Fence laws in Idaho Falls, Idaho
What the Idaho Falls municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Idaho Falls sets no rule of its own, the Idaho rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Idaho Falls, Idaho, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- When two Idaho neighbors share one enclosure and one of them needs a partition fence, the other has to build half of it once told in writing.
- How tall
- Idaho Falls sets no general maximum fence height anywhere in its zoning title, and the answer turns on how close to the street the fence stands and whether it obscures sight. The figure is 3 feet, for sight obscuring fence within fifteen feet of the front yard lot line.
- Permits
- Idaho runs a real statewide residential code.
- Pool barriers
- Idaho sets the pool barrier height by the size of the pool, which almost no other state does, and the answer turns on the surface area of the pool. The figure is 4 feet, for barrier around a public pool under 1,800 square feet. It reaches public pools, not a pool serving a single home only.
- Spite fences
- Idaho Falls has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Idaho names the ground in its lawful fence section. The figure is 20 inches, for bottom board, rail, pole or wire of a lawful fence, measured above the ground. It reaches a lawful fence under the state fence law only.
- Corner lots
- A clear view triangle is established in every zone that requires buildings to be set back from the right-of-way, by drawing a line between points thirty feet from the intersection on each of the two lot lines, and that triangle has to stay free of structures and other obstructions. The figure is 30 feet, for distance along each lot line from the intersection forming the clear view triangle.
- Retaining walls
- Idaho Falls leaves retaining walls to the 2018 International Residential Code, adopted by the Idaho building code board. It reaches one and two family homes only.
- Materials
- Idaho Falls names one material and names it twice, for opposite purposes, and the answer turns on whether the fence has to screen something or only avoid obscuring sight. The figure is 6 feet, for usual minimum height for a required opaque fence or masonry wall.
- Livestock
- Idaho is an open range state.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Idaho Falls?
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Idaho answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
When two Idaho neighbors share one enclosure and one of them needs a partition fence, the other has to build half of it once told in writing. The fence goes on the property line or as near it as practical. If the notified party does not finish that half within six months of the notice, the party who gave notice may build the whole fence, collect half the cost by law, and hold a lien on the other tract. A lien is a claim against the land that stays until the money is paid.
This one is Idaho law, not Idaho Falls law. All Idaho findings
And if, after notice given in writing, either party fails to erect and complete, within six (6) months time thereafter, one-half (1/2) of such fence, the party giving the notice may proceed to erect the entire partition fence and collect by law one-half the costs of such fence from the other party, and he has a lien upon the land thus partitioned.
Also on fences on the property line in Idaho Falls
- set in state lawIdaho splits a line fence by a plain rule. Standing on his own land and facing the neighbor, each owner takes the half on his left, builds it and keeps it in repair. The two may agree to a different split. An owner who leaves his land unfenced is not held to the duty. A party who makes the fence stronger on his own pays that extra cost alone, unless the neighbor later pastures hogs, sheep or goats against it. Idaho Code 35-104Idaho · Statute
- set in state lawNeighbors who cannot agree on the split go to court. Either party may ask a magistrate judge, on five days notice, to appoint three viewers. The viewers may question witnesses under oath and look at the property, then set the split in writing. That written decision is filed with the county recorder and binds both sides. Idaho Code 35-106Idaho · Statute
- no rule, documents checkedThe zoning title states no distance between a fence and a property line. The front yard rule measures a strip inward from the front lot line and limits what may stand in it, which is a height rule rather than a setback, and the clear view triangles are drawn from lot lines only to establish a shape. Nowhere does the title say how close a fence may come to a neighbor, so a fence may stand on a side or rear boundary. The setbacks that do appear beside the fence rules belong to other things: a swimming pool not completely enclosed within a solid walled building is set back at least five feet from all property lines, and an accessory building attached to a main building is governed by the rules for main buildings. Where landscaping buffers are required, the opaque fence or masonry wall that satisfies them is placed within the buffer rather than held off the line. Section 11-4-8Idaho Falls · Zoning code
How tall can a fence be in Idaho Falls?
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Idaho Falls answers this, but the answer changes depending on how close to the street the fence stands and whether it obscures sight.
Idaho Falls sets no general maximum fence height anywhere in its zoning title. The one limit is a strip along the street: no fence, wall, hedge or other sight obscuring object or structure more than three feet high is allowed within fifteen feet of the front yard lot line contiguous to a street. Three things follow from how that sentence is built. It reaches a hedge and any other sight obscuring structure, not only a fence. It is a strip fifteen feet deep rather than a whole front yard, so a lot with a deep setback may have a tall fence in the part of the front yard beyond the strip. And it catches only what obscures sight, which the code then defines against itself by saying a chain link fence without slats is not sight obscuring. Behind that strip the title states no ceiling at all, leaving the answer to the building code and to any private covenants.
No fence, wall, hedge, or other sight obscuring object or structure which is more than three feet (3’) in height is allowed within fifteen feet (15’) of the front yard lot line contiguous to a street.
The answer turns on how close to the street the fence stands and whether it obscures sight.
- within fifteen feet of the front line
- Three feet, if it obscures sight. 3 ft
- the depth of that strip
- Fifteen feet. 15 ft
- behind the strip
- No height stated.
- a bare chain link fence
- Not sight obscuring, so not caught.
Also on fence height in Idaho Falls
- no rule, documents checkedIdaho sets no statewide limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. The heights that do appear in state law are floors for a lawful fence in livestock country, not caps on a yard fence. Section 35-101 sets a floor of four and one half feet, and section 35-102 gives board, rail and wire heights for each kind of fence. A limit on a yard fence comes from city and county zoning. Idaho Code 35-101Idaho · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Idaho Falls?
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Idaho answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Idaho runs a real statewide residential code. Section 39-4109 makes the version of the International Residential Code picked by the Idaho building code board, plus that board's own changes, the Idaho residential code. The board moves to a newer version through negotiated rulemaking, and the version already picked stays in force until it does.
This one is Idaho law, not Idaho Falls law. All Idaho findings
The version of the International Residential Code adopted by the Idaho building code board, together with the amendments, revisions or modifications adopted by the Idaho building code board through the negotiated rulemaking process
Also on permits in Idaho Falls
- set in state lawIdaho keeps farm buildings outside the building code. Barns, livestock shelters, poultry buildings, greenhouses, grain silos, stables and like storage buildings are exempt. Places people live in, plants where farm products get processed, and buildings open to public use are not. A county may still issue a farm building permit, but only to check road setbacks and utility easements, and only at what it actually costs. Idaho Code 39-4116Idaho · Building code
- no rule, documents checkedTitle 11 sets the front yard limit, the clear view triangles and the screening requirements, and never mentions a fence permit, a fee or an application. The approvals it does create belong to other things entirely: moving a building from one site to another takes the Zoning Administrator’s approval, and a boat dock on the Snake River takes the Council’s. Where a fence forms part of a required landscape buffer or screen, it is reviewed with the development plan rather than on its own. Any obligation to obtain a building permit for a fence would come from the building code the city has adopted rather than from the zoning title, which is where most cities put the threshold when the zoning code is silent. Section 11-4-8Idaho Falls · Zoning code
Pool fence requirements in Idaho Falls
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Idaho answers this, but the answer changes depending on the surface area of the pool.
Idaho sets the pool barrier height by the size of the pool, which almost no other state does. A public pool under one thousand eight hundred square feet needs a four foot barrier around it. A public pool that size or bigger needs eight feet, the tallest figure in this record. Both rules reach public pools only, so a pool behind a house is outside them and falls to the local building code instead.
This one is Idaho law, not Idaho Falls law. All Idaho findings
A fence or barrier a minimum of eight (8) feet high to exclude unauthorized persons from the pool area must enclose each public pool with one thousand eight hundred (1,800) square feet of surface area, or greater.
The answer turns on the surface area of the pool.
- a public pool with less than 1,800 square feet of surface area
- The barrier around it stands at least four feet high and keeps people out of the pool area. 4 ft
- a public pool with 1,800 square feet of surface area or more
- The barrier doubles to at least eight feet, the tallest pool barrier figure in this record. 8 ft
Spite fence laws in Idaho Falls
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Idaho Falls law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Idaho has no spite fence law. The fences chapter runs from section 35-101 through 35-112 and covers lawful fence specs, partition fences, cost splits, viewers, surveys and gates, with nothing about spite and no height that sets anything off. The general nuisance chapter defines public and private nuisance without naming fences at all.
This one is Idaho law, not Idaho Falls law. All Idaho findings
Documents read before writing that:
- Idaho Code tit. 35, ch. 1Idaho State Legislature
- Idaho Code tit. 52, ch. 1Idaho State Legislature
- Idaho Code 52-101Idaho State Legislature
How fence height is measured in Idaho Falls
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Idaho answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Idaho names the ground in its lawful fence section. A lawful fence has to be at least four and one half feet high, and the bottom board, rail, pole or wire has to sit no more than twenty inches above the ground. The bottom of the fence is tied to the ground in plain words. The four and one half feet is still a bare number, so a fence running down a slope is left open. That section is about keeping stock in. A yard fence is sized under the Local Land Use Planning Act, where section 67-6511 lets the local governing board set height rules district by district.
This one is Idaho law, not Idaho Falls law. All Idaho findings
A lawful fence, except as hereinafter provided, must be not less than four and one-half (4 1/2) feet high, and the bottom board, rail, pole or wire must not be more than twenty (20") inches above the ground, and the space between the top and bottom board, rail, pole or wire must be well divided.
20 inbottom board, rail, pole or wire of a lawful fence, measured above the ground
Also on how height is measured in Idaho Falls
- no rule, documents checkedThe title states three feet for a fence in the front strip and three feet for a fence in a clear view triangle, and never says what either is measured from. No grade, no curb, no finished ground level. The one datum in the neighborhood belongs to a tree: branches and leaves in a clear view triangle have to be cleared from ground level to at least eight feet above the curb, so the curb is named for vegetation and not for fencing. A berm is not addressed. A fence standing on a retaining wall is not addressed. A fence running down a slope is not addressed, and nothing says whose side of a boundary the height is read from. Because the title sets no general fence height, the gap matters less than it would elsewhere, but it still leaves the front yard strip open to argument on a sloping lot. Section 11-4-8(C)Idaho Falls · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Idaho Falls
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Idaho Falls answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A clear view triangle is established in every zone that requires buildings to be set back from the right-of-way, by drawing a line between points thirty feet from the intersection on each of the two lot lines, and that triangle has to stay free of structures and other obstructions. A second, smaller triangle is drawn at every alley and driveway: fifteen feet along the lot line from the alley or driveway, and fifteen feet from the lot line along the near side of the alley or driveway. Inside either one, shrubs, fences and walls may not exceed three feet. A tree in a clear view triangle has to be clear of branches and leaves from the ground up to at least eight feet above the curb. The fence section is expressly subordinated to all of this: nothing in it may be read to permit a sight obscuring structure that violates the clear view triangle requirements.
Shrubs, fences and walls in such triangles shall not exceed three feet (3’) in height.
30 ftdistance along each lot line from the intersection forming the clear view triangle
Also on corner visibility in Idaho Falls
- set in state lawIdaho names fences by name, but only where they cross onto the road. Title 40, chapter 23 lets a county or highway district order the removal of anything pushing onto a highway or public right of way, and it lists gates, fences and buildings as examples. If the thing actually blocks the road or makes it unsafe, the district may take it out with no notice at all. Nothing in the chapter measures a wedge at an intersection or caps a fence height near a corner, so the triangle itself comes from city and county ordinances under Title 67, chapter 65. Idaho Code 40-2319Idaho · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in Idaho Falls
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Idaho Falls does not set this. It leaves it to the 2018 International Residential Code, adopted by the Idaho building code board.
Idaho prints no retaining wall rule in its own text. The state building code rules adopt Parts I, II, III and IX of the 2018 International Residential Code for one and two family homes, then list every change Idaho makes to it. Those changes reach the pool depth line and add flag poles to the list of work that needs no permit. They leave the model code's retaining wall line alone, so the answer for a wall that holds back earth is whatever the model code says.
This one is Idaho law, not Idaho Falls law. All Idaho findings
International Residential Code, 2018 Edition. Parts I, II, III, and IX of the 2018 Edition for one (1)- and two (2)- family dwellings, with the following amendments:
The code hands this to the 2018 International Residential Code, adopted by the Idaho building code board, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence materials allowed in Idaho Falls
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Idaho Falls answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence has to screen something or only avoid obscuring sight.
Idaho Falls names one material and names it twice, for opposite purposes. In the fence section, a chain link fence without slats is not considered sight obscuring, which takes it out of the three foot limit along the front lot line and lets it stand tall across a front yard. In the landscaping and screening rules the same material is disqualified the other way, because an opaque fence does not include chain link fencing with or without slats, so it cannot satisfy a screening requirement even when it is filled in. No other material is named for an ordinary fence: barbed wire, razor wire and electric fencing do not appear in the zoning title. The screening rules ask for an opaque fence or masonry wall of at least six feet in several places, and up to ten feet where materials or parts are stored outdoors.
For the purposes of this subsection, a chain-link fence without slats shall not be considered sight obscuring.
The answer turns on whether the fence has to screen something or only avoid obscuring sight.
- bare chain link out front
- Not sight obscuring.
- chain link as a screen
- Not opaque, slats or no slats.
- a required screen
- Six feet of opaque fence or masonry. 6 ft
- barbed, razor or electric wire
- Not mentioned in the zoning title.
Also on materials in Idaho Falls
- set in state lawIdaho gives barbed wire its own chapter inside the fence title, and what it controls is loose wire rather than whether a fence may use it. Leaving barbed wire down or strewn on the ground where livestock can be hurt on it is against the law. Idaho Code 35-301Idaho · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Idaho Falls
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Idaho answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Idaho is an open range state. A person who owns or controls a farm animal grazing on open range has no duty to keep it off a highway crossing that range, and does not pay when a vehicle hits it. Open range means unfenced land outside cities, villages and herd districts where livestock graze by custom, license, lease or permit. So keeping livestock out falls to the neighboring land rather than to the stock owner.
This one is Idaho law, not Idaho Falls law. All Idaho findings
No person owning, or controlling the possession of, any domestic animal running on open range, shall have the duty to keep such animal off any highway on such range, and shall not be liable for damage to any vehicle or for injury to any person riding therein, caused by a collision between the vehicle and the animal.
Also on agricultural fencing in Idaho Falls
- set in state lawIdaho defines the lawful fence that the open range and herd district rules lean on. It has to stand at least four and one half feet high. The bottom board, rail, pole or wire sits no more than twenty inches off the ground, and the space between top and bottom has to be well divided. Idaho Code 35-101Idaho · Statute
- set in state lawIdaho spells out the wire version of a lawful fence. Posts stand no more than twenty four feet apart, with three solid stays spaced evenly between them. The fence takes at least three barbed wires, or four coiled spring wires of number nine gauge or heavier, fastened to every post and stay. Idaho Code 35-102Idaho · Statute
- set in state lawA majority of the property owners in an area can petition the county commissioners for a herd district, which bars the named livestock from running loose inside it. Everything outside those districts, and outside cities and villages, stays open range. Taxable property owners inside a herd district pay to build and keep up the legal fences and cattle guards along the border with open range. Idaho Code 25-2402(3)Idaho · Statute
Documents behind this page
17 documents, of which 1 was published by Idaho Falls itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Idaho State LegislatureIdaho Statutes, Title 35, Chapter 1, Section 35-103, Erection of partition fences
- Idaho State LegislatureIdaho Statutes, Title 35, Chapter 1, Section 35-104, Care of fences by adjoining owners
- Idaho State LegislatureIdaho Statutes, Title 35, Chapter 1, Section 35-106, Disagreement between owners, viewers
- City of Idaho FallsCity of Idaho Falls Municipal Code, Title 11, Comprehensive Zoning
- Idaho State LegislatureIdaho Statutes, Title 35, Chapter 1, Section 35-101, Lawful fences in general
- Idaho State LegislatureIdaho Statutes, Title 35, Chapter 1, Section 35-102, Lawful fences described
- Idaho State LegislatureIdaho Statutes, Title 39, Chapter 41, Section 39-4109, Application of codes
- Idaho State LegislatureIdaho Statutes, Title 39, Chapter 41, Section 39-4116
- Idaho Office of the Administrative Rules CoordinatorIDAPA 16.02.14, Construction and Operation of Public Swimming Pools, Section 300, Fence and Barriers
- Idaho State LegislatureIdaho Statutes, Title 35, Chapter 1, Fences, full section list
- Idaho State LegislatureIdaho Statutes, Title 52, Chapter 1, Nuisances in General, full section list
- Idaho State LegislatureIdaho Statutes, Title 52, Chapter 1, Section 52-101, Nuisance defined
- Idaho State LegislatureIdaho Statutes, Title 40, Chapter 23, Section 40-2319, Encroachments, removal, notice, penalty for failure to remove, removal by county or highway district, abatement
- Idaho Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses, Idaho Building Code BoardIdaho Administrative Code, IDAPA 24.39.30, Rules of Building Safety (Building Code Rules)
- Idaho LegislatureIdaho Statutes, Title 35, Chapter 3, Barbed Wire
- Idaho State LegislatureIdaho Statutes, Title 25, Chapter 21, Section 25-2118, Animals on open range, no duty to keep from highway
- Idaho State LegislatureIdaho Statutes, Title 25, Chapter 24, Section 25-2402, Petition and requirements for district
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 Idaho Falls publishes, plus the Idaho rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Idaho 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