Fence laws in North Little Rock, Arkansas
What the North Little Rock municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where North Little Rock sets no rule of its own, the Arkansas rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in North Little Rock, Arkansas, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- The fence rule places a fence along any boundary of the side or rear yard, which is permission to build on the line and is stated as such rather than left to be inferred from an absent setback. The figure is 0 feet, for setback stated from a property line for a fence.
- How tall
- North Little Rock states its fence heights in inches and draws the line at the back wall of the house, and the answer turns on where the fence stands relative to the rear of the house. The figure is 96 inches, for fence along a side or rear boundary behind the rear of the main structure.
- Permits
- The zoning chapter names no ordinary fence permit, and the approval it does create is narrow and unusually broad at the same time, and the answer turns on whether the fence stands in the required front yard.
- Pool barriers
- A fence around a public or commercial pool in Arkansas stands at least four feet high, with limits on the gaps at its sides and under it. The figure is 4 feet, for minimum height of the barrier around a public or commercial pool.
- Spite fences
- North Little Rock has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Arkansas measures one kind of fence from the ground and says so. The figure is 20 inches, for bottom wire of a lawful fence in a small stock fencing district, measured above the ground. It reaches a lawful fence inside a small stock fencing district only.
- Corner lots
- On a corner lot, inside the area formed by the right-of-way lines of the intersecting streets and a line joining points twenty five feet from where they meet, there may be no obstruction to vision between two feet and ten feet above the average grade of each street at its centerline. The figure is 25 feet, for distance from the intersection of the right-of-way lines forming the corner area.
- Retaining walls
- North Little Rock leaves retaining walls to the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code, Volume III, which is the International Residential Code with Arkansas changes.
- Materials
- Arkansas puts the battery charged fence in the law about alarm systems, and the definition there is what sets the standard. It reaches battery charged security fences on land the city has not set aside for homes, and not fences used for farming or fish farming only.
- Livestock
- A field kept for livestock in Arkansas has to be fenced.
Who owns the fence between two properties in North Little Rock?
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North Little Rock answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
The fence rule places a fence along any boundary of the side or rear yard, which is permission to build on the line and is stated as such rather than left to be inferred from an absent setback. The contrast with the sentence immediately before it is the point: no accessory building may be located in any required front or side yard, or within five feet of any lot line, and an accessory building may not exceed one hundred and fifty square feet. So a shed keeps five feet from the boundary and a fence keeps nothing, and the code sets the two side by side in the same paragraph. Forward of the rear of the house the fence may still follow the boundary, at the lower sixty inch height, and only in the required front yard does the board of adjustment have to pass on where it goes.
No accessory building shall be located on any required front or side yard, or within five feet of any lot line.
Residential districts, location of accessory buildings
0 ftsetback stated from a property line for a fence
How tall can a fence be in North Little Rock?
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North Little Rock answers this, but the answer changes depending on where the fence stands relative to the rear of the house.
North Little Rock states its fence heights in inches and draws the line at the back wall of the house. A fence up to ninety six inches, which is eight feet, may be erected along any boundary of the side or rear yard from the rear of the lot forward as far as the rear of the main structure. From that point forward to the front building line, along the side yards, the limit drops to sixty inches, or five feet. Eight feet is generous for a back yard and five feet is an unusual figure for the strip beside a house, sitting between the four most cities allow in front and the six they allow behind. Anything in the required front yard is a different matter entirely: any fence or screen there has to have board of adjustment approval as to its location, height, material and construction, so there is no by-right front yard fence at all.
Fences up to 96 inches in height may be erected along any boundary of the side yard or rear yard from the rear of the lot forward to the rear of the main structure. A fence 60 inches in height may be erected along the side yards from the rear of the main structure forward to the front building line.
Residential districts, location of accessory buildings
The answer turns on where the fence stands relative to the rear of the house.
- behind the rear of the house
- Ninety six inches. 96 in
- alongside the house
- Sixty inches. 60 in
- a required front yard
- Only with board of adjustment approval.
- that approval
- It covers material and construction too.
Also on fence height in North Little Rock
- no rule, documents checkedArkansas sets no limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. The city sets it. The one code the state does adopt is the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code, run by the State Fire Marshal, and it gives no fence height. Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board, Building CodesArkansas · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in North Little Rock?
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North Little Rock answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence stands in the required front yard.
The zoning chapter names no ordinary fence permit, and the approval it does create is narrow and unusually broad at the same time. Any fence or screen constructed in the required front yard must have board of adjustment approval as to location, height, material and construction, which is four separate things for a board to pass on and is closer to design review than to a permit. Behind the front building line nothing of the kind is required, so a fence on a side or rear boundary within the ninety six or sixty inch limits goes up without a hearing. Any obligation to get a building permit for a fence would come from Chapter 18, Buildings and Building Regulations, rather than from the zoning chapter.
Any fence or screen constructed in the required front yard must have board of adjustment approval as to location, height, material and construction.
Residential districts, location of accessory buildings
The answer turns on whether the fence stands in the required front yard.
- a side or rear yard fence
- No approval named.
- a front yard fence
- The board of adjustment.
- what the board reviews
- Location, height, material, construction.
- a building permit
- Chapter 18, not the zoning chapter.
Also on permits in North Little Rock
- set in state lawArkansas has no separate statewide building code. The building rules are one part of the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code, which the State Fire Marshal adopts. That code comes in three volumes, and Volume III is the one for houses. Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board, Building CodesArkansas · Building code
- set in state lawA city or county in Arkansas cannot require its own permit for a battery charged fence. Act 267 of 2023 says so: no permit beyond the alarm system permit or license the city already issues, no rules of its own on how the fence is put in or run, and no outright ban. The law covers only fences on land the city or county has not set aside for homes, and it leaves out a fence used for farming or fish farming. Ark. Code § 17-40-108(b)Arkansas · Statute
- set in state lawA battery charged fence in Arkansas tops out at ten feet, or two feet above the plain fence or wall around it, whichever of those two is taller. The same 2023 law requires that plain fence or wall to ring it completely and stand at least five feet high. Warning signs reading WARNING ELECTRIC FENCE go up no more than thirty feet apart. Ark. Code § 17-40-108(a)(2)(F)Arkansas · Statute
Pool fence requirements in North Little Rock
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Arkansas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A fence around a public or commercial pool in Arkansas stands at least four feet high, with limits on the gaps at its sides and under it. The Department of Health reviews the plans and sets that rule. The same page says the department does not cover a pool at a single family home, which is left to local rules.
This one is Arkansas law, not North Little Rock law. All Arkansas findings
The barrier shall not be less than four feet in height.
Arkansas Department of Health, Swimming Pool FAQs
4 ftminimum height of the barrier around a public or commercial pool
Spite fence laws in North Little Rock
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North Little Rock law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Arkansas has no spite fence law. The 2023 act that rewrote the state fencing chapter covers what a fence is, what a livestock pen needs, and who judges whether a fence is good enough. It sets no height and says nothing about a fence put up out of spite. The only other recent Arkansas fence law is the 2023 act on battery charged fences, which is about local permit power. So a fence built to annoy a neighbor is a plain nuisance question here.
This one is Arkansas law, not North Little Rock law. All Arkansas findings
Documents read before writing that:
- Ark. Code Title 2, Chapter 39, as amended by Act 594 of 2023Arkansas General Assembly
- Ark. Code § 17-40-108Arkansas General Assembly
How fence height is measured in North Little Rock
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Arkansas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Arkansas measures one kind of fence from the ground and says so. Section 14-386-203 describes a lawful fence inside a small stock fencing district. The bottom barbed wire sits twenty inches above the ground, the next wires are spaced up from there, and a rail version puts the top rail four and one half feet above the ground. Nothing applies that starting point to a fence at a house. The Arkansas Fire Prevention Code is sold rather than posted, and the state does not put the Arkansas Code itself online for free, so another measuring rule somewhere in state law has not been ruled out.
This one is Arkansas law, not North Little Rock law. All Arkansas findings
wire twenty inches (20″ ) above the ground, the second wire ten inches (10 ″ )
Ark. Code 14-386-203, as set out in Act 594 of 2023
20 inbottom wire of a lawful fence in a small stock fencing district, measured above the ground
Also on how height is measured in North Little Rock
- no rule, documents checkedThe corner rule names its datum carefully, protecting the band from two feet to ten feet above the average grade of each street measured at the centerline, and it says each street so a corner where one road is higher than the other is read twice. The fence rule states ninety six inches and sixty inches and names nothing at all. No grade, no curb, no finished ground level. A berm is not addressed. A fence standing on a retaining wall is not addressed. A fence stepping down a slope is not addressed, and nothing says whose side of a boundary the height is read from. Because the two figures in the fence rule are given in inches rather than feet, the drafting looks precise while leaving the more important question open. Residential districts, location of accessory buildingsNorth Little Rock · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in North Little Rock
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North Little Rock answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
On a corner lot, inside the area formed by the right-of-way lines of the intersecting streets and a line joining points twenty five feet from where they meet, there may be no obstruction to vision between two feet and ten feet above the average grade of each street at its centerline. Three things separate this from the usual rule. The bottom of the band is two feet rather than the more common two and a half or three, which is strict. The top is ten feet, high enough to catch tree canopy and sign faces. And the datum is the average grade of each street measured at the centerline, so the reference is the middle of the road rather than the curb or the lot, and each of the two streets supplies its own. Four things are allowed in the area anyway: street name signs, fire hydrants, street lighting poles and the fixtures on them.
On a corner lot, within the areas formed by the right-of-way lines of intersecting streets and a line joining points on such right-of-way lines at a distance of 25 feet from their intersection, there shall be no obstruction to vision between a height of two feet and a height of ten feet above the average grade of each street at the centerline thereof
Residential districts, corner visibility
25 ftdistance from the intersection of the right-of-way lines forming the corner area
Retaining wall rules in North Little Rock
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North Little Rock does not set this. It leaves it to the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code, Volume III, which is the International Residential Code with Arkansas changes.
Arkansas writes no rule of its own for a wall that holds back earth. One code runs statewide, the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code, adopted by the State Fire Marshal and applied even in the country and outside any city. It comes in three volumes and Volume III is the one for houses. Volume III is the International Residential Code with Arkansas changes, so the height at which a wall of that kind needs a permit comes from that outside code text, which Arkansas does not post.
This one is Arkansas law, not North Little Rock law. All Arkansas findings
The Code is based on the International Fire, Building, and Residential Codes, with some Arkansas changes.
Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board, Building Codes
The code hands this to the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code, Volume III, which is the International Residential Code with Arkansas changes, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence materials allowed in North Little Rock
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Arkansas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Arkansas puts the battery charged fence in the law about alarm systems, and the definition there is what sets the standard. It covers where the fence may sit, the battery behind it, the plain fence around it and the warning signs on it.
This one is Arkansas law, not North Little Rock law. All Arkansas findings
"Battery-charged fence" means a fence that:
Also on materials in North Little Rock
- no rule, documents checkedThe residential fence provisions name no permitted material and prohibit none. Barbed wire does not appear. Razor wire does not appear. An electric fence does not appear in the fence rules, and the word electric turns up in the chapter only in the use tables, where it describes electrical contractors and appliance stores. Chain link, wood and masonry are not mentioned either. The one place material enters is the front yard, where the board of adjustment reviews a proposed fence as to location, height, material and construction, which hands the question to a body rather than answering it. So a six foot chain link fence and a six foot board fence are the same thing behind the house, and in front of it neither is allowed without a hearing. Residential districts, location of accessory buildingsNorth Little Rock · Zoning code
Livestock and boundary fence law in North Little Rock
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Arkansas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A field kept for livestock in Arkansas has to be fenced. That one line opens the state fencing chapter, which Act 594 of 2023 rewrote. The same act repealed the old law on fencing districts.
This one is Arkansas law, not North Little Rock law. All Arkansas findings
All fields and grounds kept for livestock enclosures shall be enclosed
Ark. Code § 2-39-101, as amended by Act 594 of 2023
Also on agricultural fencing in North Little Rock
- set in state lawArkansas law defines a fence as a structure acting as a boundary or barrier that limits people, livestock or vehicles moving into or out of an area. The 2023 act put that definition in place of the old description. The same act defined livestock for the whole chapter as cattle, bison, horses, sheep, goats, donkeys, mules and hogs. Ark. Code § 2-39-102, as amended by Act 594 of 2023Arkansas · Statute
- set in state lawArkansas puts no sizes on a fence that counts as good enough. People decide that by going out and looking at it. On a complaint to a justice of the peace, three neighbors who have no stake in the case and are not related to either side go look at the fence where the animals got through. They write down what they saw, and that account is evidence at trial on whether the fence was lawful. Ark. Code § 2-39-106, as amended by Act 594 of 2023Arkansas · Statute
Documents behind this page
6 documents, of which 1 was published by North Little Rock itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- City of North Little RockNorth Little Rock Municipal Code, Chapter 118, Zoning, Article I, Supplemental Regulations
- Arkansas Department of Labor and LicensingBuilding Codes, Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board
- Arkansas Department of Public SafetyState Fire Marshal's Office
- Arkansas General AssemblyAct 267 of the Regular Session of 2023, House Bill 1406, An Act Concerning the Regulation of Certain Battery-Charged Fences by Municipalities and Counties
- Arkansas Department of HealthSwimming Pool FAQs
- Arkansas General AssemblyAct 594 of the Regular Session of 2023, House Bill 1677, An Act to Amend the Law Regarding Livestock, Livestock Running at Large and Fencing
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 North Little Rock publishes, plus the Arkansas rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Arkansas 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