Taylorsville, UT Fence Regulations: Retaining Walls (2026)

Section 13.28.080 of the Taylorsville City Code states that a building permit may be required for the construction of a retaining wall. Where a retaining wall protects a cut below or a fill above the natural grade and sits on the line separating two lots or properties, it may not exceed five feet in height. If the grade change to be retained exceeds five feet, the code requires the walls to be stepped, with each tier separated horizontally by a minimum of five feet, rather than built as a single tall wall at the property line.

The uppermost of these stepped walls may still be topped by a fence, wall, or hedge up to whatever height would otherwise be allowed at that location if no retaining wall existed there, layering the fence-height rules in section 13.28.030 on top of the retaining wall itself. The Director may grant an exception to the stepping requirement where it can be shown that following it would cause an unreasonable hardship, for example if stepping would eliminate the side or rear yard entirely and leave the property owner with a strip of unusable yard space of less than five feet, or where stepping is impractical because of adjoining uses.

This section was last amended by Ordinance 18-07 on February 28, 2018, within Chapter 13.28, Fencing/Retaining Walls. Because fence and retaining wall height combine under section 13.28.030(E), a five-foot retaining wall topped by a six-foot residential fence would reach the code's eleven-foot combined ceiling, and Community Development reviews both the retaining wall design and any fence on top of it as part of the same permit process.