Fence laws in Pocatello, Idaho
What the Pocatello municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Pocatello sets no rule of its own, the Idaho rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Pocatello, 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
- Pocatello opens its regulations with one flat sentence: no fence shall exceed seven feet in height, and the answer turns on whether the fence stands in a setback or a sight triangle. The figure is 7 feet, for maximum height for any fence in the city.
- Permits
- Nobody may erect or construct a fence in Pocatello, or cause one to be erected, without a permit from the building department first, with no height threshold and no material threshold.
- 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
- Pocatello has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Pocatello names a datum exactly once and it is at the corner: three feet above the existing centerline street elevation, and the answer turns on whether the height is a corner figure or a general one.
- Corner lots
- No fence, hedge or walled enclosure over three feet above the existing centerline street elevation may be built inside the sight triangle formed from where the edges of two intersecting streets meet, running forty feet in each direction, and the answer turns on whether the fence is open and what meets what at the corner. The figure is 40 feet, for distance in each direction forming the street sight triangle.
- Retaining walls
- Pocatello 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
- No fence in Pocatello may be electrified, stated flatly with no exception for agriculture or for security, and the answer turns on the material and the zone.
- Livestock
- Idaho is an open range state.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Pocatello?
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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 Pocatello 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 Pocatello
- 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 checkedChapter 15.28 never states a distance between a fence and a property line. What it does instead is borrow the setbacks the zoning ordinance already draws and use them to change the height: four feet inside a front setback, four feet inside a side setback on a corner lot whose rear line abuts a neighbor’s side line, and seven feet everywhere else. So a fence may stand on the boundary at whatever height applies where it stands, and the setback lines govern how tall rather than how close. The permit application does have to show the property lines and the dimensions of the site along with the proposed fence lines, which is how the building department checks that the fence is on the right land, but the chapter states no clearance from a neighbor, a sidewalk, a utility or a hydrant. Section 15.28.030Pocatello · Building code
How tall can a fence be in Pocatello?
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Pocatello answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence stands in a setback or a sight triangle.
Pocatello opens its regulations with one flat sentence: no fence shall exceed seven feet in height. That is a citywide ceiling with no district variation, and seven feet is taller than the six most cities settle on. The reductions come from where the fence stands rather than from what district it is in. No fence over four feet may be built within the area the zoning ordinance designates as a front setback. Where the rear lot line of a corner lot abuts the side property line of a lot facing the side street, no fence, hedge or walled enclosure over four feet may be built within the area designated for a side setback, which protects the neighbor whose front door faces that street. Inside a sight triangle the limit drops to three feet, and the code supplies diagrams for the corner lot cases.
No fence shall exceed seven feet (7’) in height.
The answer turns on whether the fence stands in a setback or a sight triangle.
- anywhere in the city
- Seven feet. 7 ft
- a front setback
- Four feet. 4 ft
- a corner lot side setback facing a neighbor
- Four feet.
- a sight triangle
- Three feet. 3 ft
Also on fence height in Pocatello
- 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 Pocatello?
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Pocatello answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Nobody may erect or construct a fence in Pocatello, or cause one to be erected, without a permit from the building department first, with no height threshold and no material threshold. Where a contractor builds it the permit may be issued in the contractor’s name, and the code then closes the gap that usually follows: nothing in the chapter relieves the person who hired the contractor of the duty to confirm that a permit was actually issued. The fee is set annually by resolution of the city council. The application is a site plan carrying the names, addresses and telephone numbers of both the owner and the fence contractor, the address of the site, a statement of the materials to be used, and a diagram showing the property lines and dimensions, the proposed location of the fencing, the length of each fence line, the height of each section, and where materials change from section to section.
No person shall erect or construct, or cause to be erected or constructed, any fence within the city without having been issued a permit by the building department prior to such erection or construction.
Also on permits in Pocatello
- set in state lawIdaho 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. Idaho Code 39-4109Idaho · Building code
- 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
Pool fence requirements in Pocatello
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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 Pocatello 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 Pocatello
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Pocatello 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 Pocatello 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 Pocatello
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Pocatello answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the height is a corner figure or a general one.
Pocatello names a datum exactly once and it is at the corner: three feet above the existing centerline street elevation. That is the middle of the road rather than the curb or the ground the fence stands on, and the word existing rules out measuring against a future grade. The seven foot citywide maximum and the two four foot setback figures carry no datum at all, so nothing says whether they are read from the ground the fence stands on, from the neighbor’s side, or from an average. A berm is not addressed. A fence standing on a retaining wall is not addressed. What the permit application does capture is the height of each section of the fence and the location of materials where they change from section to section, which at least means a fence following a slope is described on paper before it is built.
Proposed location of fencing, length of fence lines, height of each section of the fencing, and location of materials used if materials differ from section to section.
The answer turns on whether the height is a corner figure or a general one.
- a sight triangle
- Above the existing centerline street elevation.
- the seven foot maximum
- No datum named.
- a fence on a slope
- Each section described on the application.
- a berm or a retaining wall
- Not addressed.
Also on how height is measured in Pocatello
- set in state lawIdaho 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. Idaho Code 35-101Idaho · Statute
Fence rules for corner lots in Pocatello
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Pocatello answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence is open and what meets what at the corner.
No fence, hedge or walled enclosure over three feet above the existing centerline street elevation may be built inside the sight triangle formed from where the edges of two intersecting streets meet, running forty feet in each direction. The code then gives the building official a discretion most cities do not: chain link or similar open fences up to four feet may be approved in that triangle where the official determines the sight obstruction from such a fence will not constitute a traffic hazard. So an open fence buys a foot on a judgment call rather than by a stated percentage. An alley gets its own, smaller triangle, ten feet in each direction from the corner of the intersection, with the same three foot limit. The datum in both cases is the existing centerline street elevation, so the middle of the road is the reference rather than the curb or the lot.
No fence, hedge or walled enclosure greater than three feet (3’) in height above the existing centerline street elevation shall be constructed within the sight triangle formed from the point of intersection of the edges of two (2) intersecting streets in each direction for a distance of forty feet (40’).
The answer turns on whether the fence is open and what meets what at the corner.
- a street corner
- Forty feet each way, three feet high. 40 ft
- an open chain link fence there
- Four feet, if the official agrees.
- an alley
- Ten feet each way. 10 ft
- the datum
- The existing centerline street elevation.
Also on corner visibility in Pocatello
- 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 Pocatello
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Pocatello 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 Pocatello 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 Pocatello
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Pocatello answers this, but the answer changes depending on the material and the zone.
No fence in Pocatello may be electrified, stated flatly with no exception for agriculture or for security. Barbed wire is prohibited except along the top and bottom of approved security fences in the light industrial, commercial general and industrial zones, and getting that approval takes two things: the applicant has to demonstrate good cause for the use and show that what is requested will not constitute a hazard to public safety. If the request is refused, the building official has to inform the applicant in writing and give the reasons, which is a due process step almost no other fence ordinance in this project includes. Beyond those two rules the chapter names no permitted or prohibited material, requiring only that all fencing be maintained in good condition, and the permit application carries a statement of the materials to be used.
The use of barbed wire is prohibited except along the top and bottom of approved security fences in light industrial, commercial general, and industrial zones.
The answer turns on the material and the zone.
- an electric fence
- Never.
- barbed wire at an industrial site
- Top and bottom, on good cause.
- a refusal
- In writing, with reasons.
- any other material
- Not named, but kept in good condition.
Also on materials in Pocatello
- 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 Pocatello
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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 Pocatello 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 Pocatello
- 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 Pocatello 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 PocatelloPocatello City Code, Title 15, Chapter 15.28, Fence Construction
- 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 Pocatello 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