Fence Regulations in New Jersey (2026)

Bergenfield caps fences at six feet in business and residential zones and eight feet in industrial zones. Near any…

Brick Township caps front-yard fences at 4 feet and side/rear fences at 6 feet, with an open-design requirement for…

In single-family residential zones, fences may not exceed 6 feet in rear and side yards, and 3 feet in the front yard…

Clifton caps residential fences at four feet in front yards and along street-facing side yards, and at six feet along…

Edison Township caps residential fences at four feet in the front yard if they block visibility and six feet everywhere…

City Code Section 17.36.110(C)(5) caps residential fences at 6 feet in a side or rear yard and 3 feet in front, with…

Freehold Borough allows fences up to 6 feet in rear and side yards. Front yard decorative fences are limited to 4 feet…

Freehold Township caps residential fences at six feet behind the front building line and three feet in the front yard…

In Galloway Township, no fence or wall may exceed six feet in height. On a corner lot, any fence within the required…

Hackensack caps most residential fences at six feet along rear and side property lines, with front-yard fences…

Hamilton Township caps residential fences at four feet along the front lot line and six feet along side and rear lot…

Irvington caps residential fences at four feet within the front setback line and six feet behind it, with an eight-foot…

Lakewood Township caps front-yard fences at 4 feet, or 6 feet on the street-side yard of a corner lot, under UDO §…

Linden caps residential interior-lot fences at 6 feet under City Code Section 31-20.9b, and limits corner-lot…

Long Branch caps residential fences at 4 feet in a front yard and 6 feet elsewhere, drops that to 3 feet within 25 feet…

Morris County sets no fence-height rule. New Jersey zoning is a municipal power under the Municipal Land Use Law, so…

Newark's zoning code caps fence height by yard and by use: three feet in a residential front yard, six feet in side and…

Passaic caps front-yard fences at four feet and allows rear- and side-yard fences up to six feet under Code of the City…

Paterson caps residential fences at 4 feet in the front yard and 6 feet in side and rear yards, with a 30-inch limit…

Residential fences and freestanding walls in the Village of Ridgewood are capped at four feet, rising to six feet only…

Toms River Township caps fences at 30 inches between the street and the building line, and at 72 inches everywhere else…

Trenton caps residential fences at 6 feet in rear and interior side yards under City Code § 315-9.4.H(2), but most…

Jersey City requires a fence or wall "of sufficient height" wherever a lot has a sharp drop in grade from street or…

Installing a fence within an Atlantic County road right-of-way requires a written highway occupancy permit from the…

Bergenfield requires a Construction Official permit, approved first by the Zoning Officer, for any fence over two feet…

Brick Township requires a permit before erecting any fence, capping front-yard fences at four feet and side or rear…

Every fence erected in Clifton needs a permit under Code § 461-51, backed by a certified survey showing the fence's…

A fence in Edison Township, New Jersey needs a zoning permit before any building permit issues, per Township Code §…

Elizabeth requires a zoning permit before installing a fence. City Code § 17.08.065 lists fences among the accessory…

Freehold Borough requires a zoning application for all new fences. Construction permits are required for fences over 6…

Putting up a fence in Freehold Township triggers a $35 zoning application under Code § 150-55, even though no separate…

A fence, wall, or enclosure over 18 inches high in Hackensack counts as an accessory structure under the zoning code…

Every fence installed in Hamilton Township needs a construction permit, per the closing sentence of Code §…

No fence may go up anywhere in Irvington without a permit from the Division of Building Inspection first, except for…

Most Jersey City fences don't need a public hearing: City Planning staff review the application against the § 345-67…

Any fence in Lakewood Township needs a permit application under UDO § 18-803F3, and it has to include a drawing of the…

Long Branch charges a $90 construction permit fee for any fence over six feet tall or installed as a pool enclosure…

Installing or repairing a fence in Passaic requires a zoning permit and a $50 fee under Code of the City of Passaic §…

Paterson's zoning ordinance requires a Zoning Permit from the Zoning Officer before any structure, which includes…

Village of Ridgewood Code § 190-97B requires a zoning permit from the Zoning Officer before installing a fence or…

Toms River Township requires a building permit before erecting any solid-construction fence under § 291-5 of the…

Trenton requires a construction permit to build a fence, charged at $45 per $1,000 of the fence's estimated cost, and…

Linden only charges a construction permit fee for fences over six feet tall, or any fence built along with an in-ground…

New Jersey common law and statute apply uniformly statewide to spite fences, boundary fences, and shared maintenance…

Hamilton Code § 550-114.D bars installing a fence 'in a location or in a manner so as to adversely affect the utility…

Toms River Township bars anyone from erecting a barbed-wire or electrically charged fence or wall on their own land…

Galloway Township requires the finished side of a fence to face outward toward the neighbor or street, and fences must…

Passaic lets a rear or side yard fence run up to six feet high under City Code § 317-50A(1)(b), but only on condition…

Trenton makes the property owner where a hedge originates responsible for trimming growth that crosses the boundary…

A retaining wall built along, under, or over an Atlantic County right-of-way needs more than a permit: County Code…

Building a retaining wall, placing fill, or otherwise changing a stream, brook or watercourse within 20 feet of its…

Brick Township requires an engineering permit and sealed drawings for any retaining wall over eight inches tall, plus a…

Cherry Hill Township requires a construction permit for every retaining wall and prices it by size and structure type…

Clifton Code § 461-50 requires every retaining wall to resist the pressure of the material it holds back, including…

Edison Township requires a New Jersey-licensed professional engineer to design and certify any retaining wall of four…

Elizabeth requires a zoning permit before a retaining wall is built, reconstructed or altered on multi-family or…

Freehold Township requires Municipal Engineer approval of lot grading and drainage before anyone installs a retaining…

A construction permit is required in Galloway for any retaining wall four feet or taller (measured bottom of footing to…

Hackensack caps accessory retaining walls that project into a required front, side, or rear yard at four feet in height…

Hamilton Township charges a $50 construction permit fee for any retaining wall four feet or taller that serves a Class…

Lakewood Township regulates retaining walls under its grading rules in Ocean County: any wall over three feet high…

Linden caps retaining walls at six feet under § 26-21.6.b, and requires extra setback from the property line for every…

Long Branch's zoning code exempts retaining walls from the four-foot front-yard and six-foot side-yard fence height…

New Jersey's statewide Uniform Construction Code requires a construction permit for any retaining wall four feet or…

Retaining walls sit outside Passaic's fence-height limits, § 317-50A(1)(e) lists them among the wall types the Chapter…

Paterson charges a flat construction-permit fee for small residential retaining walls and a cost-based fee for larger…

Village of Ridgewood Code § 190-97J requires a zoning permit for any retaining wall over two feet tall, with…

Toms River Township caps retaining wall height at one-third the horizontal distance to the nearest building foundation…

Irvington Township Code § 560-57 requires retaining walls built as part of a subdivision or site plan to be 'designed…

Township Code prohibits barbed wire, fences topped with metal spikes, broken bottles or glass, and any fence material…

Clifton Code § 461-47K bans barbed wire and razor-type fencing outright, in every zoning district and as part of any…

City Code Section 17.36.110(C)(5)(e)-(f) bars barbed wire or razor wire from any fence or wall material in residential…

Linden prohibits barbed wire, electrified fencing and metal-spike-topped fences on any property. City Code Section…

Trenton bans barbed wire, chicken wire, razor wire, spiked posts, and scrap, corrugated or sheet metal from any fence…

Bergenfield bans barbed wire, chipped glass, and similar spiked devices on any fence or retaining wall in the Borough…

Freehold Township bans barbed wire fencing townwide except on farms and in the industrial zone, where it may only top a…

Irvington bans barbed wire, electrically charged fencing, poultry netting, canvas or cloth fencing, sharp-pointed…

Barbed wire, razor wire, and electric fences are banned outright in every residential district in Lakewood Township…

Long Branch bans barbed-wire, sharp-pointed, canvas, cloth and electrically charged fences, plus temporary fences such…

Passaic prohibits barbed wire, razor wire and similar material on any fence or atop any wall citywide under Code of the…

Village of Ridgewood zoning bars fences and walls that are electrified or carry broken glass, razor wire, barbed wire…

Toms River Township's zoning code bans barbed wire, canvas, cloth, electrically charged, and expandable or collapsible…

Brick Township defines "fence or fencing" as any wood, masonry, plastic, metal, vinyl or aluminum structure and…

Edison requires an 8-foot board-on-board fence along the full shared property line wherever a nonresidential site plan…

Galloway Township bars concertina and barbed-wire fences in residential use, allowing them only for agricultural…

Hackensack's zoning code bans barbed wire, chicken wire, electrically charged fencing, and several other materials…

Hamilton Code § 550-114.A bars barbed wire, metal spikes, and any fencing material or design dangerous to people or…

Jersey City's fence code bans barbed and razor wire everywhere, prohibits solid or corrugated sheet metal and diagonal…

Residential fences in Newark's front and side/rear yards must be ornamental wrought iron, picket wood or tubular metal…

Paterson bars solid or sheet-metal fencing in front yards, front fences must be at least 60% open, and bans razor coil…