Fence laws in Gilbert, Arizona
What the Gilbert municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Gilbert sets no rule of its own, the Arizona rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Gilbert, Arizona, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Where a required perimeter or separation wall is relocated inside the site rather than built on the line, Gilbert sets a floor on how close it may come to the wall it is doubling: ten feet, in no case less. The figure is 10 feet, for closest two walls may stand to each other.
- How tall
- Gilbert prints its heights as a table of lot types and what each side of the lot faces, and the number in nearly every cell is eight feet, and the answer turns on the district, which side of the lot, and what that side faces. The figure is 3 feet, for front wall on an ordinary street.
- Permits
- Gilbert allows a wall or fence to be modified only through a Variance or a Wall and Fence Modification, and the Modification is filed with the Planning Department as a Conditional Use Permit, so changing a boundary wall goes through the same process as a land use.
- 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
- Gilbert has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Gilbert defines two grades of see through fence, and defines them by the angle they are judged from as well as by the percentage. The figure is 75 percent, for visibility that makes a fence open.
- Corner lots
- Gilbert leaves corner clearance to the Town Engineering and Construction Standards, which set out the site visibility triangle.
- Retaining walls
- Gilbert leaves retaining walls to county boards of supervisors and city and town councils, each of which adopts a national model building code of its own choosing.
- Materials
- Gilbert requires durable materials consistent with the exterior building elevations, and then adds something very few codes ask for: decorative feature or detail on both sides of the wall, so the neighbor side is finished to the same standard as the owner side, and the answer turns on the district and what the fence encloses. The figure is 8 feet, for animal control fence in a single family district.
- 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 Gilbert?
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Gilbert answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Where a required perimeter or separation wall is relocated inside the site rather than built on the line, Gilbert sets a floor on how close it may come to the wall it is doubling: ten feet, in no case less. It adds a second condition aimed at what two walls create rather than at the gap itself, refusing to allow two solid walls to form a corridor that is not clearly visible from a public or private street. The town also handles the old wall on a boundary. An existing substandard but well maintained opaque wall on a property line may stay as it is even though it fails current height rules. If every abutting party agrees in writing it may be extended or rebuilt to current standards, and if they do not agree, the Wall and Fence Modification process decides it. Walls and fences also stand back at least three feet from the edge of any parking space, driveway or access aisle, measured from the back of curb.
If the perimeter/separation wall or fence is moved internal to the site, in no case shall two walls or fences be located closer than 10 feet. In no case shall two solid walls create a corridor that is not clearly visible from a public or private street.
5.2.9.A.3, 5.2.9.C.3 and 5.2.12.A.4
10 ftclosest two walls may stand to each other
Also on fences on the property line in Gilbert
- 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 Gilbert?
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Gilbert answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district, which side of the lot, and what that side faces.
Gilbert prints its heights as a table of lot types and what each side of the lot faces, and the number in nearly every cell is eight feet. A single family perimeter wall reaches eight at the side, at the rear, against another house, against multi family land, against non-residential land and along a street or public alley. The front yard is where the numbers move, and they move in a direction almost no other code uses: a front wall facing an arterial street may be eight feet whether solid or open, while a front wall facing a non-arterial street stops at three. In the multi family districts a front or side wall along a street is not permitted at all. Two named areas cut everything down: in the Heritage District and the Gateway Village boundaries a perimeter wall stops at four feet unless it encloses a private rear yard.
For Multi-family, Mixed-Use or Commercial developments, within the Heritage District and the Gateway Village boundaries, perimeter walls/fences shall not exceed four (4) foot unless enclosing a private rear yard. If enclosing a private rear yard, the maximum fence height is eight (8) foot.
The answer turns on the district, which side of the lot, and what that side faces.
- a single family front wall facing a non-arterial street
- Three feet, solid or open. 3 ft
- a single family front wall facing an arterial street
- Eight feet, solid or open. 8 ft
- almost any side or rear perimeter wall
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- the Heritage District or Gateway Village boundaries
- Four feet, unless it encloses a private rear yard. 4 ft
Also on fence height in Gilbert
- 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 Gilbert?
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Gilbert answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Gilbert allows a wall or fence to be modified only through a Variance or a Wall and Fence Modification, and the Modification is filed with the Planning Department as a Conditional Use Permit, so changing a boundary wall goes through the same process as a land use. The town wants it approved before any Design Review approval that shows or depends on the change. Where the modification touches a perimeter or separation wall, the applicant has to collect a notarized signature from a majority of the owners of all contiguous or abutting property affected, on the same pages as a site plan showing where the change goes and a detail of the proposed wall. If the applicant can show the signatures cannot be obtained, the wall may instead be moved inside the site or waived, and a waiver needs proof that an existing wall already meets the buffer intent or that no wall is needed.
An application for a Wall and Fence Modification shall be filed with the Planning Department as a Conditional Use Permit for any wall/fence on a property.
Also on permits in Gilbert
- set in state lawArizona 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. A.R.S. § 11-861(A)Arizona · Statute
- 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 Gilbert
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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 Gilbert 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 Gilbert
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Gilbert 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 Gilbert 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 Gilbert
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Gilbert answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Gilbert defines two grades of see through fence, and defines them by the angle they are judged from as well as by the percentage. An open fence lets visibility through seventy five percent or more of the structure, and a view fence through fifty percent or more, in both cases viewed on a horizontal plane from any point perpendicular to the fence line. Fixing the viewing angle matters because a louvered or shadow box fence reads as open from one side and solid from straight on, and the perpendicular test decides it. The code also defines a double fence by what it prevents rather than by a distance: two fences, or a fence and a wall, that are parallel or nearly parallel and do not allow space for proper maintenance and visual security.
Open. A fence through which visibility is possible for 75 percent or more of the structure as viewed on a horizontal plane, from any point perpendicular to the fence line.
75%visibility that makes a fence open
Also on how height is measured in Gilbert
- set in state lawArizona 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. A.R.S. 3-1426(A)Arizona · Statute
Fence rules for corner lots in Gilbert
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Gilbert does not set this. It leaves it to the Town Engineering and Construction Standards, which set out the site visibility triangle.
The Land Development Code bars walls and fences from the site visibility triangle in one sentence and sends the reader to the Town Engineering and Construction Standards for the triangle itself. Nothing in the zoning code gives a leg length, a height band or a measuring point, so the dimensions are published separately by the engineering side of the town and can be revised without a code amendment. The same triangle is used elsewhere in the code for other things, barring mechanical and utility equipment from it and controlling what landscaping may go in it, which confirms it is a single mapped standard applied across the code rather than a rule written for fences.
Walls and fences shall not be located in the site visibility triangle, see the Town Engineering and Construction Standards.
The code hands this to the Town Engineering and Construction Standards, which set out the site visibility triangle, which is not published in the code itself.
Also on corner visibility in Gilbert
- set in state lawArizona 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. A.R.S. 28-7053Arizona · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in Gilbert
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Gilbert does not set this. It leaves it to county boards of supervisors and city and town councils, each of which adopts a national model building code of its own choosing.
Arizona 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.
This one is Arizona law, not Gilbert 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
The code hands this to county boards of supervisors and city and town councils, each of which adopts a national model building code of its own choosing, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence materials allowed in Gilbert
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Gilbert answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district and what the fence encloses.
Gilbert requires durable materials consistent with the exterior building elevations, and then adds something very few codes ask for: decorative feature or detail on both sides of the wall, so the neighbor side is finished to the same standard as the owner side. A chain link security fence is not permitted in the single family, multi family or commercial tables at all. Chain link and woven wire survive in two narrow places, around a recreation sports court or facility inside the building envelope, where the height is the district height rather than the fence height. Open fencing with wire attached on the internal side is allowed for animal control at eight feet in the single family districts and not at all in the non-residential ones. Barbed wire, razor wire and electric fences are not settled in the Land Development Code and are sent to the Gilbert Municipal Code instead.
Walls or fences shall be constructed of durable materials that are consistent with the exterior building elevations. Decorative feature/detail shall be provided on both sides of the wall.
The answer turns on the district and what the fence encloses.
- a chain link security fence
- Not permitted in any district table.
- chain link or woven wire at a sports court inside the building envelope
- Allowed, up to the height of the district.
- open fencing with wire on the inside for animal control
- Eight feet in the single family districts, not permitted elsewhere. 8 ft
- barbed wire, razor wire or electric fencing
- Answered by the Gilbert Municipal Code rather than here.
Also on materials in Gilbert
- 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 Gilbert
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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 Gilbert 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 Gilbert
- 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 Gilbert 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
- Town of GilbertLand Development Code, Chapter 1, Zoning Regulations, Section 5.2.9, Walls and Fences
- 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 Gilbert 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