Fence laws in Kansas City, Kansas
What the Kansas City municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Kansas City sets no rule of its own, the Kansas rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Kansas City, Kansas, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Kansas splits a shared boundary fence between the two neighbors.
- How tall
- Kansas City sets no maximum fence height. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Permits
- The reason Chapter 27 has so little to say about an ordinary fence is in its definitions.
- Pool barriers
- Kansas sets a pool fence height in its child care licensing rules, not in a building code. The figure is 5 feet, for minimum pool fence height on licensed child care premises.
- Spite fences
- Kansas City has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- The one datum in Chapter 27 that governs a fence sits in the corner rule, and it is the street rather than the lot. The figure is 2 feet, for height above the roadway allowed in the sight distance triangle.
- Corner lots
- Every corner lot in Kansas City provides two sight distance triangles, and they are not the squat triangles most cities use. The figure is 140 feet, for long leg of each sight distance triangle along the curbline or edge of pavement.
- Retaining walls
- Kansas City leaves retaining walls to the city or county that adopts a building code by reference. It reaches cities and counties that adopt a building code only.
- Materials
- Chapter 27 names no permitted material for an ordinary fence and prohibits none, and the answer turns on whether the fence is an ordinary fence or required screening.
- Livestock
- Kansas puts the duty on the animal owner.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Kansas City?
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Kansas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Kansas splits a shared boundary fence between the two neighbors. Each side keeps up an equal share of the fence while both are using their land. The two sides can agree to a different split if they want one.
This one is Kansas law, not Kansas City law. All Kansas findings
The owners of adjoining lands shall keep up and maintain in good repair all partition fences between them in equal shares, so long as both parties continue to occupy or improve such lands, unless otherwise agreed.
Also on fences on the property line in Kansas City
- set in state lawKansas uses officials called fence viewers to settle boundary fence fights. The county commissioners are the fence viewers for every township in the county. They may name other people to act for them, but the board still has to approve what those people recommend. K.S.A. 29-201Kansas · Statute
- set in state lawWhen one neighbor lets their half of a shared fence fall apart, the other neighbor can bring it to the fence viewers. The fence viewers give notice to both sides and then look at the fence. If they find it is not good enough, they put it in writing and set a deadline for the repair. K.S.A. 29-302Kansas · Statute
- set in state lawIf the deadline passes and nothing happens, the neighbor who complained can do the work. The fence viewers then price the job and certify the amount. That amount can be billed to the owner whose share was bad, and a court can order it paid with interest if a month goes by after a written demand. K.S.A. 29-303Kansas · Statute
- set in state lawWhen neighbors cannot agree on who owns which part of a shared fence, either one can ask the fence viewers to divide it. The fence viewers give notice, look at the fence, and put each equal share in writing. That written split gets recorded with the register of deeds and binds later owners of both properties. K.S.A. 29-304Kansas · Statute
- no rule, documents checkedNo provision in Chapter 27 states a distance between a fence and a property line, which follows from a boundary fence not being a structure under the chapter. The distances that do appear belong to screening and they run toward the line rather than away from it. In the M-1, M-2 and M-3 districts a buffer area fifteen feet wide is provided along side and rear property lines common to or across an alley from residentially zoned property, with a six foot architectural screen placed adjacent to the property line, so the screen is pushed to the boundary on purpose. Outdoor storage near a street is screened by a fence set back at least six feet from the street line. A fence at the frontage line is expressly optional in the front yard frontage type of the form based provisions. Article VIII, definition of StructureKansas City · Zoning code
How tall can a fence be in Kansas City?
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Kansas City law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Kansas sets no limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. The state fence chapter gives only minimums, such as the four feet for a farm fence, and never a maximum. Height on a house lot is set by city or county rule.
This one is Kansas law, not Kansas City law. All Kansas findings
Documents read before writing that:
- K.S.A. Chapter 29Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes
- K.S.A. 29-102Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes
- K.S.A. 29-105Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes
Also on fence height in Kansas City
- no rule, documents checkedChapter 27 runs from planning commission procedure through zoning districts, site design, floodplain, landscaping and signs, and it never sets a height for an ordinary residential fence. The fence heights it does state all belong to screening. A buffer area between an M district and residential property takes a six foot architectural screen along the property line. An auto salvage yard in M-3 takes an architectural screening fence of at least eight feet, and nothing inside may be stacked higher than the fence. Outdoor storage near a street in certain districts has to be screened by a solid fence at least three feet high, set back at least six feet from the street line. A structure built around an entrance sign, such as a wall or gate or fence, may not exceed eight feet. None of those reaches a fence between two houses. Section 27-700Kansas City · Zoning code
Do I need a permit for a fence in Kansas City?
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Kansas City answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
The reason Chapter 27 has so little to say about an ordinary fence is in its definitions. A structure is anything constructed or erected whose use requires permanent location on the ground or attachment to a permanent location on the ground, signs included, and three things are expressly excepted: customary utility poles, retaining walls and boundary fences. A boundary fence is therefore not a structure for the purposes of the zoning chapter, which means the setback rules, the yard rules and the accessory structure rules that all operate on the word structure do not reach it. What still reaches it are the rules that name a fence directly, which are the sight distance triangles at a corner and the screening requirements for particular uses. Any building permit obligation sits in the building regulations at Chapter 8 rather than here.
Structure means anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires permanent location on the ground or attachment to a permanent location on the ground, including, but not limited to, signs, and excepting customary utility poles, retaining walls and boundary fences.
Article VIII, definition of Structure
Also on permits in Kansas City
- no rule, documents checkedKansas has no statewide fence permit rule for a house. The state fence chapter has no permit section anywhere in it. The one statewide building rule is the fire prevention code written by the state fire marshal, and that code leaves out buildings used only as homes for one or two families. A fence permit is a city or county matter. K.S.A. Chapter 29Kansas · Statute
Pool fence requirements in Kansas City
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Kansas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Kansas sets a pool fence height in its child care licensing rules, not in a building code. At a licensed child care place an inground pool needs a fence five feet tall, with gaps no wider than 3.5 inches. A building wall can be one side of it, if that wall has no door or window opening onto the pool.
This one is Kansas law, not Kansas City law. All Kansas findings
Each inground pool shall be enclosed by a fence at least five feet high, with openings no greater than 3.5 inches, and constructed and maintained in good repair to discourage children and unwanted visitors from accessing the pool area.
5 ftminimum pool fence height on licensed child care premises
Also on pool barriers in Kansas City
- set in state lawThe same Kansas rule covers the gate. A pool gate has to be five feet tall like the fence, close itself, lock itself, and be kept shut and locked. A later part of the rule says an alarm or a sensor cannot take the place of the fence. K.A.R. 28-4-129(b)(2)Kansas · Agency guidance
Spite fence laws in Kansas City
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Kansas City law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Kansas has no spite fence law. Chapter 29 is the fence chapter, and it covers enclosures, fence viewers, fences on the line, and damage done by animals. Nothing in it limits a fence built to bother a neighbor, and the trespass section deals only with farm animals. A fence built out of spite is handled in court under general nuisance law.
This one is Kansas law, not Kansas City law. All Kansas findings
Documents read before writing that:
- K.S.A. Chapter 29Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes
- K.S.A. 29-108Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes
- K.S.A. 29-401Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes
How fence height is measured in Kansas City
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Kansas City answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
The one datum in Chapter 27 that governs a fence sits in the corner rule, and it is the street rather than the lot. The sight distance area has to stay free of shrubbery, fences or other obstruction to vision more than two feet high measured from the roadway, so a corner lot sitting above the pavement gets no relief and a lot sitting below it gets no penalty. Everywhere else the chapter states fence heights without saying what they are read from, including the six foot buffer screen, the eight foot salvage yard screen and the three foot screen for outdoor storage. Because a boundary fence is not a structure under this chapter, there is no general height for a datum to attach to in the first place. A berm is treated as a kind of screening rather than as ground a fence might stand on.
free of shrubbery, fences or other obstruction to vision more than two feet high measured from the roadway.
2 ftheight above the roadway allowed in the sight distance triangle
Also on how height is measured in Kansas City
- left to the townKansas never says where a fence height is measured from. State law lets a city or county write zoning rules on the height, number of stories and size of buildings, and lists more subjects those rules can cover, none of them a way to measure. The state fence law names the ways a farm fence can be built, posts and rails, posts and planks, wire and hedge, and gives no height at all. With no state number there is nothing for the state to measure. K.S.A. 12-753(a)Kansas · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Kansas City
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Kansas City answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Every corner lot in Kansas City provides two sight distance triangles, and they are not the squat triangles most cities use. The short leg is fifteen feet and the long leg is one hundred and forty, measured along the curbline or the edge of the pavement, which is a stopping sight distance for a car travelling at speed rather than a corner clearance for a driver easing out. Two of them are required rather than one, one for each direction of approach. Inside that area nothing may stand more than two feet high, and the section names shrubbery and fences along with any other obstruction to vision. Because the limit is two feet rather than the more common three, and because the area reaches so far back along the street, a corner lot on a through street in Kansas City is effectively unfenceable along its frontage.
Sight distance. All corner lots shall provide two sight distance triangles, the short leg of which shall be 15 feet and the long leg of which shall be 140 feet measured along the curbline or edge of pavement.
140 ftlong leg of each sight distance triangle along the curbline or edge of pavement
Also on corner visibility in Kansas City
- set in state lawKansas gives this power to the county, and the law is more than a hundred years old. A board of county commissioners can cut hedge fences, trees and shrubs on a road strip within three hundred fifty feet of a railroad crossing or a sharp corner in the road, and keep them trimmed after that. Inside that same distance it can also take out signboards, billboards and board fences that block the view. It covers the road strip, and it turns on a railroad crossing or a sharp bend rather than an ordinary street corner. K.S.A. 19-2612Kansas · Statute
Retaining wall rules in Kansas City
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Kansas City does not set this. It leaves it to the city or county that adopts a building code by reference.
Kansas 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. State law lets a city adopt any published code as its own by naming it in an ordinance, and building codes are first on the list of what counts. A county can do the same by resolution. So the rule for such a wall comes from whichever code the city or county picked up.
This one is Kansas law, not Kansas City law. All Kansas findings
The provisions of any code may be incorporated in a city ordinance by reference, in accordance with the procedure and subject to the limitations provided by K.S.A. 12-3009 through 12-3012.
The code hands this to the city or county that adopts a building code by reference, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence materials allowed in Kansas City
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Kansas City answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence is an ordinary fence or required screening.
Chapter 27 names no permitted material for an ordinary fence and prohibits none. Barbed wire does not appear. Razor wire does not appear. An electric fence does not appear. Where the chapter does specify, it is defining architectural screening, and it does so by result rather than by substance: a masonry or wood frame wall or any fence designed, built and maintained to completely block the view from ground level up to the height the district requires, durable and compatible with the development around it. A berm counts as architectural screening. The one place a material is dictated is a trash enclosure, which has to be a screening wall or fence of the same materials as the building it serves. In a mobile home park, where private fences between lots are allowed at all, they have to be of uniform construction.
Architectural screening means a masonry or wood frame wall or any fence designed, constructed and maintained to provide a complete obstruction of view from ground level to at least the height specified in the individual zoning district requirements, to be durable and compatible with surrounding development. A berm is considered to be architectural screening.
Section 27-696, definition of Architectural screening
The answer turns on whether the fence is an ordinary fence or required screening.
- an ordinary fence
- No material named.
- required screening
- Masonry, wood frame, or any fence that blocks the view.
- a berm
- It counts as screening.
- a trash enclosure
- The same material as the building.
Also on materials in Kansas City
- set in state lawKansas lists the kinds of fence that will hold farm animals. The list is posts with rails, palings, planks, palisades or wire, and rails alone stacked as a worm fence. Turf with a ditch on each side counts, and so do stone and a thorn or Osage orange hedge that was already growing in 1986. K.S.A. 29-101Kansas · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Kansas City
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Kansas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Kansas puts the duty on the animal owner. State law makes it illegal for livestock to roam loose, so the owner has to keep stock inside a fence. The neighbor does not have to fence them out.
This one is Kansas law, not Kansas City law. All Kansas findings
It shall be unlawful for any livestock to run at large.
Also on agricultural fencing in Kansas City
- set in state lawKansas states the policy plainly: farm animals belong inside a lawful fence. The same section says an animal getting loose does not by itself make the owner liable. Who pays for the damage is decided the ordinary way, by whether somebody was careless. K.S.A. 29-108Kansas · Statute
- set in state lawKansas says what a farm fence can be built from, and leaves cats and dogs out of the rule. The list is posts with rails, palings, planks, palisades or wire, and rails alone stacked as a worm fence. Turf with a ditch on each side counts, and so do stone and a thorn or Osage orange hedge that was already growing on July 1, 1986. K.S.A. 29-101Kansas · Statute
- set in state lawA Kansas farm fence has to be at least four feet tall. The same section adds numbers for other kinds, such as four and a half feet for a rail worm fence, with the bottom board no more than two feet off the ground. Four feet is the least that will hold animals, not a cap on how tall a fence can be. K.S.A. 29-102Kansas · Statute
- set in state lawKansas spells out a barbed wire fence in detail. Three wires is the least it can have. The top wire sits 44 to 48 inches up, the bottom wire 18 to 24 inches up, and the middle wire about halfway between them. A county board can set stricter rules of its own for new fences. K.S.A. 29-105Kansas · Statute
Documents behind this page
18 documents, of which 1 was published by Kansas City itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Kansas Office of Revisor of StatutesKansas Statutes, Chapter 29, Article 3, Partition Fences
- Kansas Office of Revisor of StatutesKansas Statutes, Chapter 29, Article 2, Fence Viewers
- Kansas Office of Revisor of StatutesKansas Statutes, Chapter 29, Article 3, Partition Fences
- Kansas Office of Revisor of StatutesKansas Statutes, Chapter 29, Article 3, Partition Fences
- Kansas Office of Revisor of StatutesKansas Statutes, Chapter 29, Article 3, Partition Fences
- Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, KansasCode of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, Chapter 27, Planning and Development
- Kansas Office of Revisor of StatutesKansas Statutes, Chapter 29, Fences and Enclosures, table of sections
- Kansas Office of Revisor of StatutesKansas Statutes, Chapter 29, Article 1, Legal Enclosures
- Kansas Office of Revisor of StatutesKansas Statutes, Chapter 29, Article 1, Legal Enclosures
- Kansas Office of Revisor of StatutesKansas Statutes, Chapter 31, Fire Protection
- Kansas Secretary of StateKansas Register, Volume 43, Issue 29, Kansas Department of Health and Environment Permanent Administrative Regulations
- Kansas Office of Revisor of StatutesKansas Statutes, Chapter 29, Article 1, Legal Enclosures
- Kansas Office of Revisor of StatutesKansas Statutes, Chapter 29, Article 4, Miscellaneous Provisions
- Kansas Office of Revisor of StatutesKansas Statutes Annotated, Chapter 12, Article 7, Section 12-753, Same; zoning regulations; districts; restrictions
- Kansas Office of Revisor of StatutesKansas Statutes, Chapter 19, Article 26, Section 19-2612, Removal or cutting of hedge fences, trees and shrubs; cutting weeds; removing signboards and board fences; expenses
- Kansas Office of Revisor of StatutesKansas Statutes, Chapter 12, Article 33, Adoption of Codes by Reference
- Kansas Office of Revisor of StatutesKansas Statutes, Chapter 29, Fences and Enclosures, Article 1
- Kansas Office of Revisor of StatutesKansas Statutes, Chapter 47, Article 1, Livestock Running 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 Kansas City publishes, plus the Kansas rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Kansas 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