Lexington, KY Fence Regulations: Retaining Walls (2026)

Section 17-150, in Chapter 17's sidewalk-repair article, puts the duty squarely on the abutting property owner: wherever an unsecured earth embankment abuts a sidewalk or street, the owner must erect a suitable barrier or retaining wall to stop loose earth from washing or falling onto the walk or roadway. The rule is narrower than a general citywide wall standard, it applies specifically to walls holding back earth embankments next to public sidewalks and streets, not to every landscaping or freestanding wall on a lot. For walls built on private property under this section, the code requires professional engineering: the wall must be designed by a professional engineer licensed in Kentucky, and those engineered plans must be submitted to the division of building inspection together with the building permit application before work begins.

The section sits in Article IV, Sidewalk Repair, alongside the urban county's broader sidewalk-maintenance scheme (§§ 17-147 through 17-152), which lets the urban county engineer or a code enforcement officer in the division of code enforcement order repair of defective sidewalks and pursue civil penalties for noncompliance with those specific repair notices. Section 17-150 itself, added by Ord. No. 174-2001, § 27, adopted July 5, 2001, does not carry its own dollar penalty; noncompliance with the engineering and permit-submission requirement is handled through the division of building inspection's ordinary building-permit review, since the engineered plans are a required part of that permit application rather than a stand-alone violation with a separate fine schedule.