Fence laws in Springdale, Arkansas
What the Springdale municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Springdale sets no rule of its own, the Arkansas rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Springdale, Arkansas, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Springdale opens the fence rule by overriding the rest of the ordinance and putting fences where a setback would otherwise keep them out. The figure is 0 feet, for setback stated from a property line for a fence.
- How tall
- A fence, wall or hedge along the sides or the front edge of any front yard in Springdale may not be over three feet, and the code adds a sentence that saves a lot of argument: the line is dictated by the orientation of the structure and not by the yard designation used elsewhere in the ordinance, and the answer turns on which way the house faces and what the lot abuts. The figure is 3 feet, for fence, wall or hedge along the sides or front edge of a front yard.
- Permits
- Arkansas has no separate statewide building code.
- 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
- Springdale 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
- Springdale sets no rule about what may stand near a corner. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Retaining walls
- Springdale leaves retaining walls to the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code, Volume III, which is the International Residential Code with Arkansas changes.
- Materials
- Springdale writes both halves.
- Livestock
- A field kept for livestock in Arkansas has to be fenced.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Springdale?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Springdale answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Springdale opens the fence rule by overriding the rest of the ordinance and putting fences where a setback would otherwise keep them out. Notwithstanding other provisions, fences, walls and hedges on residential lots may be permitted in any required yard, or along the edge of any yard, subject only to the height limits that follow. No distance from a property line appears anywhere in the section, so a fence may stand on the boundary at three feet along the front and six feet elsewhere. Hedges are governed by the same sentence, which means a planted screen on a line is treated exactly like a built one. The one place the ordinance puts a fence somewhere specific is a telecommunications tower, where a wood fence of eight feet or more is required around the exterior lot line together with a plan for controlling vegetation inside, under and outside it.
fences, walls, and hedges on residential lots may be permitted in any required yard, or along the edge of any yard
0 ftsetback stated from a property line for a fence
How tall can a fence be in Springdale?
Compare fence height across all 50 states
Springdale answers this, but the answer changes depending on which way the house faces and what the lot abuts.
A fence, wall or hedge along the sides or the front edge of any front yard in Springdale may not be over three feet, and the code adds a sentence that saves a lot of argument: the line is dictated by the orientation of the structure and not by the yard designation used elsewhere in the ordinance. So it is where the house faces that decides which part of the lot is the front, rather than how the plat labels the yards. A retaining wall is excepted from the three feet. Inside or bounding a rear or side yard a fence may reach six feet. Agricultural land that shares a boundary with a residential district has to follow the same residential rule along that joint boundary, notwithstanding anything else in the ordinance, so a farm fence next to houses is held to the house standard.
no fence, wall (except retaining wall) or hedge along the sides or front edge of any front yard shall be over three feet in height as dictated by the orientation of the structure and not by yard designation as in article 4. Fences located within or bounding a rear or side yard are permitted at a height not to exceed six feet
The answer turns on which way the house faces and what the lot abuts.
- along the front
- Three feet. 3 ft
- in a side or rear yard
- Six feet. 6 ft
- a retaining wall
- Excepted from the front rule.
- farm land next to houses
- The residential rule applies on that line.
Also on fence height in Springdale
- 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 Springdale?
Compare permits across all 50 states
Arkansas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Arkansas 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.
This one is Arkansas law, not Springdale law. All Arkansas findings
The Arkansas Building Code is adopted by the State Fire Marshal's office. It is a part of the Fire Prevention Code.
Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board, Building Codes
Also on permits in Springdale
- 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
- no rule, documents checkedThe fence rules in Article 6 set heights, materials and placement and say nothing about an application, a fee or an inspection, so the zoning ordinance creates no fence permit. Two approvals in the same article do involve a fence without being about fences generally. Keeping horses in a residential area is a conditional use, and the grazing area has to have a suitable fence with a fencing plan submitted alongside the application, drawn to scale and showing the house, every accessory structure, the type of fencing and the location of all access points. A telecommunications tower has to be enclosed by a wood fence of at least eight feet and comes with a vegetation control plan for inside, under and outside that fence. Both are conditions on a use rather than a permit for a fence. Article 6, Section 2.3Springdale · Zoning code
Pool fence requirements in Springdale
Compare pool barriers across all 50 states
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 Springdale 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 Springdale
Compare spite fences across all 50 states
Springdale 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 Springdale 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 Springdale
Compare how height is measured across all 50 states
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 Springdale 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 Springdale
- no rule, documents checkedSection 2.3 states three feet and six feet and never says what either is measured from. No grade is named, no curb, no finished ground level. A berm is not addressed. A fence standing on a retaining wall is not addressed, although a retaining wall is excepted from the three foot front rule, which leaves open whether a fence on top of one is measured from the wall or from the ground below it. A fence stepping down a slope is not addressed, and nothing says whose side of a boundary the height is read from. What the section is precise about is horizontal rather than vertical: the front of the lot is fixed by the orientation of the structure rather than by the yard names used elsewhere in the ordinance, which is a more careful piece of drafting than most codes manage. Article 6, Section 2.3Springdale · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Springdale
Compare corner visibility across all 50 states
Springdale law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Article 6 carries the fence rules and every other supplementary district regulation, and it contains no sight triangle, no clear vision area, and no height limit tied to an intersection. Searching it for the words vision, sight and visibility turns up nothing on point. The nearest thing is the three foot limit along the front of a lot, which keeps a fence low where it faces a street and does the same work a corner rule would do on most corner lots without being framed that way. Two other visibility provisions in the article are about different things: a recreational vehicle park has to have a visual enclosure in its perimeter setbacks, and the light and glare section protects vehicular traffic in the right-of-way from light rather than from obstruction.
Documents read before writing that:
- Article 6, Section 2.3City of Springdale
- Article 6, Sections 1 through 3City of Springdale
Retaining wall rules in Springdale
Compare retaining walls across all 50 states
Springdale 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 Springdale 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 Springdale
Compare materials across all 50 states
Springdale answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Springdale writes both halves. A fence has to be built with recognized fencing materials, and the examples given are chain link with plastic or metal slats, standard fence wood, vinyl, and metal such as wrought iron. The materials not allowed are named one by one: plywood, scrap lumber, wood pallets, chicken wire, corrugated steel, concertina wire and fiberglass panels. Wood pallets appearing by name is the tell that somebody built one. Then comes an orientation rule stated from the owner’s side rather than the neighbor’s, which is the reverse of how most cities word it: fence posts and supports must be installed on the side of the fence that faces the lot. Barbed wire is not on either list in the residential section, and the agricultural provision says separately that barbed wire is a suitable material in an A-1 zone.
Fences must be built with recognized fencing materials such as chain link fencing with plastic or metal slates, standard fence wood, vinyl, or metal such as wrought iron. Materials not allowed for fences include plywood, scrap lumber, wood pallets, chicken wire, corrugated steel, concertina wire, or fiberglass panels. Fence posts and supports must be installed on the side of the fence that faces the lot.
Also on materials in Springdale
- set in state lawArkansas 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. Ark. Code Ann. 17-40-108Arkansas · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Springdale
Compare agricultural fencing across all 50 states
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 Springdale 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 Springdale
- 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 Springdale itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- City of SpringdaleSpringdale Code of Ordinances, Chapter 130, Zoning Ordinance, Article 6, Supplementary District 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 Springdale 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