Fence Regulations in Colorado (2026)

In unincorporated Adams County, the maximum height of fencing, walls, and screening is 96 inches (8 feet). Screen…

In unincorporated Arapahoe County, a fence in front of a building is capped at three feet. Side and rear yard fences of…

Arvada caps fences and divisional walls at 3 feet in front and street-side setbacks and 6 feet in rear and interior…

Aurora's Unified Development Ordinance caps residential front-yard fences at 42 inches and side/rear fences at six feet…

Boulder caps most residential fences, walls, and hedges at seven feet under Section 9-9-15(c), B.R.C. 1981, with taller…

Boulder County fences must sit entirely on the owner's property, stay out of the road right-of-way, and not interfere…

Beyond height, Castle Rock requires buffer fencing where commercial or industrial uses abut homes, and screening fences…

Centennial caps residential fences at 4 feet in front yards and 8 feet in side, street-side, and rear yards, and bars…

Denver caps residential fence height at 4 feet within 75% of a home's street-facing façade width along the primary…

In unincorporated Douglas County's SR Suburban Residential District, a solid fence, wall, or hedge tops out at six…

In unincorporated El Paso County, a fence over 25% opaque is capped at 30 inches within the front setback; taller solid…

Fort Collins caps fences at four feet in the front yard and along the front property line, six feet in required side…

Fountain caps fences at seven feet under Fountain Municipal Code § 17.11.020(C), bars any fence that blocks sightlines…

Greeley caps front-yard fences at 3.5 feet, or up to 6 feet for 75%-open ornamental designs, while side and rear yard…

Fences on corner lots must comply with the County's Vision Clearance Triangle. Fences over 42 inches must be set back…

Lakewood, Colorado caps front-yard fences at 4 feet and 50 percent open, while rear and side yard fences may run solid…

For permitted fences built without custom engineering, Larimer County sets prescriptive construction standards: 6x6…

Littleton caps front-yard fences at four feet with no more than 50 percent solid coverage, and rear and side yard…

Longmont caps fence and wall height at six feet on residential property and eight feet on mixed-use, nonresidential…

Loveland caps front-yard fences at three feet if solid or four feet if limited-solid material, measured between the…

Manitou Springs allows fences up to 6 feet in a rear or side yard but caps front-yard fencing at 42 inches. Fences…

Mesa County lets fences and walls rise to seven feet by right before triggering a building permit, measured from the…

In Pueblo's Residential Charter Neighborhood (RCN) zone, fences, walls and hedges are capped at 4 feet in the front…

In unincorporated Weld County, a fence under six feet tall isn't a regulated "Structure" at all, so it can go right up…

Westminster limits fences ahead of the required front setback to 36 inches, or 42 inches for open ornamental-iron or…

Beyond the height and material standards in UDC § 7.4.910, Colorado Springs UDC § 7.4.904.G makes every fence, wall and…

In unincorporated Adams County, a residential fence up to 7 feet tall does not need a building permit at all, but the…

No one may erect, build, enlarge, alter or move a fence in unincorporated Arapahoe County without first getting a fence…

Arvada requires a Miscellaneous Structure Permit before anyone erects a fence, wall, shed, deck, or similar accessory…

Aurora, Colorado requires a Fence Permit under UDO Section 146-5.4.3.H only when a building permit applies to the…

Boulder regulates fences, walls, and hedges under Land Use Code Section 9-9-15, capping most fences at seven feet and…

A building permit is required to build a fence over 6 feet high in unincorporated Boulder County, and for a fence of…

Centennial requires a fence permit for all new fences and replacement fences where height, location, or materials are…

A fence under 7 feet that meets UDC standards needs no permit in Colorado Springs. Fences 7 feet or taller are…

In unincorporated Douglas County, a fence or wall needs a county building permit only once it passes six feet, or four…

Fences and walls up to 7 feet tall need no permit in unincorporated El Paso County, but anything taller requires a…

Greeley requires a building permit for any fence or wall over six feet, or a retaining wall over four feet; walls above…

No. Permits are not required for fences in unincorporated Jefferson County. A gate across access still needs a…

Lakewood, Colorado requires an administrative fence permit before any fence is installed or replaced anywhere in the…

A residential building permit is required for a fence that is over 7 feet high and has a solid, wind-blocking surface…

Littleton requires a building permit before installing any fence or wall on private property under Unified Land Use…

Longmont requires a building permit before any fence or wall goes up: Municipal Code § 15.05.100.C bars construction…

A fence or wall in unincorporated Mesa County only needs a building permit once it exceeds seven feet in height. At…

Westminster only exempts a fence from a building permit if it's 30 inches or shorter. Anything taller, including most…

Denver fences and walls need no permit if they stay within the standard height limits, but exceeding the maximum by up…

Fort Collins doesn't require a building permit for a fence 6 feet or shorter. City Code Section 5-30 amends the adopted…

Weld County does not require a building permit to put up a fence in the unincorporated county. Section 29-2-20(G) lists…

Colorado is a fence-out state: when two owners' agricultural or grazing lands adjoin, each must build and maintain half…

Adams County does not set a separate 'shared fence' cost-sharing rule; fences on the property line are a civil matter…

Boulder limits a fence, wall or hedge on a shared property line to seven feet, but abutting neighbors can jointly agree…

Boulder County requires all fence components, including footings, to sit on the fence owner's own property, and bans…

Douglas County does not force neighbors to share fence costs. Fences may not be built in the public right-of-way but…

Fort Collins does not have an ordinance splitting the cost of a shared boundary fence between neighbors. Instead…

Jefferson County lets fences over 42 inches run to the property line between neighboring lots where no street access…

No Colorado Springs ordinance requires neighbors to share boundary-fence costs; the UDC only governs placement, height…

In unincorporated Adams County, any retaining wall over 4 feet high must be designed by a professional engineer as a…

In unincorporated Arapahoe County, a retaining wall over four feet high, measured from finished grade on the low side…

Arvada limits retaining walls to 4 feet in height, or 6 feet if attached to a building to compensate for a grade…

In Aurora, Colorado, retaining walls over four feet must be engineered by a professional and approved by the city…

Boulder does not require a building permit for a retaining wall under three feet, measured from the bottom of the…

In unincorporated Boulder County a retaining wall over 48 inches (4 feet), measured from bottom of footing to top…

Centennial's Land Development Code requires retaining walls eight feet or taller to break up their mass with tiering or…

Colorado Springs allows fences atop retaining walls so long as the fence material alone (excluding the wall) stays…

Denver caps retaining walls at 4 feet inside the Primary Street Setback but allows any height elsewhere on the zone lot…

A retaining wall in unincorporated Douglas County needs a county building permit once it passes four feet in height…

Retaining walls over 4 feet tall, or any wall that retains a surcharge, need a building permit in unincorporated El…

Fort Collins exempts retaining walls up to 4 feet tall from a building permit, but only if the wall does not support a…

Fountain's subdivision design standards cap grading slopes at three-to-one and require any retaining wall taller than…

In Greeley, any retaining wall over 4 feet requires a building permit: the same trigger point that applies to any fence…

A fence built on top of a retaining wall must count the total combined height of the wall plus the fence, and that…

In Lakewood, Colorado, a retaining wall over 3 feet tall needs a building permit under the Zoning Ordinance, and the…

In unincorporated Larimer County, a retaining wall over four feet high is treated as a special structural item that…

Littleton requires a building permit for a retaining wall once it holds back more than 4 vertical feet of cut or…

Loveland, Colorado caps any single retaining wall at eight feet tall, requires taller sites to step down with five-foot…

Manitou Springs caps retaining walls at 10 feet in height and requires a minimum 4-foot vegetated gap between stacked…

Retaining walls in Westminster skip the building permit only if they're three feet or shorter and aren't holding back a…

Colorado Springs permits masonry, solid wood, and chain-link with permahedge inserts or opaque slats, but prohibits…

Westminster's zoning code bans electrically charged fences outright and prohibits barbed wire or similar sharp-pointed…

Boulder outlaws barbed wire and electrically charged fencing citywide under Section 9-9-15(d), B.R.C. 1981, with narrow…

Douglas County's SR Suburban Residential District bans barbed wire, electrically charged fencing, concertina wire, and…

Fort Collins bans barbed wire, other sharp-pointed fencing, and electrically charged fencing in every zone district…

Fountain bans barbed wire on ordinary fences and prohibits electrified fences citywide under Fountain Municipal Code §…

Greeley confines barbed wire to the I-M, I-H, C-D and H-A zoning districts and leaves it off the approved list for…

Longmont bans barbed wire, tin or sheet metal, and electrically charged fences citywide, with a narrow…

Loveland bans barbed wire, razor wire and electrically charged fences citywide under UDC § 18.04.07.06, with narrow…

Manitou Springs bans chain-link fencing, barbed wire, other sharp-pointed materials, glare-causing materials, and…

Adams County permits barbed wire fencing and allows up to four strands of barbed wire in the top 18 inches of a fence…

Arapahoe County Land Development Code §5-2 regulates fence materials by zoning district. Wood, vinyl, wrought iron…

Arvada's Land Development Code bans barbed wire, sharp-pointed security devices and electrically charged fences on…

Aurora prohibits barbed wire, razor wire, and electrified fences in residential districts. Approved residential…

Standard fences in unincorporated Boulder County have no county-mandated material palette, but floodplain and masonry…

Barbed wire and electrified fences are banned in every residential zone district in Castle Rock. Barbed wire is only…

Centennial bans barbed wire, sharp or scrap materials, and street-facing chain link on residential fences, while…

Denver regulates fence materials through the Denver Zoning Code. Residential areas allow wood, vinyl, composite…

El Paso County's Land Development Code bars corrugated metal as a perimeter fencing material whenever the fence is…

Outside the wildfire interface, Jefferson County does not restrict fence material types in the Zoning Resolution…

Lakewood's Zoning Ordinance bans aluminum siding, vehicle parts, smooth-face concrete block, tarps and scrap wood as…

Larimer County requires noncombustible or ignition-resistant fence materials near structures in wildfire-regulated…

Littleton limits fences and walls to eight named materials, aluminum, brick, painted stucco, split-face masonry block…

Mesa County's Land Development Code bans specific fence materials outright rather than regulating fence type by zone…

Thornton regulates fence materials by zone. Wood, vinyl, wrought iron, and chain-link common. HOAs frequently impose…