Fence laws in Goodyear, Arizona
What the Goodyear municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Goodyear sets no rule of its own, the Arizona rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Goodyear, Arizona, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Goodyear sets a minimum distance between fences rather than a maximum, and it is a large one, and the answer turns on how close the fence is to another fence, and whether the neighbor has agreed in writing. The figure is 20 feet, for minimum separation between two fences.
- How tall
- In the Goodyear residential and agricultural districts with residential uses, a freestanding wall or fence in a required front yard stops at three feet, no open wire fence including chain link may stand in a front yard at all, and a wall forming a portal is the only exception, designed as an integral part of the portal fixture through Design Review, and the answer turns on the district, the yard, and what the fence encloses. The figure is 3 feet, for wall in a required front yard.
- Permits
- Goodyear sets its building permit threshold at six feet, which is exactly where the ordinary residential side and rear yard limit sits, so a fence built to the maximum needs no building permit and anything above it does. The figure is 6 feet, for height above which a building permit is required.
- 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
- Goodyear 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
- Goodyear 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
- Open wire fencing including chain link is not permitted in Goodyear except where the ordinance expressly allows it, and the main allowance turns on a date, and the answer turns on the district, the size of the lot, and when the subdivision was recorded. The figure is 80 percent, for woven density required on chain link screening.
- 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 Goodyear?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Goodyear answers this, but the answer changes depending on how close the fence is to another fence, and whether the neighbor has agreed in writing.
Goodyear sets a minimum distance between fences rather than a maximum, and it is a large one. Two fences or walls have to stand twenty feet apart, and where one goes up between twenty and fifty feet from another it may carry no more than four feet of masonry with view fencing for the rest, so the corridor between them stays open above four feet. Retaining walls that do not rise above ground level are outside the rule. A fence may sit on the division line only where the adjoining owner agrees in writing, and otherwise stands entirely on the builder own land. A fence with only one finished elevation faces that side at the adjacent property. Every fence in a side or rear yard on a lot abutting an alley has to include a three foot deep by eight foot wide inset with a gate for storing garbage cans.
The minimum separation between fences and/or walls shall be twenty (20) feet. Any fence or wall constructed within twenty (20) to fifty (50) feet of another fence or wall shall have a maximum of four (4) feet of masonry and shall use view fencing for the remaining portion of the fence or wall.
The answer turns on how close the fence is to another fence, and whether the neighbor has agreed in writing.
- two fences less than twenty feet apart
- Not allowed. 20 ft
- two fences between twenty and fifty feet apart
- Four feet of masonry at most, view fencing above it. 4 ft
- a fence on the division line
- Only with the adjoining owner written agreement.
- a side or rear yard fence along an alley
- A three by eight foot inset with a gate for the trash cans. 8 ft
Also on fences on the property line in Goodyear
- 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 Goodyear?
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Goodyear answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district, the yard, and what the fence encloses.
In the Goodyear residential and agricultural districts with residential uses, a freestanding wall or fence in a required front yard stops at three feet, no open wire fence including chain link may stand in a front yard at all, and a wall forming a portal is the only exception, designed as an integral part of the portal fixture through Design Review. Rear and side yards take six feet. Several screening walls are required rather than allowed: six feet of masonry around an outdoor storage area, six feet of masonry along interior boundaries of a site next to or across from a residential district, three feet of masonry or berm screening a parking area from street view, and a six foot masonry wall around the exterior boundary of a mobile home subdivision or park. Open wire fences may exceed the normal heights around schools and public facilities, and around tennis or pickleball courts, though a Use Permit is needed where such a court is within five hundred feet of residentially zoned land.
In residential and agricultural districts with residential uses, no open wire fences, including chain link fences, are allowed in a front yard and the maximum height of any freestanding wall or fence in a required front yard shall be three (3) feet except for walls that create a portal which shall be designed as an integral component of the portal fixture, as determined in the required Design Review process. In rear and side yards, the maximum height shall be six (6) feet.
The answer turns on the district, the yard, and what the fence encloses.
- a residential front yard
- Three feet, and no open wire at all. 3 ft
- a residential rear or side yard
- Six feet. 6 ft
- a storage yard, a mobile home park boundary, or a site facing housing
- Six feet of masonry, required rather than allowed. 6 ft
- a tennis or pickleball court within five hundred feet of housing
- Open wire above the normal height, by Use Permit. 500 ft
Also on fence height in Goodyear
- 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 Goodyear?
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Goodyear answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Goodyear sets its building permit threshold at six feet, which is exactly where the ordinary residential side and rear yard limit sits, so a fence built to the maximum needs no building permit and anything above it does. Two other approvals sit alongside it rather than under it. A wall forming a front yard portal is allowed only as an integral component of the portal fixture as determined through the required Design Review process, and an open wire fence around a tennis or pickleball court within five hundred feet of residentially zoned land needs a Use Permit, while the same fence further away needs only administrative approval.
A building permit must be obtained prior to the installation of any fence that exceeds six (6) feet in height.
6 ftheight above which a building permit is required
Also on permits in Goodyear
- 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 Goodyear
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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 Goodyear 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 Goodyear
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Goodyear 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 Goodyear 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 Goodyear
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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 Goodyear 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
Fence rules for corner lots in Goodyear
Compare corner visibility across all 50 states
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 Goodyear 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 Goodyear
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Goodyear 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 Goodyear 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 Goodyear
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Goodyear answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district, the size of the lot, and when the subdivision was recorded.
Open wire fencing including chain link is not permitted in Goodyear except where the ordinance expressly allows it, and the main allowance turns on a date. In the AG and AU districts it is permitted subject to the article limits. On a single family residential lot of less than twenty thousand square feet it is permitted only where the subdivision was recorded before 1975, and then only with opaque screening at a woven density of at least eighty percent made of wood, metal, vinyl or composite slats with integral color, powder coating or similar durable treatment. Fabric, tarpaulin and similar non-rigid material is prohibited, and the screening has to be replaced when the Planning Administrator finds it has degraded into visual blight. A perimeter fence within four feet of a property line may not be combustible, though its gate may be if it is no wider than twelve feet. Barbed wire or barbed tape is allowed only in the I-1 and I-2 districts, three strands, on a walled storage area up to eight feet.
The chain link fence shall include opaque screening with a woven density of no less than eighty (80) percent. Opaque screening shall consist of slats of wood, metal, vinyl, or composite material with integral color, powder coating or other method of design and manufacturing to minimize wear and maintenance and to maintain the aesthetic quality of the fencing. Use of fabric, tarpaulin, or similar non-rigid material is prohibited.
The answer turns on the district, the size of the lot, and when the subdivision was recorded.
- chain link on a small lot in a pre-1975 subdivision
- Allowed with rigid opaque screening at eighty percent density. 80%
- chain link anywhere else in a residential district
- Not permitted.
- a perimeter fence within four feet of a property line
- No combustible material, though a gate up to twelve feet wide may be. 4 ft
- barbed wire in the I-1 or I-2 districts
- Three strands on a walled storage area, up to eight feet. 3 strands
Also on materials in Goodyear
- 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 Goodyear
Compare agricultural fencing across all 50 states
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 Goodyear 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 Goodyear
- 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 Goodyear 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 GoodyearZoning Ordinance, Article 5-2, Section 5-2-2, Design, Construction, Maintenance and Development Standards
- 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 Goodyear 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