Medford, MA Fence Regulations: Retaining Walls (2026)

Section 94-6.3.6 of the Medford zoning ordinance, within the landscaping, buffers, and screening standards of Chapter 94, sets the governing rule for retaining walls citywide. The maximum constructed height is six feet; where site conditions require a greater elevation change, the ordinance does not permit a single taller wall but instead requires the grade change be handled through terraced, landscaped retaining walls. Any retaining wall exceeding 36 inches in height must be designed by a structural engineer, a threshold well below the six-foot maximum and one that captures most walls used to hold back a meaningfully sloped yard.

Where a retaining wall's face is visible from a facing residential district, the ordinance imposes an appearance standard rather than leaving material to the builder's choice: it must be finished in textured or natural stone, solid fieldstone, fieldstone veneer, or other similar material, aligning the visual treatment of retaining structures with the screening and buffer goals set out earlier in the same section for buffer strips and plantings. The section sits alongside the SPGA and community development board's general authority under section 94-6.3.11 to waive or reduce landscaping-chapter provisions by special permit, so a taller or differently faced wall can be pursued through that discretionary process where warranted.