Terrebonne Parish, LA Fence Regulations: Retaining Walls (2026)

2 of the Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Building Code lists the narrow set of projects exempt from the parish's building permit requirement, and retaining walls are one of them. A retaining wall is exempt only if it is not over four feet (1,219 mm) in height, measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall, and only if it is not supporting a surcharge or impounding Class I, II or IIIA liquids. 1 and must be reviewed by the Building Official before construction.

The exemption sits alongside similar carve-outs for small detached accessory sheds under 200 square feet, decks under 200 square feet and less than 30 inches above grade, and water tanks under 5,000 gallons, all listed in the same subsection. 2 is explicit that none of these exemptions authorizes work done contrary to the code, the parish's floodplain regulations, or any other local ordinance, so a retaining wall built without a permit must still meet the structural and floodplain standards that would otherwise apply. Because the exemption is measured from the footing rather than from grade, a wall with a deep footing can trigger the four-foot threshold, and the same limit applies whether it is a single wall or a stepped or tiered series of walls.