Fence laws in Buckeye, Arizona
What the Buckeye municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Buckeye sets no rule of its own, the Arizona rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Buckeye, Arizona, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Buckeye states the purpose of its fence rules as avoiding long expanses of blank fence that create what it calls a canyon effect on the streetscape, and the placement rules follow from that. The figure is 150 feet, for interval an arterial wall has to offset at.
- How tall
- Buckeye measures from the principal structure rather than from a yard line, and the answer turns on the use, which side of the building the fence stands on, and the street it faces. The figure is 42 inches, for fence in front of a single family house.
- Permits
- Arizona has no statewide building code and gives the job to the counties.
- Pool barriers
- Arizona writes its pool fence rule straight into state law instead of leaving it to a code. The figure is 5 feet, for minimum height of the wall, fence or barrier enclosing a pool, measured on the outside face.
- Spite fences
- Buckeye has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Arizona names a starting point in the one place it gives fence sizes. The figure is 50 inches, for top wire of a lawful fence, measured above the ground. It reaches a lawful fence on open range land only.
- Corner lots
- Arizona sets no clear view rule at a corner on a private lot. It reaches a public highway or airport, including a state highway, not a fence standing on private land only.
- Retaining walls
- A Buckeye retaining wall holding either a cut or a fill may not exceed twelve feet, measured vertically from the lowest point at natural grade to the highest point of the wall. The figure is 12 feet, for tallest retaining wall allowed.
- Materials
- Buckeye lists seven permitted wall materials and then adds a condition about how many: any fence or wall visible from a public right of way has to combine at least two of them, and the answer turns on the district, and whether the fence can be seen from the street. The figure is 200 feet, for distance from the right of way that counts as not visible.
- Livestock
- Arizona says exactly how to build a lawful fence. The figure is 50 inches, for height of the top wire on a lawful fence.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Buckeye?
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Buckeye answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Buckeye states the purpose of its fence rules as avoiding long expanses of blank fence that create what it calls a canyon effect on the streetscape, and the placement rules follow from that. A fence along an arterial or higher street running more than two hundred continuous feet has to carry a three foot offset at intervals of a hundred and fifty feet or every three lots, whichever comes first. No fence facing an arterial may run more than two hundred feet without articulation of some kind, and a hundred feet on any other public street, with changes in material, view fencing, offsets, landscape pockets or similar features all counting. No fence or wall may be placed within the public right of way at all, and where a side or rear line is street adjacent the fence goes at the back of any required landscape setback rather than on the line.
All fences and walls along an arterial or higher street classification with a continuous length greater than 200 feet must be articulated with a minimum three foot offset at minimum intervals of 150 feet or every three lots, whichever is less, to provide variety and visual interest.
150 ftinterval an arterial wall has to offset at
Also on fences on the property line in Buckeye
- no rule, documents checkedArizona has no law splitting the cost of a fence on a boundary between neighbors. Arizona is an open range state, so the fence law in Title 3 is about keeping livestock out and about what is owed when animals break through. Title 33, the property title, has no fence chapter at all. Two neighbors settle the cost themselves, or a city rule covers it. A.R.S. Title 3Arizona · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Buckeye?
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Buckeye answers this, but the answer changes depending on the use, which side of the building the fence stands on, and the street it faces.
Buckeye measures from the principal structure rather than from a yard line. On a single family lot, a fence between the house and the front property line stops at three and a half feet, and one in line with or behind the house reaches six. Multi family, commercial and industrial development may run a six foot wall in front of the building, placed at the back of any required landscape setback, and the Zoning Administrator may take that to ten feet where extra height is needed to screen service, loading or outdoor storage from neighboring homes. Between the building and the rear or side line the limit is six feet for residential and eight for commercial and industrial, with the same ten foot allowance available. A perimeter wall around a platted residential subdivision reaches eight feet along an arterial or higher street and six along a collector or lower.
No fence or wall on lots used for single-family residential uses located between the principal structure and the front property line shall exceed three and one-half feet in height. A fence or wall in line with or behind the principal structure may be up to six feet in height.
The answer turns on the use, which side of the building the fence stands on, and the street it faces.
- between a house and the front property line
- Three and a half feet. 42 in
- in line with or behind a house
- Six feet. 6 ft
- a commercial or industrial side or rear line
- Eight feet, or ten where the Zoning Administrator allows screening height. 8 ft
- a subdivision perimeter wall along an arterial
- Eight feet, dropping to six along a collector or lower street. 8 ft
Also on fence height in Buckeye
- no rule, documents checkedArizona sets no limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. City, town or county zoning sets it, and there is no statewide building code behind that. State law has two fence heights and neither is a cap: the five foot pool fence in Title 36, which is about pool safety, and the six foot line in A.R.S. 11-861(G)(2), which only marks when a fence counts as a side structure for a county fire code rule. A.R.S. Title 3Arizona · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Buckeye?
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Arizona answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Arizona has no statewide building code and gives the job to the counties. In a county that has zoning, the board of supervisors may adopt and enforce a building code for the zoned areas outside any city, and may leave out areas zoned rural or unclassified. The code has to be adopted by reference after notice and hearings before the county planning and zoning commission and the board. The choice is limited too: a building, electrical, plumbing or mechanical code from a national code group, or the one the largest city in the county already uses.
This one is Arizona law, not Buckeye law. All Arizona findings
In any county that has adopted zoning pursuant to this chapter, the board of supervisors may adopt and enforce, for the unincorporated areas of the county so zoned, a building code and other related codes to regulate the quality, type of material and workmanship of all aspects of construction of buildings or structures
Also on permits in Buckeye
- set in state lawCities and towns get the same power under a separate law. An Arizona city may adopt an existing code by reference without printing the code itself, as long as the ordinance doing it is published in full. At least three paper copies, or one paper and one electronic copy, stay on file with the city clerk for anyone to look at. So the fence permit rule in Arizona is whichever code the city or town picked. A.R.S. § 9-802Arizona · Statute
- set in state lawArizona law puts a number on an ordinary fence in exactly one place, and it is in the same county statute. A county fire code cannot make a small side building or structure put in fire sprinklers by way of a fire truck access road rule. The list of what counts as one of those side structures names a fence more than six feet high, next to barns, carports, sheds and walls that hold back earth. Six feet is not a cap on fence height. It is the line above which a fence counts as a structure for that one fire code rule. A.R.S. § 11-861(G)(2)Arizona · Statute
Pool fence requirements in Buckeye
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Arizona answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Arizona writes its pool fence rule straight into state law instead of leaving it to a code. A pool or other held body of water at least eighteen inches deep and wider than eight feet gets a fence at least five feet high, measured on the outside face of the wall, fence or barrier. Gates close and latch by themselves, the latch sits at least fifty four inches above the ground, and the gate opens away from the pool.
This one is Arizona law, not Buckeye law. All Arizona findings
Be entirely enclosed by at least a five foot wall, fence or other barrier as measured on the exterior side of the wall, fence or barrier.
5 ftminimum height of the wall, fence or barrier enclosing a pool, measured on the outside face
Spite fence laws in Buckeye
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Buckeye law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Arizona has no spite fence law. The fence sections in Title 3 are about livestock and no fence districts, and Title 33 has no fence rules in it. Neither one sets a height that turns a fence into a nuisance, and neither one says anything about a fence put up to annoy a neighbor.
This one is Arizona law, not Buckeye law. All Arizona findings
Documents read before writing that:
- A.R.S. Title 3Arizona State Legislature
- A.R.S. Title 33Arizona State Legislature
How fence height is measured in Buckeye
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Arizona answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Arizona names a starting point in the one place it gives fence sizes. Section 3-1426 describes a lawful fence on open range and puts the top barbed wire fifty inches above the ground, with the other wires spaced down from it. The ground is the starting point and the law says so. That rule is there to turn livestock, not to size a fence at a house. Section 9-462.01 lets a city set the height of structures, so a fence at a house is a city matter and the city picks the surface to measure from.
This one is Arizona law, not Buckeye law. All Arizona findings
A fence shall be deemed a lawful fence when it is constructed and maintained with good and substantial posts firmly placed in the ground at intervals of not more than thirty feet, upon which posts are strung and fastened at least four barbed wires of the usual type tightly stretched and secured to the posts and spaced so that the top wire is fifty inches above the ground
50 intop wire of a lawful fence, measured above the ground
Also on how height is measured in Buckeye
- no rule, documents checkedThe fences, walls and screening section sets heights of three and a half, six, eight, ten and twelve feet, and states what any of them is measured from exactly once. That one time is the retaining wall, read vertically from the lowest point at natural grade to the highest point of the wall. For every other fence and wall the section gives no datum: no grade, no finished surface, no averaging between two lots, and nothing about which side of a slope governs. It does say that additional height may be granted for retaining walls or for sites with elevated foundations, which acknowledges the problem without setting a rule for it. What the section does measure carefully is the fence in plan, capping an unarticulated run at two hundred feet along an arterial and a hundred along any other public street. 5.4.6Buckeye · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Buckeye
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Arizona answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Arizona sets no clear view rule at a corner on a private lot. What Title 28, Chapter 20 does is make it a petty offense to place or keep anything blocking a public highway. Section 28-7053 covers a structure or object of any kind placed in, under or over part of the road, which is wide enough to catch a fence. Section 28-7054 sets the notice and removal steps. The rule stops at the edge of the public road. Height and setback on the lot behind it come from city and county zoning under sections 9-462.01 and 11-812.
This one is Arizona law, not Buckeye law. All Arizona findings
Places or maintains an encroachment or obstruction on, makes any use of or otherwise occupies a public highway or airport of this state or any of its political subdivisions for any purpose other than for authorized public travel, communication, transportation or transmission, except as otherwise provided in this section.
Retaining wall rules in Buckeye
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Buckeye answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A Buckeye retaining wall holding either a cut or a fill may not exceed twelve feet, measured vertically from the lowest point at natural grade to the highest point of the wall. Above six feet, where the wall is visible from a public right of way, it has to be terraced rather than built as one face, and the terracing is specified: no more than three tiers, none higher than six feet, a terrace at least five feet wide between any two walls, a slope no steeper than four to one, and at least four shrubs for every hundred square feet of terrace. The Zoning Administrator may approve narrower terraces and alternative landscaping where site constraints leave no room for the minimum width and planting density.
The height of retaining walls supporting either cut or fill conditions shall not exceed 12 feet in height measured vertically from the lowest point at natural grade to the highest point of the wall.
12 fttallest retaining wall allowed
Also on retaining walls in Buckeye
- left to the townArizona has no statewide building code, so it has no state rule for a wall that holds back earth. Section 11-861 lets a county board of supervisors adopt a building code for the parts of a zoned county outside any city. The choice is limited to a code from a national code writing group, or the code the largest city in that county already uses. The height at which a wall of that kind needs a permit comes from whichever code the county or city picked. A.R.S. § 11-861(A)Arizona · Statute
Fence materials allowed in Buckeye
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Buckeye answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district, and whether the fence can be seen from the street.
Buckeye lists seven permitted wall materials and then adds a condition about how many: any fence or wall visible from a public right of way has to combine at least two of them. The list runs integrally colored, split face or ground face concrete masonry, painted or stuccoed or faced masonry, natural or simulated stone, brick, wrought iron or other decorative metal, and wood, vinyl or plastic, with that last group confined to agricultural and single family lots and barred from a subdivision perimeter wall visible from a street. Chain link is prohibited on commercial and residential development sites except to enclose a sport court or to keep the public safe during approved construction, and is permitted in the industrial districts only where it is not viewable from a public right of way, which the code defines as starting two hundred feet from the nearest edge of that right of way. A highly visible fence along a major arterial or interstate has to carry a higher level of design detail such as mosaic designs, relief panels or similar public art.
Chain link fencing is prohibited on commercial and residential development sites, except to enclose sport courts and as necessary to ensure public safety during approved construction activities on the site. Chain link fencing is permitted in industrial districts but shall not be viewable from public ROW. For the purposes of this provision, not visible shall mean starting at a point 200 feet from the nearest edge of ROW.
The answer turns on the district, and whether the fence can be seen from the street.
- a fence visible from a public right of way
- At least two of the listed materials combined.
- wood, vinyl or plastic
- Agricultural and single family lots only, never on a visible subdivision wall.
- chain link in an industrial district
- Allowed only more than two hundred feet from the right of way edge. 200 ft
- a fence along a major arterial or interstate
- A higher level of design detail, such as mosaics or relief panels.
Also on materials in Buckeye
- set in state lawArizona describes a lawful fence by its wire. It takes solid posts no more than thirty feet apart with at least four tight barbed wires on them. A fence built some other way still counts when it is as strong and turns livestock as well. A.R.S. 3-1426Arizona · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Buckeye
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Arizona answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Arizona says exactly how to build a lawful fence. Posts go in the ground no more than thirty feet apart. At least four barbed wires are stretched tight and tied to those posts. The top wire sits fifty inches above the ground, and the other three sit twelve, twenty two and thirty two inches below it. Posts set more than one rod apart need stays no more than seven and a half feet from each other. Any other fence just as strong and just as good at turning livestock counts too.
This one is Arizona law, not Buckeye law. All Arizona findings
A fence shall be deemed a lawful fence when it is constructed and maintained with good and substantial posts firmly placed in the ground at intervals of not more than thirty feet, upon which posts are strung and fastened at least four barbed wires of the usual type tightly stretched and secured to the posts and spaced so that the top wire is fifty inches above the ground
50 inheight of the top wire on a lawful fence
Also on agricultural fencing in Buckeye
- set in state lawArizona is a fence out state. The landowner who wants animals kept off builds the fence, not the animal owner, and nothing is owed for a trespassing animal unless the land was already ringed by a lawful fence. A no fence district is the exception. Inside one, Section 3-1424 makes the person in charge of the livestock pay the damage and guilty of a class 2 misdemeanor for letting them run loose. A.R.S. 3-1427Arizona · Statute
Documents behind this page
9 documents, of which 1 was published by Buckeye itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Arizona State LegislatureArizona Revised Statutes, Title 3, Agriculture, full title listing
- Arizona State LegislatureArizona Revised Statutes, Title 33, Property, full title listing
- City of BuckeyeCode of Ordinances, Chapter 7, Development Code, Section 5.4.6, Fences, Walls, and Screening
- Arizona State LegislatureArizona Revised Statutes, Title 11, Chapter 6, Section 11-861, Adoption of codes by reference
- Arizona State LegislatureArizona Revised Statutes, Title 9, Chapter 6, Section 9-802, Procedure for adoption by reference
- Arizona State LegislatureArizona Revised Statutes, Title 36, Chapter 15, Article 5, Section 36-1681, Pools; enclosures; safety features
- Arizona State LegislatureArizona Revised Statutes, Title 3, Section 3-1426, Lawful fence defined
- Arizona State LegislatureArizona Revised Statutes, Title 28, Chapter 20, Section 28-7053, Misuse of public highway or airport; violation; classification; injunction; definition
- Arizona State LegislatureArizona Revised Statutes, Title 3, Chapter 11, Article 4
What this page does not cover
A city ordinance is not the only rule that reaches a fence. The zoning district a parcel sits in can change the height allowed on it, and so can an overlay district, a recorded easement, a fire hazard severity zone or a coastal zone. A homeowner association can be stricter than the city and nothing in the municipal code will say so. None of those appear here.
The rules above are the ones Buckeye publishes, plus the Arizona rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Arizona has the state layer in full.
This is general information drawn from published government documents. It is not legal advice, ordinances are amended, and the date beside each finding is the date the document was read. How findings are made · What the terms mean