Fence laws in Meriden, Connecticut
What the Meriden municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Meriden sets no rule of its own, the Connecticut rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Meriden, Connecticut, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Connecticut splits a fence that sits on a property line between the two owners on either side.
- How tall
- Meriden states no maximum fence height for an ordinary lot in any district, and the answer turns on what the fence is enclosing. The figure is 4 feet, for minimum pool enclosure height.
- Permits
- Connecticut runs one building code across the whole state.
- Pool barriers
- Meriden sets no statewide pool barrier rule. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Spite fences
- Connecticut lets a landowner sue the neighbor next door over a structure built out of spite.
- Measured from what
- Connecticut names the surface to measure a fence from, and it does it twice in the same chapter. The figure is 6.5 feet, for barbed wire along a sidewalk, measured above the ground. It reaches barbed wire installed along a sidewalk only.
- Corner lots
- Meriden leaves corner clearance to each city, town and borough, by ordinance under chapter 98 and by zoning regulation under section 8-2. It reaches towns, cities and boroughs setting their own building and obstruction lines only.
- Retaining walls
- A wall that holds back earth in Connecticut needs a building permit once it passes three feet. The figure is 3 feet, for height at which a wall that holds back earth needs a building permit. It reaches one and two family homes and townhouses, under the house half of the state building code only.
- Materials
- Meriden names a fence material in exactly one place, and it is a place where the city is insisting on the fence, and the answer turns on whether the fence is one the city requires.
- Livestock
- Connecticut tells landowners to build and keep up fences good enough to hold their fields and keep livestock from roaming. The figure is 4 feet, for height of the upper strand on a wire fence outside a city.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Meriden?
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Connecticut answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Connecticut splits a fence that sits on a property line between the two owners on either side. Each one builds and keeps up half of it. The middle of the fence goes on the dividing line. The law calls this a divisional fence.
This one is Connecticut law, not Meriden law. All Connecticut findings
Adjoining proprietors shall each make and maintain half of a divisional fence, the middle line of which shall be on the dividing line
Also on fences on the property line in Meriden
- set in state lawThe same law lists what counts as a fence good enough to hold livestock. Inside cities and next to house lots, a tight board fence stands four and one half feet high, and an open picket fence or a slat rail fence stands four feet high with limits on the gaps. Outside cities the list allows a rail fence four and one half feet high, a stone wall four feet high, or a wire fence of four strands. These heights are floors for holding animals, not caps on a yard fence. Conn. Gen. Stat. 47-43Connecticut · Statute
- set in state lawWhen a division fence falls into disrepair, the neighbor can call on the town selectmen to look at it. The selectmen give written notice to the person who has to fix it. Fifteen days pass, and if no repair happens the neighbor can do the work and collect double the cost. That sum becomes a lien on the land. Conn. Gen. Stat. 47-51Connecticut · Statute
- no rule, documents checkedThe zoning chapter states no setback for a fence from any lot line and says nothing about which side of a fence faces the neighbor. The distances it does give in the same breath belong to other things: a swimming pool has to sit not less than five feet from any lot line and not less than ten feet from the main building, and an outdoor storage area in a non-residential district has to be in a side or rear yard but outside the required yard. The one continuing duty placed on a fence itself is maintenance, requiring every fence, tree, planting or other screening required by the City Council, the Zoning Board of Appeals, the Planning Commission or the chapter to be kept at all times to at least the quality it had when installed. Section 213-44Meriden · Zoning code
How tall can a fence be in Meriden?
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Meriden answers this, but the answer changes depending on what the fence is enclosing.
Meriden states no maximum fence height for an ordinary lot in any district. Every figure in the zoning chapter is a minimum attached to a fence the city is demanding. A swimming pool has to be enclosed by a good quality security fence of not less than four feet, and the ordinance says that height applies notwithstanding any other provision of the chapter, so the pool rule wins against anything that might otherwise cap it. A camping trailer, recreation vehicle or boat stored in a side or rear yard has to be screened from adjoining properties by a fence or landscape screen of at least six feet. A junkyard, building material yard or equipment storage yard has to sit inside a building or behind a fence at least eight feet high, and stored material may not be piled above it. An owner simply putting up a fence has no number to meet.
The portion of the premises upon which such pool is located shall be entirely enclosed with a good quality security fence, which, any other provision of this chapter notwithstanding, shall have a height of not less than four feet.
The answer turns on what the fence is enclosing.
- an ordinary fence
- No maximum stated.
- around a pool
- Four feet at least, overriding the rest. 4 ft
- screening a boat or trailer
- Six feet at least. 6 ft
- around outdoor storage
- Eight feet at least. 8 ft
Also on fence height in Meriden
- no rule, documents checkedConnecticut sets no cap on how tall a fence at a house can be. Local zoning sets it. The fence chapter gives heights only for what counts as a fence good enough to hold livestock, and those are floors, not ceilings. The two spite fence laws give no height at all and turn on proving the structure went up out of spite, so they work as a nuisance claim rather than a building limit. Conn. Gen. Stat. 47-43 through 47-56Connecticut · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Meriden?
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Connecticut answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Connecticut runs one building code across the whole state. The State Building Inspector and the Codes and Standards Committee write it together, and the Commissioner of Administrative Services signs off. It is built on a national model code and covers how buildings and structures are designed, built and changed. Changes to it are held to a short list of subjects the law names.
This one is Connecticut law, not Meriden law. All Connecticut findings
adopt and administer a State Building Code based on a nationally recognized model building code for the purpose of regulating the design, construction and use of buildings or structures to be erected and the alteration of buildings or structures already erected
Also on permits in Meriden
- no rule, documents checkedNothing in the zoning chapter requires a permit to build a fence or sets a fee for one. The only approval attached to any fence is the pool enclosure, which has to be of a type approved by the Building Official, and that is an approval of the design rather than a permit to build. Where a fence is required as screening it arrives as a condition of the site plan or special approval the use already needs, and site plan applications have to show the location of all existing and proposed fences and walls, which is where a fence is actually reviewed in this city. This is recorded as silence in the zoning chapter rather than a finding that Meriden requires nothing, because the same code carries separate building and property chapters. Section 213-44.DMeriden · Zoning code
Pool fence requirements in Meriden
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Meriden law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Connecticut puts its public pool barrier rule in the Public Health Code at Section 19-13-B33b. Both the Department of Public Health copy and the state eRegulations copy of that section are published only as PDF files. Neither PDF could be read here, so no barrier height is quoted and no text is repeated from memory.
This one is Connecticut law, not Meriden law. All Connecticut findings
Documents read before writing that:
- Conn. Agencies Regs. 19-13-B33bConnecticut Department of Public Health
- Conn. Agencies Regs. 19-13-B33bConnecticut eRegulations System
Spite fence laws in Meriden
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Connecticut answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Connecticut lets a landowner sue the neighbor next door over a structure built out of spite. The neighbor has to have put it up on purpose to annoy the landowner or hurt the way the land is used or sold. The law names no height and no fence in particular, so any structure can count. Courts read it together with Section 52-480, which lets a judge order the structure down.
This one is Connecticut law, not Meriden law. All Connecticut findings
An action may be maintained by the proprietor of any land against the owner or lessee of land adjacent, who maliciously erects any structure thereon, with intent to annoy or injure the plaintiff in his use or disposition of his land.
Also on spite fences in Meriden
- set in state lawA Connecticut court can order a spite structure stopped or taken down. The rule reaches an owner, a renter, or anyone else with the right to hold the land. The structure has to be meant to annoy and hurt the person on the land next door. This law names no height either. Conn. Gen. Stat. 52-480Connecticut · Statute
How fence height is measured in Meriden
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Connecticut answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Connecticut names the surface to measure a fence from, and it does it twice in the same chapter. Section 47-48 bans barbed wire along a sidewalk unless it is at least six and one half feet above the ground. Section 47-43 describes fences meant for use next to house lots and puts the lower slat of a slat rail fence no more than six inches from the ground. The ground is the starting point in both. Neither one covers a solid privacy fence. That one is sized by the local zoning commission under section 8-2, and the commission picks the measuring surface as well.
This one is Connecticut law, not Meriden law. All Connecticut findings
No barbed wire shall be installed along any sidewalk unless it is at least six and one-half feet above the ground.
6.5 ftbarbed wire along a sidewalk, measured above the ground
Also on how height is measured in Meriden
- no rule, documents checkedWith no maximum fence height in the chapter there is nothing for a measuring rule to attach to, and none is written. The four, six and eight foot figures for a pool enclosure, a vehicle screen and a storage yard fence are all stated without saying what they are measured from. No grade is named anywhere, a berm is not addressed, and a fence standing on a retaining wall is not addressed even though the code separately suggests retaining walls as a related topic. On sloping ground an owner enclosing a pool has no written answer to whether the four feet is taken on the high side or the low side, which is the one place in this chapter where the missing datum could matter for safety rather than appearance. Section 213-44.DMeriden · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Meriden
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Meriden does not set this. It leaves it to each city, town and borough, by ordinance under chapter 98 and by zoning regulation under section 8-2.
The town decides corner clearance in Connecticut, and state law gives it that power twice. Section 7-148 lets a town set lines past which no structure may be put up, and separately makes keeping the streets clear a town job. Section 8-2 adds the zoning power over the height of structures and the size of yards. Neither one gives a distance, an angle or a triangle, so the shape of a corner clearance is whatever the local ordinance says.
This one is Connecticut law, not Meriden law. All Connecticut findings
Establish lines beyond which no buildings, steps, stoop, veranda, billboard, advertising sign or device or other structure or obstruction may be erected;
The code hands this to each city, town and borough, by ordinance under chapter 98 and by zoning regulation under section 8-2, which is not published in the code itself.
Also on corner visibility in Meriden
- no rule, documents checkedMeriden has no corner visibility rule. Searching the whole code for visibility, obstruction and sight returns a building numbering provision about house numbers being blocked by shrubs, a watercourse obstruction rule, a streets and sidewalks article about obstructions in the right-of-way, and the zoning definition of a corner lot. None of them sets a triangle, a distance from an intersection or a protected band of heights, and the zoning chapter contains no provision holding anything down near a junction. The definition of a corner lot exists and does work elsewhere in the chapter by deciding which yard is which, but nothing attaches a sight line to it. Because the chapter also sets no maximum fence height, there is no district figure that would incidentally keep a corner clear either. Article VIII, Supplementary RegulationsMeriden · Zoning code
Retaining wall rules in Meriden
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Connecticut answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A wall that holds back earth in Connecticut needs a building permit once it passes three feet. The model code the state starts from allows four feet and measures from the bottom of the footing. Connecticut cuts that to three feet and measures from the finished ground at the bottom of the wall to the finished ground at the top. A wall holding extra weight pushed onto the ground behind it needs a permit at any height. The state code sets the same three foot line for commercial work.
This one is Connecticut law, not Meriden law. All Connecticut findings
Retaining walls that are not higher than 3 feet (914 mm) measured from finished grade at the bottom of the wall to finished grade at the top of the wall, unless supporting a surcharge.
2022 Connecticut State Building Code, amendment to IRC Section R105.2
3 ftheight at which a wall that holds back earth needs a building permit
Also on retaining walls in Meriden
- set in state lawA wall that holds back earth in Connecticut needs a rail on top once the drop across it is more than four feet, but only when a walking surface, parking lot or driveway sits within two feet of the high side. The state wrote that rule itself, since the model code has none. Grass, planting beds and landscaped areas do not count as a walking surface, so a plain lawn above a wall needs no rail. 2022 Connecticut State Building Code, added IRC Section R404.4.1Connecticut · Building code
Fence materials allowed in Meriden
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Meriden answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence is one the city requires.
Meriden names a fence material in exactly one place, and it is a place where the city is insisting on the fence. Scrap, salvage, vehicle parts, lumber, fuel and equipment storage has to be conducted inside a building or behind a solid board or masonry fence at least eight feet high, so chain link will not do the job there and the barrier has to be opaque. A pool fence is described by quality rather than material, having to be a good quality security fence of a type approved by the Building Official, with self-closing and self-latching gates kept locked when the pool is not in use. Everywhere else the chapter is quiet. There is no barbed wire rule, no razor wire rule, no ban on an electrified fence and no requirement about which side is finished or how opaque an ordinary fence may be.
The storage of scrap, salvage, vehicle parts, lumber, fuel, equipment and similar operations shall be conducted within a building or within a solid board or masonry fence at least eight feet in height.
The answer turns on whether the fence is one the city requires.
- a storage yard screen
- Solid board or masonry.
- a pool fence
- Good quality, approved by the Building Official.
- barbed or electrified wire
- Not addressed at all.
- an ordinary fence
- No material named.
Also on materials in Meriden
- set in state lawBarbed wire on a fence between two neighbors in Connecticut takes the neighbor's written consent when it runs within twenty five rods of that neighbor's house or barn. A rod is sixteen and a half feet, so that is about four hundred feet. The consent is not needed when either place is used for raising livestock. Conn. Gen. Stat. 47-47Connecticut · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Meriden
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Connecticut answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Connecticut tells landowners to build and keep up fences good enough to hold their fields and keep livestock from roaming. Outside cities, a fence counts when it is a rail fence four and a half feet high, a stone wall four feet high, or a wire fence of four strands. The wire version spaces the strands no more than twelve inches apart, puts the top strand at least four feet up, and sets posts no more than sixteen feet apart. Inside cities the list runs to a tight board fence four and a half feet high, a picket fence four feet high with gaps under four inches, and chain link at least four feet high on steel posts set in concrete.
This one is Connecticut law, not Meriden law. All Connecticut findings
a wire fence consisting of four strands not more than twelve inches apart, stretched tightly, the lower strand not more than twelve inches and the upper strand not less than four feet from the ground, with good substantial posts not more than sixteen feet apart
4 ftheight of the upper strand on a wire fence outside a city
Also on agricultural fencing in Meriden
- set in state lawThe answer in Connecticut depends on the fence. When the fence around the land is good enough, the owner of the animals pays for all the damage they do inside it. When it is not, the landowner collects nothing. Four things undo that: the animals were loose against the law, they were unruly animals no ordinary fence would hold, the animal owner drove them in, or they came in through a part of the fence that was good enough. In those cases the landowner may hold the animals and collect the damage plus a pound fee. Conn. Gen. Stat. 47-55Connecticut · Statute
Documents behind this page
11 documents, of which 3 were published by Meriden itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Connecticut General AssemblyConnecticut General Statutes, Chapter 823, Section 47-43
- City of MeridenCode of the City of Meriden, Chapter 213, Zoning, Article VIII, Supplementary Regulations, Section 213-44, Swimming pools
- City of MeridenCode of the City of Meriden, Chapter 213, Zoning, Article VIII, Supplementary Regulations, Section 213-47, Outdoor storage
- Connecticut General AssemblyConnecticut General Statutes, Chapter 925, Statutory Rights of Action and Defenses
- Connecticut General AssemblyConnecticut General Statutes, Chapter 916, Injunctions
- Connecticut General AssemblyConnecticut General Statutes, Chapter 541, Section 29-252
- City of MeridenCode of the City of Meriden, Chapter 213, Zoning, Article VIII, Supplementary Regulations
- Connecticut Department of Public HealthPublic Health Code, Section 19-13-B33b, Public pools
- Connecticut eRegulations SystemRegulations of Connecticut State Agencies, Section 19-13-B33b, Public pools
- Connecticut General AssemblyConnecticut General Statutes, Title 7, Chapter 98, Section 7-148, Scope of municipal powers
- Connecticut Department of Administrative Services, Office of the State Building Inspector2022 Connecticut State Building Code, Amendments to the 2021 International Residential Code
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 Meriden publishes, plus the Connecticut rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Connecticut 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