Council Bluffs, IA Fence Regulations: Retaining Walls (2026)

Council Bluffs Municipal Code Section 13.01.301, Permits, lists retaining walls among the specific items exempt from the general rule that no building, structure or building service equipment may be erected, altered or repaired without a permit from the building official. The exemption is narrow: it covers only retaining walls which are not over four feet (1,219 mm) in height measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall, unless supporting a surcharge or impounding flammable liquids. A wall taller than four feet, or a wall of any height that holds back a surcharge load such as a driveway, parking area or sloped fill above the wall, or that impounds flammable liquids, falls back under the general permit requirement and needs building-official sign-off before construction.

For walls that require a permit, the city's Schedule of Fees, Section 2.08.040, does not charge a flat dollar amount the way it does for a fence or a deck; instead the Retaining wall line item in the fee table is priced Based on valuation, meaning the fee follows the same valuation-based sliding scale the schedule sets out for general building permits, from $23.50 for very low-value work up to $5,608.75 plus $3.95 per additional $1,000.00 for projects valued at $1,000,000.00 and above. Because the exemption is measured from the footing, not from finished grade, a wall that looks short above ground can still exceed the four-foot threshold once the buried footing is counted, so a property owner needs to measure the whole assembly before assuming no permit is required.