Memphis, TN Fence Regulations: Retaining Walls (2026)

Memphis and Shelby County adopted one joint Unified Development Code, and its landscaping chapter treats retaining walls as their own category. 7, titled 'Fences and Walls,' sets out categories that otherwise carry height and material limits: front-yard fencing between a single-family home's front facade and the street, capped at four feet with an eight-foot allowance for wrought iron or a brick-and-wrought-iron combination, a general nine-foot cap on any fence or wall not covered by the front-yard rule, and a materials list that bars electrified fencing, barbed wire and concertina wire in residential districts.

Paragraph A of that same sub-section pulls retaining walls out of all of it: 'Retaining Walls. ' That means a retaining wall built anywhere in the City of Memphis or unincorporated Shelby County, both governed by this shared UDC, does not have to meet the fence chapter's four-foot front-yard limit, its nine-foot general height cap, or its approved-materials list. The exemption sits alongside a parallel one for temporary construction fencing removed within 18 months of installation. 7. Nothing in this UDC sub-section limits the exemption to one jurisdiction; it sits in Article 4's general development standards, which apply UDC-wide to both governments sharing this code.