Fence laws in Fort Myers, Florida
What the Fort Myers municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Fort Myers sets no rule of its own, the Florida rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Fort Myers, Florida, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- On Fort Myers waterfront property a chain link fence may run right out to the seawall and project up to three feet beyond it, which is the opposite of the setback most cities impose at the water. The figure is 3 feet, for distance a chain link fence may project past a seawall.
- How tall
- Fort Myers states the limit in one line at the end of the section: six feet in a residential district and ten in a commercial or industrial one, and the answer turns on the zoning district, and whether the fence encloses a sports court. The figure is 6 feet, for fence in a residential district.
- Permits
- Fort Myers opens its fence section with the permit rather than closing with it.
- Pool barriers
- Florida requires a pool barrier at least four feet high, measured on the outside. The figure is 4 feet, for residential swimming pool barrier, measured on the outside.
- Spite fences
- Fort Myers has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- The one place Fort Myers names a datum in the fence section is the picket fence, and it uses average ground level rather than the grade at any single point. The figure is 42 inches, for height allowed for a picket fence above average ground level.
- Corner lots
- Fort Myers does not lower a fence at an intersection, it opens it. The figure is 70 percent, for openness required inside the visibility area.
- Retaining walls
- Florida statute names a wall that holds back earth in one place, and it is about how many permits a town can charge for. It reaches a house, a duplex or a townhouse only.
- Materials
- A Fort Myers front yard fence has to be one uniform type of material, style and color, both frontages of a corner lot count as front yard for that purpose, and no parcel in any district may carry more than three different fence types, and the answer turns on the district, the yard, and the kind of wire.
- Livestock
- Florida sets a legal fence at three feet high, made of barbed or other soft wire, with at least three strands pulled tight on posts, trees or other supports no more than twenty feet apart. The figure is 3 feet, for height of a legal fence.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Fort Myers?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Fort Myers answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
On Fort Myers waterfront property a chain link fence may run right out to the seawall and project up to three feet beyond it, which is the opposite of the setback most cities impose at the water. Inland the rule runs the other way: an opaque fence or wall has to keep the front yard and street side yard setback of its district, with industrial districts allowed a twenty foot setback instead.
On waterfront property, chainlink fences may extend to the seawall and project up to three feet beyond.
3 ftdistance a chain link fence may project past a seawall
Also on fences on the property line in Fort Myers
- no rule, documents checkedFlorida has no law about splitting the cost of a fence on a boundary. Chapter 588 is about legal fences and livestock, and every section in it deals with fence strength, posted land and impounding animals. Chapter 704, which covers easements and rights of entry, says nothing about a boundary fence either. In Florida the split is whatever the two neighbors agree to. Fla. Stat. ch. 588Florida · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Fort Myers?
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Fort Myers answers this, but the answer changes depending on the zoning district, and whether the fence encloses a sports court.
Fort Myers states the limit in one line at the end of the section: six feet in a residential district and ten in a commercial or industrial one. Two things sit outside it. Fencing around a sports court, meaning a tennis, basketball, baseball or volleyball court, is exempt from the height limits altogether. And a picket fence is treated separately at forty two inches, bought with a uniform void of fifty percent seen square on.
The maximum fence height is six (6) feet in residential districts and ten (10) feet in commercial and industrial districts.
The answer turns on the zoning district, and whether the fence encloses a sports court.
- a residential district
- Six feet. 6 ft
- a commercial or industrial district
- Ten feet. 10 ft
- fencing around a sports court
- Exempt from the height limits.
Also on fence height in Fort Myers
- no rule, documents checkedFlorida sets no statewide limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. The only height in the fence chapter is the five foot floor that makes a fence a legal fence for holding livestock, which is a minimum for farm land and not a cap for a yard. The permit statute names no height either. Height comes from city and county ordinance. Fla. Stat. ch. 588Florida · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Fort Myers?
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Fort Myers answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Fort Myers opens its fence section with the permit rather than closing with it. An application for a fence permit is submitted to the city, and everything that follows in the section is framed as the conditions under which a fence or fence wall may then be permitted, so the height, material and visibility rules are read as permit conditions rather than as separate prohibitions.
An application for a fence permit shall be submitted to the city. Fences and fence walls may be permitted under the following regulations:
Also on permits in Fort Myers
- set in state lawFlorida runs one building code for the whole state and makes a permit the default for building work. The statute itself says nothing about fences. It does force a local government to skip the permit for work on a single family home worth under $7,500. The fence exemption by height is in the Florida Building Code, not in the statute. Fla. Stat. 553.79(1)(a)Florida · Statute
Pool fence requirements in Fort Myers
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Florida answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Florida requires a pool barrier at least four feet high, measured on the outside. The same section bars gaps or footholds that let a small child get under, through or over it. The barrier has to ring the pool itself and has to be separate from a yard fence, unless that yard fence runs along the pool and meets the same rules. Gates swing away from the pool and latch on their own.
This one is Florida law, not Fort Myers law. All Florida findings
The barrier must be at least 4 feet high on the outside.
4 ftresidential swimming pool barrier, measured on the outside
Spite fence laws in Fort Myers
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Fort Myers law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Florida has no spite fence law. The fence chapter sets no height that sets anything off and no rule about why a fence went up. Chapter 823, the public nuisance chapter, runs from bonfires to abandoned boats and never reaches a fence built to annoy a neighbor. A claim in Florida rests on common law nuisance instead, which is judge made rather than written by the legislature.
This one is Florida law, not Fort Myers law. All Florida findings
Documents read before writing that:
- Fla. Stat. ch. 588The Florida Senate
- Fla. Stat. ch. 823The Florida Senate
How fence height is measured in Fort Myers
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Fort Myers answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
The one place Fort Myers names a datum in the fence section is the picket fence, and it uses average ground level rather than the grade at any single point. Forty two inches is the ceiling, and the allowance is conditional on the fence keeping a uniform void or open area of fifty percent when viewed perpendicular to its face, so a picket fence that has been boarded up loses the allowance.
Picket fences may be as tall as 42 inches maximum height above average ground level, provided they have a uniform void or open area of 50 percent when viewed perpendicular to the fence.
42 inheight allowed for a picket fence above average ground level
Also on how height is measured in Fort Myers
- set in state lawFlorida answers the measuring question outright in its oldest fence section. A general fence stands at least five feet and keeps its gaps under four inches for the first two feet up from the ground. Where the fence is built with a trench beside it, those five feet run from the bottom of the ditch to the top of the fence. A bottom point and a top point, both named, which is the part most state fence rules leave out. The rule is about holding livestock. A yard fence in a Florida city is sized by local land development rules adopted under section 163.3202, and those rules carry their own way of measuring. Fla. Stat. 588.01Florida · Statute
Fence rules for corner lots in Fort Myers
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Fort Myers answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Fort Myers does not lower a fence at an intersection, it opens it. Inside the visibility area defined by section 134.2.21 a permitted fence has to be seventy percent open between two feet and nine feet above the centerline grades of the intersecting streets. The band is measured off the centerline grades of the roads rather than off the ground the fence stands on, and every fence, wall and hedge in the city is subject to the same section.
Permitted fences within the defined area for visibility at intersections must be 70 percent open between a height of two feet and nine feet above the centerline grades of intersecting streets.
70%openness required inside the visibility area
Also on corner visibility in Fort Myers
- set in state lawFlorida has a state rule about blocking a driver from seeing what is coming, and it is written about signs. Chapter 479 bans a sign on the inside of a curve, or placed any way that could keep road users from seeing approaching vehicles, next to a state highway or a federal aid primary road. Section 337.406 adds that using a state road right of way in a way that gets in the way of traffic is unlawful. Neither one draws a triangle on a corner lot. That is left to local land development rules. Fla. Stat. 479.11Florida · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in Fort Myers
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Florida answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Florida statute names a wall that holds back earth in one place, and it is about how many permits a town can charge for. When one wall runs across more than one lot, the local government has to issue a single permit for the whole job and cannot demand one for each lot the wall crosses. The rule is written for houses, duplexes and townhouses. It sets no height and it does not say how the wall has to be built.
This one is Florida law, not Fort Myers law. All Florida findings
If a retaining wall spans more than one lot or parcel, a local government that issues building permits must issue a permit for a retaining wall for the project as a whole and may not require a building permit for each lot or parcel upon which a retaining wall is installed on the property of a single-family or two-family residential dwelling or a townhouse.
Also on retaining walls in Fort Myers
- left to the townThe height at which a wall that holds back earth needs a permit is not in Florida statute. It is in the Florida Building Code, which the Florida Building Commission rewrites every three years from the newest International Building Code and International Residential Code. Once the commission adopts it, that code applies across the state with no vote by any city or county, and a local government may only make it stricter. Fla. Stat. 553.73(7)(a)Florida · Statute
Fence materials allowed in Fort Myers
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Fort Myers answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district, the yard, and the kind of wire.
A Fort Myers front yard fence has to be one uniform type of material, style and color, both frontages of a corner lot count as front yard for that purpose, and no parcel in any district may carry more than three different fence types. Chain link and wire fencing are out of a residential front yard and out of the street side of a corner lot, slats and fabric may not be woven through chain link except on a dumpster gate, and every chain link fence other than one at a single family home or an industrial use, poles and rails included, has to be green, brown or black plastic or vinyl coated. Barbed and electric wire are prohibited in every district except industrial and below six feet, and razor wire is prohibited everywhere but a correctional facility.
Fencing type utilized for the front yard shall be one uniform type of material, style and color. In the case of a corner lot, both street frontages shall be considered the front yard and subject to this requirement. The variety of fencing types in all districts is limited to three different types per parcel.
The answer turns on the district, the yard, and the kind of wire.
- any parcel in any district
- Three different fence types at most.
- a residential front yard or the street side of a corner lot
- No chain link or wire fencing.
- chain link other than at a single family home or an industrial use
- Green, brown or black plastic or vinyl coated, poles and rails included.
- barbed or electric wire
- Industrial districts only, and below six feet.
Also on materials in Fort Myers
- set in state lawFlorida describes its legal fence by the wire it uses. The fence stands at least three feet tall with three or more strands of barbed or other soft wire on supports no more than twenty feet apart. Battens let the supports stand farther apart, and an electric fence built with high tensile wire gets the widest spacing of all. Fla. Stat. 588.011Florida · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Fort Myers
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Florida answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Florida sets a legal fence at three feet high, made of barbed or other soft wire, with at least three strands pulled tight on posts, trees or other supports no more than twenty feet apart. With battens the supports may stand up to sixty feet apart for a plain fence and one hundred fifty feet for an electric one built with high tensile wire. Any other material that meets about the same specs counts, and gates are built to the same standard.
This one is Florida law, not Fort Myers law. All Florida findings
Any fence or enclosure at least 3 feet in height made of barbed or other soft wire consisting of not less than three strands of wire stretched securely on posts, trees, or other supports, standing not more than 20 feet apart
3 ftheight of a legal fence
Also on agricultural fencing in Fort Myers
- set in state lawFlorida runs one livestock law over the whole state, and holding the animals in is the owner's job. An owner who lets livestock run loose or stray onto a public road pays for all the injury and property damage that follows. Section 588.25 leaves county laws in place where they already require livestock to be penned, and fills the gap where they do not. Fla. Stat. 588.15Florida · Statute
Documents behind this page
10 documents, of which 1 was published by Fort Myers itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- The Florida Senate2026 Florida Statutes, Chapter 588, Legal Fences and Livestock at Large
- The Florida Senate2026 Florida Statutes, Chapter 704, Easements
- City of Fort MyersLand Development Code, Chapter 118, Section 118.3.8, Fences and Walls
- The Florida LegislatureThe 2026 Florida Statutes, Chapter 553, Part IV, Florida Building Code
- The Florida LegislatureThe 2026 Florida Statutes, Chapter 515, Residential Swimming Pool Safety Act
- The Florida Senate2026 Florida Statutes, Chapter 823, Public Nuisances
- The Florida Senate2026 Florida Statutes, Chapter 479, Outdoor Advertising, Section 479.11, Specified signs prohibited
- The Florida LegislatureThe 2026 Florida Statutes, Chapter 553, Part IV, Florida Building Code
- The Florida LegislatureThe 2026 Florida Statutes, Chapter 553, Part IV, Florida Building Code
- Florida LegislatureThe 2025 Florida Statutes, Title XLV, Chapter 588, Legal Fences and Livestock at Large
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 Fort Myers publishes, plus the Florida rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Florida 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