Loveland, CO Fence Regulations: Retaining Walls (2026)

11 sets a single set of retaining wall standards that apply in every zoning district in the city, from the Estate districts on the edges of town to the dense R3e zones near downtown. No individual retaining wall may exceed eight feet in height; where the grade change on a site calls for more retained height than that, the code requires a series of terraces or benches instead of one tall wall, and each of those terraces must be at least five feet wide and planted with approved landscaping so the stepped design reads as a landscaped slope rather than a bare masonry cliff.

Appearance is also regulated directly: any retaining wall taller than three feet must be finished in native rock or other masonry that conveys a scale and texture similar to natural rock, which rules out plain poured concrete or exposed block left unfaced once a wall crosses the three-foot line. The engineering trigger is two-part and layered onto the height rule. First, any wall that reaches six feet or more at its highest point, measured from the top of the wall down to the lowest adjacent ground level and excluding the foundation, must be designed and stamped by a Colorado Registered Professional Engineer specializing in structural engineering.

Second, even a shorter wall triggers the same engineering requirement once it hits four feet in height and its height exceeds its distance from a right-of-way line or a common property line, which is meant to catch tall, steep walls sitting close to a boundary regardless of the overall eight-foot cap. Both the height and engineering rules are drafted to apply citywide, without carving out an exception by zoning district or lot type, and they took effect November 20, 2018 alongside the rest of the current Unified Development Code.