Montgomery County, VA Fence Regulations: Retaining Walls (2026)

Montgomery County Code § 10-43 sets the county's landscaping and buffering standards, including a required bufferyard between properties of differing use intensity, sized under a matrix that assigns one of four buffer types depending on how the proposed use and the abutting use compare, ranging from low-density residential up through heavy industrial and arterial roads. " The three-foot cap applies specifically inside the mandated buffer strip along a property's perimeter, not to every retaining wall on a lot; a wall built entirely outside the bufferyard is not capped by this section.

The ordinance does allow encroachments into the buffer consistent with what the chapter permits for encroachments into ordinary required yards, so a retaining wall at or under three feet, like other minor yard features, can sit inside the buffer without defeating its landscaping purpose. Planning and GIS Services reviews bufferyard compliance as part of subdivision and site plan approval under § 10-53(3), the same process that requires a landscaping plan for any development subject to site plan or subdivision review.