Fence laws in Miami Gardens, Florida
What the Miami Gardens municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Miami Gardens sets no rule of its own, the Florida rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Miami Gardens, Florida, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- A Miami Gardens wall, fence or hedge may sit on the property line, and the code then closes the two ways that usually leaks into public land: nothing may extend beyond the official right of way or property line, and no fence, wall, gate or opening may swing, roll or otherwise encroach into the right of way. The figure is 3 feet, for clearance kept around a fire hydrant or emergency apparatus.
- How tall
- Miami Gardens sets the limits in a table that runs across every district, and the answer turns on the zoning district, the yard, and whether the barrier is a fence, a wall or a hedge. The figure is 6 feet, for fence or wall in the R-1 and R-2 districts.
- Permits
- Every fence, wall and hedge in Miami Gardens goes through zoning clearance and building permit procedures, and the code puts teeth on the requirement by holding back the paperwork that lets a building open: neither a certificate of occupancy nor a certificate of use issues until the required fences, walls and screening hedges are actually built.
- 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
- Miami Gardens has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Miami Gardens measures a fence from the average elevation of the finished building site, and the code sets out how to work that average out: take elevations along both sides of the fence line at five foot intervals, add them and divide by the number of readings. The figure is 20 percent, for most a decorative column may add above the permitted height.
- Corner lots
- The Miami Gardens safe sight distance triangle is built from the driver’s point of view rather than from the corner of the lot, and the answer turns on the class of the through street the driveway or road enters. The figure is 260 feet, for long leg of the triangle at an arterial road.
- 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
- Chain link in Miami Gardens may only go behind the front building line, and the answer turns on the district, the yard, and whether the lot is vacant.
- 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 Miami Gardens?
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Miami Gardens answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A Miami Gardens wall, fence or hedge may sit on the property line, and the code then closes the two ways that usually leaks into public land: nothing may extend beyond the official right of way or property line, and no fence, wall, gate or opening may swing, roll or otherwise encroach into the right of way. In the planned corridor, neighborhood commercial and office districts a fence or wall facing a right of way moves back two feet from the line and takes a continuous hedge. Nothing anywhere may be built within three feet of a fire hydrant, water connection or other emergency apparatus.
No fence, wall, gate, or opening shall be permitted to swing, roll or otherwise encroach into the right-of-way.
3 ftclearance kept around a fire hydrant or emergency apparatus
Also on fences on the property line in Miami Gardens
- 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 Miami Gardens?
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Miami Gardens answers this, but the answer changes depending on the zoning district, the yard, and whether the barrier is a fence, a wall or a hedge.
Miami Gardens sets the limits in a table that runs across every district. R-1 and R-2 get six feet, dropping to five in the front yard, with a hedge allowed eight. The other residential districts get six feet and the same eight foot hedge. Commercial, office, industrial, government and the overlay districts get eight feet for both. Four adjustments sit under the table: a visual screening buffer at the rear of a double frontage lot may go to eight feet whatever the district allows, nothing may pass two and a half feet in the sight triangle, nothing may pass two and a half feet within ten feet of a driveway unless it is a residential fence no more than twenty five percent opaque, and a tennis court fence may reach fourteen feet.
Fences, and walls for tennis courts may be erected up to 14 feet in height if such fence conforms to accessory use setbacks.
The answer turns on the zoning district, the yard, and whether the barrier is a fence, a wall or a hedge.
- the R-1 and R-2 districts
- Six feet, five in the front yard, hedge eight. 6 ft
- the R-1 and R-2 front yard
- Five feet. 5 ft
- the commercial, office, industrial and overlay districts
- Eight feet, hedge eight. 8 ft
- a tennis court fence meeting accessory use setbacks
- Fourteen feet. 14 ft
Also on fence height in Miami Gardens
- 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 Miami Gardens?
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Miami Gardens answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Every fence, wall and hedge in Miami Gardens goes through zoning clearance and building permit procedures, and the code puts teeth on the requirement by holding back the paperwork that lets a building open: neither a certificate of occupancy nor a certificate of use issues until the required fences, walls and screening hedges are actually built. Keeping them safe and nonhazardous afterwards is the owner’s job.
A certificate of occupancy or certificate of use shall not be issued until all required fences, walls, or screening hedges are erected, constructed, or installed.
Also on permits in Miami Gardens
- 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 Miami Gardens
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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 Miami Gardens 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 Miami Gardens
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Miami Gardens 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 Miami Gardens 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 Miami Gardens
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Miami Gardens answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Miami Gardens measures a fence from the average elevation of the finished building site, and the code sets out how to work that average out: take elevations along both sides of the fence line at five foot intervals, add them and divide by the number of readings. Raising or lowering virgin land to move the answer is ruled out unless the whole building site is graded level or brought up to the county flood criteria elevation. Decorative columns and other architectural features are left out of the height, provided they add no more than twenty percent on top of what the fence is allowed.
The height of a wall, fence or hedge shall be the vertical distance measured from the average elevation of the finished building site to the top of the wall, hedge or fence. The average elevation shall be measured along both sides of the wall, hedge or fence line.
20%most a decorative column may add above the permitted height
Also on how height is measured in Miami Gardens
- 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 Miami Gardens
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Miami Gardens answers this, but the answer changes depending on the class of the through street the driveway or road enters.
The Miami Gardens safe sight distance triangle is built from the driver’s point of view rather than from the corner of the lot. It starts in the center of the lane or driveway, fourteen feet back from the edge of the nearest travel lane of the through street, then runs left and right to the center of the closest approaching lane. On an arterial with a right of way over eighty feet the left leg is two hundred and sixty feet and the right forty. On a collector it is one hundred and ninety and forty. On a local road of fifty feet or less there is no triangle. Inside one, nothing hard or planted may stand two and a half feet or taller, and a waiver has to be asked for in writing from the director of public works.
No hardscape elements (rocks, walls, fences, etc.) two and one-half feet tall or taller may be proposed within the safe site distance triangle.
The answer turns on the class of the through street the driveway or road enters.
- entering an arterial road with a right of way over eighty feet
- Two hundred and sixty feet one way, forty the other. 260 ft
- entering a collector road
- One hundred and ninety feet one way, forty the other. 190 ft
- entering a local road with a right of way of fifty feet or less
- No triangle.
Also on corner visibility in Miami Gardens
- 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 Miami Gardens
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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 Miami Gardens 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 Miami Gardens
- 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 Miami Gardens
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Miami Gardens answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district, the yard, and whether the lot is vacant.
Chain link in Miami Gardens may only go behind the front building line. It is prohibited in every district’s front yard and side street yard and along any property line facing a right of way, and where it is allowed it has to be vinyl coated in green or black, with bare metal and galvanized barred. The industrial districts, the government property district and agricultural land in bona fide agricultural use are outside that restriction. Barbed wire, electrical elements and other hazardous materials are out of residential districts, allowed elsewhere only after an administrative variance or waiver, and the top of any chain link or cyclone fence has to be crimped. A vacant lot may carry split rail fencing and nothing else, approved by the planning and zoning director, and it has to leave the lot fully visible.
Notwithstanding anything in the code to the contrary, chain link fences shall only be permitted behind the front building line.
The answer turns on the district, the yard, and whether the lot is vacant.
- a front yard or side street yard in any district
- No chain link.
- chain link where it is allowed
- Vinyl coated green or black, never bare metal or galvanized.
- the I-1, I-2 and GP districts, or agricultural land in bona fide agricultural use
- The chain link restriction does not apply.
- a vacant lot
- Split rail only, approved by the planning and zoning director.
Also on materials in Miami Gardens
- 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 Miami Gardens
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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 Miami Gardens 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 Miami Gardens
- 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 Miami Gardens 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 Miami GardensCode of Ordinances, Land Development Code, Chapter 34, Article XIV, Section 34-446, Fences, walls and perimeter hedges; sight triangles
- 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 Miami Gardens 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