Cruelt...
Erie County, NY
The Erie County Department of Health treats improper bird and wildlife feeding as a rodent attractant and public-health nuisance and investigates complaints ...
Erie County, NY
Erie County does not license cats, but New York law requires every cat to be rabies-vaccinated, and the county Health Department runs free rabies clinics for...
Erie County, NY
Erie County sets no numeric limit on household pets. Any cap on the number of dogs or cats comes from a town, city, or village ordinance, while state law req...
Erie County, NY
Erie County imposes no countywide livestock ordinance. Keeping cattle, horses, goats, pigs, or other farm animals is controlled by each town, city, or villag...
Clarence, NY
Clarence Town Code prohibits keeping chickens in the Residential Single-Family (R-SF) zone unless the parcel is at least 5 acres or is located in the Agricul...
See how Clarence's retaining walls rules stack up against other locations.
Help us keep this page accurate. If you notice an error or outdated information, let us know.