Fence laws in Peoria, Arizona
What the Peoria municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Peoria sets no rule of its own, the Arizona rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Peoria, Arizona, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Every fence, wall and gate in Peoria has to stand entirely on the land of whoever builds it, unless the adjoining owner agrees in writing that it may go on the division line. The figure is 3 feet, for minimum width of the required access gate.
- How tall
- A Peoria residential fence stops at three feet in or bounding a front yard and seven feet in or bounding a side or rear yard, and the answer turns on the district, the yard, and which side of the wall is being measured. The figure is 3 feet, for fence in a residential front yard.
- Permits
- Peoria sets its permit threshold at seven feet, which is where the ordinary residential limit already sits, so a fence built to the maximum needs no permit and anything above it does, and the answer turns on the height of the wall and where it stands. The figure is 7 feet, for height above which a permit is needed.
- 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
- Peoria has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Peoria reads a wall to its uppermost point, and where the yard abuts a street, a sidewalk or a trail it starts that reading from the required two foot shelf at the base of the wall, or from the top of the curb, sidewalk, path or trail where any of those sits higher than the shelf. The figure is 3 feet, for depth a long street wall has to undulate.
- Corner lots
- Peoria protects the meeting of a corner lot and a key lot rather than the street intersection itself, and the answer turns on whether the lot is the corner lot or the key lot. The figure is 20 feet, for longer leg of the corner lot triangle.
- Retaining walls
- Peoria calls anything holding back twelve inches of earth a retaining wall, which is the lowest threshold of any city on this site. The figure is 12 inches, for depth of earth that makes a wall a retaining wall.
- Materials
- Barbed wire is prohibited across Peoria with three exceptions: the General Agriculture and Suburban Ranch districts, temporary construction sites and yards anywhere provided the wire sits six feet or more above grade, and security on commercial and industrial uses on the same six foot condition, and the answer turns on the material and the zoning district. The figure is 6 feet, for lowest point barbed wire may sit at.
- 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 Peoria?
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Peoria answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Every fence, wall and gate in Peoria has to stand entirely on the land of whoever builds it, unless the adjoining owner agrees in writing that it may go on the division line. The exception is narrow and specific: it does not apply to the initial wall construction by the homebuilder, which is how a subdivision ends up with a single wall on the shared line without every buyer signing something. Where a fence encloses a lot so that the front yard cannot be reached from the rear, a gate at least three feet wide has to be provided, and a gate on a parcel line needs written approval from both owners. A fence built with only one finished elevation, meaning one side without the supporting members significantly visible, has to point that finished side at the street or the public area.
All fences, walls, and gates shall be located entirely upon the private property of the persons, firms, or corporation constructing, or causing the construction of such fence unless the owner of the property adjoining agrees, in writing, that such fence or wall may be erected on the division line of the respective properties.
3 ftminimum width of the required access gate
Also on fences on the property line in Peoria
- 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 Peoria?
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Peoria answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district, the yard, and which side of the wall is being measured.
A Peoria residential fence stops at three feet in or bounding a front yard and seven feet in or bounding a side or rear yard. The same wall gets two figures where the ground differs: between two abutting residential lots at different finished grades it is seven feet on the high side and eight on the low, and along a street it is seven feet on the lot side and ten on the street side. Along a retention area or waterway it is seven feet on the lot side and eight on the retention side, measured to a required two foot shelf at the base. Commercial and industrial fences reach ten feet, except that a boundary fence abutting a residential district stops at six feet eight inches. Six uses escape the three foot front yard limit, including agriculture, Suburban Ranch residential and ranch uses, schools, temporary construction sites and yards, and arched masonry entry features.
In all Residential Districts, no fence or wall within or bounding the front yard shall exceed a height of three (3) feet, and no fence or wall within or bounding a side or rear yard shall exceed a height of seven (7) feet, except as specified elsewhere within this Ordinance.
21-312.A.7, B.1, B.3, B.4 and C.1
The answer turns on the district, the yard, and which side of the wall is being measured.
- a residential front yard
- Three feet. 3 ft
- a residential side or rear yard
- Seven feet, rising to eight measured from a lower neighbor. 7 ft
- a wall facing a street
- Seven feet on the lot side, ten on the street side. 10 ft
- a commercial or industrial district
- Ten feet, or six feet eight inches where it abuts housing. 10 ft
Also on fence height in Peoria
- 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 Peoria?
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Peoria answers this, but the answer changes depending on the height of the wall and where it stands.
Peoria sets its permit threshold at seven feet, which is where the ordinary residential limit already sits, so a fence built to the maximum needs no permit and anything above it does. A separate permit from the Engineering Department is needed for any fence or wall inside a street right of way whatever its height, and a request above eight feet goes to the City Engineer for approval. An electrical fence needs a Miscellaneous Building Permit from the Building Development Department. A waiver from the wall requirements may be granted by the Zoning Administrator, but only where the applicant has provided a Waiver of Proposition 207 and submits a wall plan and narrative, and only on three grounds: topography preventing conformity, no detriment to present or future neighbors, and a recommendation from the City Engineer. A denied waiver may go to the Board of Adjustment as a variance.
No persons, firm or corporation, shall hereafter construct, or cause to be constructed or erected within the City of Peoria any fence or wall exceeding seven (7) feet in height without first making an application for and securing a permit from the City.
The answer turns on the height of the wall and where it stands.
- a fence seven feet or less
- No permit. 7 ft
- a wall request above eight feet
- Reviewed for approval by the City Engineer. 8 ft
- anything in a street right of way
- A permit from the Engineering Department, whatever the height.
Also on permits in Peoria
- 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 Peoria
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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 Peoria 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 Peoria
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Peoria 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 Peoria 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 Peoria
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Peoria answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Peoria reads a wall to its uppermost point, and where the yard abuts a street, a sidewalk or a trail it starts that reading from the required two foot shelf at the base of the wall, or from the top of the curb, sidewalk, path or trail where any of those sits higher than the shelf. So the public side of the wall sets the number, and a builder cannot gain height by dropping the shelf. The city also measures the wall in plan. Any fence or wall along an arterial or collector street running more than two hundred continuous feet has to undulate at intervals of no more than a hundred feet, or at every other side lot line if that is closer, and the undulation has to be at least three feet deep from the street line.
In required yards abutting a street, sidewalk, or trail, the height of the fence shall be measured from the required two (2) foot shelf at the base of the wall or from the top of curb or the top of sidewalk, path, or trail when such element is at a higher elevation than the shelf.
3 ftdepth a long street wall has to undulate
Also on how height is measured in Peoria
- 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 Peoria
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Peoria answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the lot is the corner lot or the key lot.
Peoria protects the meeting of a corner lot and a key lot rather than the street intersection itself. On a corner lot next to a key lot, a fence over three feet may stand on the property line except inside a triangle measured ten feet from the street line along the common lot line and twenty feet along that property line running toward the front of the corner lot, and the clear zone may shift where landscape tracts exist. Looking the other way, on a key lot next to a corner lot a fence of up to seven feet may run along the part of the key lot that adjoins the corner lot rear yard, but may come no closer than ten feet to the key lot front line. The general three foot front yard limit does the rest of the work at the street itself.
On a corner lot contiguous to a key lot a fence or wall over three (3) feet in height may be placed on the property line except within a triangle measured ten (10) feet from the street line along the common lot line, and twenty (20) feet along the property line extending from the common lot line towards the front of the corner lot.
The answer turns on whether the lot is the corner lot or the key lot.
- the corner lot
- A ten by twenty foot triangle kept clear above three feet. 20 ft
- the key lot next to it
- Seven feet along the shared stretch, ten feet back from the front line. 10 ft
Also on corner visibility in Peoria
- 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 Peoria
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Peoria answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Peoria calls anything holding back twelve inches of earth a retaining wall, which is the lowest threshold of any city on this site. Once the retaining need passes ten feet the wall has to be terraced rather than built as one face, and the terracing is specified in detail: the first wall at grade level is between five and seven feet, every wall above it holds back no more than four feet of earth, terraces are offset at least four feet, each terrace is landscaped, and every terrace carries weep holes for drainage and sleeves for landscape irrigation. All terracing goes to the City Engineer or the Building Official for review, and the section states plainly that none of it is intended to relax the building code.
For the purpose of this ordinance, any wall retaining a minimum of twelve (12) inches of earth shall be considered a retaining wall. If retaining requirements exceed ten (10) feet in height, then terracing shall be required.
12 indepth of earth that makes a wall a retaining wall
Also on retaining walls in Peoria
- 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 Peoria
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Peoria answers this, but the answer changes depending on the material and the zoning district.
Barbed wire is prohibited across Peoria with three exceptions: the General Agriculture and Suburban Ranch districts, temporary construction sites and yards anywhere provided the wire sits six feet or more above grade, and security on commercial and industrial uses on the same six foot condition. An electrical fence is permitted only in the Light Industrial and Heavy Industrial districts, never on a property with a dwelling other than a caretaker residence, and never in a required landscape or street side setback. It has to be completely surrounded by a non-electrical fence at least six feet tall standing between three and twelve inches away from it, may not rise more than thirty six inches above that outer fence, may never exceed twelve feet, has to run off a storage battery of no more than twelve volts DC charged primarily by a solar panel, has to carry warning signs at least every sixty feet, and needs a city approved Knox key switch that kills every energizer.
Electric fences shall be clearly identified with warning signs that read "Warning - Electrical Fence" at intervals no less than sixty (60) feet.
The answer turns on the material and the zoning district.
- barbed wire in agriculture or suburban ranch
- Permitted.
- barbed wire for security on business or industrial land
- Permitted at six feet or more above grade. 6 ft
- an electrical fence in the I-1 or I-2 districts
- Inside a six foot outer fence, twelve volts, twelve feet at most. 12 ft
- anywhere else in the city
- Barbed wire and electrical fences are prohibited.
Also on materials in Peoria
- 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 Peoria
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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 Peoria 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 Peoria
- 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 Peoria 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 PeoriaCity Code, Chapter 21, Zoning, Section 21-312, 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 Peoria 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