Rochester, NY Fence Regulations: Retaining Walls (2026)

Retaining walls in Rochester are addressed in two places within Article XX, Requirements Applying to All Districts. The fence-height rule at § 120-167B(5) caps ordinary front-yard fencing at four feet in residential and village-center districts but carves out a specific exception for a retaining wall made necessary by a natural topographic grade change, meaning a taller retaining wall can stand in the front yard where the site's own topography requires it, something an ordinary decorative fence cannot do. That exception doesn't relax material rules, though: § 120-167E(2) flatly prohibits wooden retaining walls anywhere the fence and wall provisions apply, and § 120-167E(1) requires every required fence and wall, retaining walls included, to be kept maintained and promptly repaired or replaced.

Separately, the site-grading standards at § 120-178B impose their own materials rule for any retaining wall required as part of site grading: it has to be built of a material compatible with the building's architecture, and wooden retaining walls are barred there too, so the wood prohibition is doubled up across the fence chapter and the grading chapter. Site grading approvals, including any required retaining wall, go through the Director of Zoning and Permitting, who can waive site-grading requirements through minor site plan review under § 120-191D where the ordinance's overall objectives are still met.

Because retaining walls are treated as a category of structure requiring accessory-structure or building review, the certificate-of-zoning-compliance process in § 120-189 applies before a new retaining wall may be used.