Schenectady, NY Fence Regulations: Retaining Walls (2026)

Chapter 137's building permit rule starts broad: § 137-4A requires a permit for any work that must conform to the Uniform Code and/or the Energy Code, covering construction, enlargement, alteration, improvement, removal, relocation, or demolition of a building or structure or any portion of one. Subsection B then lists twelve categories of work exempted from that permit requirement, and retaining walls are one of them. Under § 137-4B(5), no building permit is required for the construction of retaining walls, unless the wall supports a surcharge or impounds Class I, II, or IIIA liquids, the same flammable and combustible liquid classifications used in fire code hazard analysis.

In plain terms, an ordinary retaining wall holding back soil on a residential or commercial lot can be built without a City permit, but the moment the wall is engineered to carry an additional load beyond its own soil, or is used to contain flammable or combustible liquids, it falls back into the general permit requirement and must go through the same application, plan-review, and inspection process as any other regulated structure. Section 137-4C makes clear that the exemption is not a green light for unsafe or noncompliant work: exempting a category of work from the permit requirement is not deemed authorization to perform that work in violation of the Uniform Code or Energy Code.

So even an exempt retaining wall must still meet the substantive structural requirements of the Uniform Code; it simply is not required to be reviewed and permitted in advance by the Code Enforcement Officer unless one of the surcharge or liquid-impoundment triggers applies.