Delaware County, PA sets no retaining-wall rule; each borough or township regulates walls under the PA Municipalities Planning Code and the statewide Uniform Construction Code. In Upper Darby Township, retaining walls under four feet need only a fence permit, while walls over four feet require a building permit. Check your
Retaining walls in Delaware County are governed by two municipal-level frameworks, not by the county. First, whether a wall needs a permit and how tall it may be is set by each municipality's zoning and building ordinances under the PA Municipalities Planning Code (53 P.S. §10603), which authorizes local regulation of the "size, height... erection, construction... of structures." Second, Pennsylvania's statewide Uniform Construction Code (UCC, 34 Pa. Code Ch. 401), adopted and enforced locally, generally exempts retaining walls not over four feet in height (measured from the bottom of the footing to the top) from a building permit unless they support a surcharge or impound fluids. As a representative local example, Upper Darby Township provides at §550-39C(4): retaining walls under
Enforcement is municipal. Building an over-height retaining wall without the required building permit is a local UCC/zoning violation subject to stop-work orders and fines set by your borough or township. Upper Darby's fence-section penalty (§550-39K) is $100 to $1,000 per
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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