Fence laws in Naperville, Illinois
What the Naperville municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Naperville sets no rule of its own, the Illinois rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Naperville, Illinois, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Every Naperville fence fronting an existing or proposed road right of way, other than on a corner lot, has to include a gate giving access to that right of way. The figure is 10 feet, for clearance required on the padlocked side of a transformer.
- How tall
- Naperville works up in steps, and the answer turns on the district, the yard, and whether the fence faces a major arterial or a non-residential use. The figure is 4 feet, for open fence at the front or corner side lot line.
- Permits
- Naperville sets its permit threshold at three feet. The figure is 3 feet, for height above which a fence permit fee is due.
- Pool barriers
- Naperville sets no statewide pool barrier rule. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Spite fences
- Naperville has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Naperville leaves the measuring rule to the corporate authorities of each municipality.
- Corner lots
- Naperville draws a thirty foot triangle on every corner lot, measured equidistant along the property lines of the two abutting streets and closed with a diagonal. The figure is 30 feet, for leg of the corner visibility triangle.
- Retaining walls
- Naperville leaves retaining walls to the municipal or county residential building code, or the International Residential Code named in the construction contract. It reaches newly built homes only.
- Materials
- Naperville writes a materials rule for one named street and says why, and the answer turns on whether the fence is on Hobson Road, and the district. The figure is 6 feet, for tallest fence allowed on Hobson Road.
- Livestock
- Illinois calls a fence legal at four and a half feet tall and in good repair. The figure is 4.5 feet, for height of a legal fence.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Naperville?
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Naperville answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Every Naperville fence fronting an existing or proposed road right of way, other than on a corner lot, has to include a gate giving access to that right of way. The exception is a fence along a major arterial where a mandatory homeowners association maintains both the fence and the parkway behind it, and even then the Department of Public Utilities may require gates on particular lots. The finished side faces away from the lot the fence is built on. The utility clearances are written into the same section: five feet around every side of an electrical transformer, ten feet on the padlocked side, and five feet around an electrical pedestal, with a removable panel or a padlocked gate where the clearance cannot be met and every padlock issued by the city.
Every fence fronting onto an existing or proposed road right-of-way, except for corner lots, must include a gate giving access to the right-of-way.
10 ftclearance required on the padlocked side of a transformer
Also on fences on the property line in Naperville
- set in state lawIllinois makes both neighbors pay for a fence on the line between them, each one a fair share. Most of the section is about hedge fences. A hedge has to be cut back to four feet in the year after it turns seven, then trimmed to five feet at least every two years. An owner who has done the trimming can give the neighbor ten days written notice, do the work, and sue for the cost. Town officers called fence viewers settle the fights. 765 ILCS 130/3Illinois · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Naperville?
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Naperville answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district, the yard, and whether the fence faces a major arterial or a non-residential use.
Naperville works up in steps. In a residence district a fence of three feet may go anywhere behind the front or corner side yard lot lines, and an open fence of four feet may stand on those lines themselves. Six feet is allowed in an interior side or rear yard, and behind the corner side line, provided the fence comes no nearer the front lot line than the nearest wall of the house. Nine feet is allowed along any residential property line that abuts a non-residential use or a major arterial right of way. Subdivision perimeter fencing takes six feet along ordinary rights of way and nine along major arterials, and has to stay uniform in design and color. Business districts get three feet in the front and corner side setbacks and fifteen feet behind the building line, and industrial districts fifteen feet in any yard.
Fences up to nine (9) feet in height shall be permitted along any residential property line which abuts a non-residential use or abuts a major arterial right-of-way.
The answer turns on the district, the yard, and whether the fence faces a major arterial or a non-residential use.
- at the front or corner side yard lot line
- Three feet, or four for an open fence. 4 ft
- an interior side or rear yard, behind the house wall
- Six feet. 6 ft
- a residential line abutting a non-residential use or major arterial
- Nine feet. 9 ft
- a business or industrial district behind the building line
- Fifteen feet. 15 ft
Also on fence height in Naperville
- no rule, documents checkedIllinois sets no limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. The Fence Act names four and a half feet, but that is a floor for a farm fence that holds animals, and the same section lets a town meeting or the county board pick a different number. The state housing law sets no height either. A yard fence height comes from city zoning. 765 ILCS 130/2Illinois · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Naperville?
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Naperville answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Naperville sets its permit threshold at three feet. A fence permit fee has to be paid for every fence over that height before it is put up anywhere in the city, which means a low garden fence needs nothing and essentially every boundary fence needs a permit. The fee itself is set elsewhere in the code, at subsection 1-9H-1.3.7, rather than in the fence section.
A fence permit fee in accordance with Subsection 1-9H-1.3.7 of this Code shall be paid for all fences exceeding three (3) feet in height before a fence is erected on any property within the City.
3 ftheight above which a fence permit fee is due
Also on permits in Naperville
- set in state lawIllinois has no one statewide permit rule for work at a house. Where a town or county has no building code of its own, the Residential Building Code Act makes the builder and the buyer name a code in the building contract, and the International Residential Code applies when they name none. A separate law, in force since January 1, 2025, also requires a city or county code to be at least as strict as a recent model code on how a building is built to hold weight. Illinois Residential Building Code Act, Sec. 15Illinois · Statute
Pool fence requirements in Naperville
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Naperville law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Illinois writes no fence rule for a pool at a private home. The Swimming Pool Safety Act covers pools built for public swimming, and it says plainly that a pool at a private home used by the owner and guests is left out. The state Swimming Facility Code leaves the same pools out. What a home pool needs comes from the city or county and from whatever building code that place has adopted.
This one is Illinois law, not Naperville law. All Illinois findings
Documents read before writing that:
- 210 ILCS 130/1Illinois General Assembly
- 77 Ill. Adm. Code 820Illinois General Assembly, Joint Committee on Administrative Rules
Spite fence laws in Naperville
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Naperville law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Illinois has no spite fence law. The Fence Act covers who pays, what counts as a legal fence, and how hedges get trimmed. Nothing in it turns on why a fence was built. A fence put up to annoy a neighbor is fought in Illinois as a nuisance case in court, or under a city rule.
This one is Illinois law, not Naperville law. All Illinois findings
Documents read before writing that:
- 765 ILCS 130/3Illinois General Assembly
- 765 ILCS 130/2Illinois General Assembly
How fence height is measured in Naperville
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Naperville does not set this. It leaves it to the corporate authorities of each municipality.
Illinois never says where a fence height is measured from. The Illinois Municipal Code lets a city set the height and size of buildings, in one short line, and stops there. The Fence Act calls four and a half feet a legal fence and says nothing about the surface those feet start at. So the number and the way to measure it both come from the city.
This one is Illinois law, not Naperville law. All Illinois findings
(1) to regulate and limit the height and bulk of buildings hereafter to be erected;
The code hands this to the corporate authorities of each municipality, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence rules for corner lots in Naperville
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Naperville answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Naperville draws a thirty foot triangle on every corner lot, measured equidistant along the property lines of the two abutting streets and closed with a diagonal. Inside it no building or structure may be erected or maintained and no landscaping may be planted, grown or maintained where it would obstruct or obscure a driver’s view on either street. The rule is written as an outcome rather than a flat height, so what matters is whether the view is blocked rather than how tall the thing is, and it reaches planting as squarely as it reaches structures.
No buildings or structures shall be erected or maintained, nor any landscaping planted, grown or maintained within a triangular area determined by a diagonal line connecting two (2) points measured along the property lines of the abutting streets thirty (30) feet equidistant from the intersection of those property lines, so as to obstruct or obscure the vision of drivers of motor vehicles on either or both street(s).
30 ftleg of the corner visibility triangle
Also on corner visibility in Naperville
- set in state lawIllinois treats this as blocking the road. Under the Illinois Highway Code it is a petty offense to block a public highway, and running a fence onto one counts, unless the highway authority in charge gave permission. The fine runs from fifty to five hundred dollars, and more for each day the blockage stays after an order to take it out. That rule covers the road strip. A clear view triangle on private ground comes from city zoning. 605 ILCS 5/9-117Illinois · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in Naperville
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Naperville does not set this. It leaves it to the municipal or county residential building code, or the International Residential Code named in the construction contract.
Illinois has no statewide building code for homes, so no state law sets a height at which a wall that holds back dirt needs a permit. Where a town or county has its own building code, that code answers it. Where there is none, the Residential Building Code Act makes the builder and the buyer name a code in the building contract, and the current International Residential Code becomes part of that contract when they name none.
This one is Illinois law, not Naperville law. All Illinois findings
The home builder and the home purchaser may agree to adopt the International Residential Code or any municipal residential building code or county residential building code that is in effect on the first day of construction in any county or municipality that is within 100 miles of the location of the new home.
The code hands this to the municipal or county residential building code, or the International Residential Code named in the construction contract, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence materials allowed in Naperville
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Naperville answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence is on Hobson Road, and the district.
Naperville writes a materials rule for one named street and says why. To maintain the rural character of Hobson Road, board-on-board and chain link fences are prohibited there and the permitted list narrows to aluminum, wrought iron, PVC, split rail and three-board horse fencing, all of which has to be built and kept as open fencing and none of which may pass six feet. Elsewhere in the city the code names no material for a residential fence at all, and controls appearance instead through the finished side rule, the uniformity requirement on subdivision perimeter fencing, and a requirement in the industrial districts that any fence not meant to be decorative or to screen is buffered with berming or landscaping.
In order to maintain the rural character of Hobson Road, no board-on-board or chainlink fences shall be permitted along Hobson Road. Permitted fence types and materials shall be limited to aluminum, wrought iron, PVC, split rail, and three-board fences (horse fences).
6-2-12.1.10, 6-2-12.1.7 and 6-2-12.3.2
The answer turns on whether the fence is on Hobson Road, and the district.
- along Hobson Road
- Open aluminum, wrought iron, PVC, split rail or three-board only, and no more than six feet. 6 ft
- subdivision perimeter fencing
- Uniform in design and color.
- an industrial fence that is not decorative or screening
- Buffered with berming or landscaping.
Also on materials in Naperville
- set in state lawIllinois lists what a legal fence can be made of: rails, boards, stone, hedge, barbed wire, woven wire, or anything the town fence viewers judge just as good. The fence has to stand four and a half feet tall and be in good repair. 765 ILCS 130/2Illinois · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Naperville
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Illinois answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Illinois calls a fence legal at four and a half feet tall and in good repair. It can be rails, boards, stone, hedge, barbed wire, woven wire, or anything the town fence viewers judge just as good at keeping cattle, horses, sheep and hogs off the land next door. Voters at the yearly town meeting can set a different number for their own town. In a county with no townships, the county board sets it.
This one is Illinois law, not Naperville law. All Illinois findings
Fences four and one-half feet high, and in good repair, consisting of rails, timber boards, stone, hedges, barb wire, woven wire or whatever the fence viewers of the town or precinct where the same shall lie shall consider equivalent thereto suitable and sufficient to prevent cattle, horses, sheep, hogs and other stock from getting on the adjoining lands of another
4.5 ftheight of a legal fence
Also on agricultural fencing in Naperville
- set in state lawIllinois puts the duty on the animal owner, not on the neighbor. A separate act bans letting livestock roam loose anywhere in the state and tells owners to put up whatever it takes to hold them. The owner pays in court for the damage loose animals do. The one way out is showing the animals got out without the owner knowing, and that the owner had taken reasonable care to keep them in. 510 ILCS 55/1Illinois · Statute
Documents behind this page
10 documents, of which 1 was published by Naperville itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Illinois General AssemblyIllinois Compiled Statutes, Property, Fence Act
- City of NapervilleMunicipal Code, Title 6, Chapter 2, Section 6-2-12, Fences
- Illinois General AssemblyIllinois Compiled Statutes, Property, Fence Act, Legal and sufficient fences
- Illinois General AssemblyIllinois Compiled Statutes, Illinois Residential Building Code Act
- Illinois General AssemblyIllinois Compiled Statutes, Health Facilities and Regulation, Swimming Pool Safety Act
- Illinois General Assembly, Joint Committee on Administrative RulesIllinois Administrative Code, Title 77, Part 820, Swimming Facility Code
- Illinois General AssemblyIllinois Compiled Statutes, 65 ILCS 5, Illinois Municipal Code, Article 11, Division 13, Section 11-13-1
- Illinois General AssemblyIllinois Compiled Statutes, 605 ILCS 5, Illinois Highway Code, Article 9, Section 9-117
- Illinois General AssemblyIllinois Compiled Statutes, Chapter 765, Fence Act
- Illinois General AssemblyIllinois Compiled Statutes, 510 ILCS 55, Domestic Animals Running at Large Act
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 Naperville publishes, plus the Illinois rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Illinois 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