Fence laws in Lenexa, Kansas
What the Lenexa municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Lenexa sets no rule of its own, the Kansas rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Lenexa, Kansas, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- A fence may be located on the side and rear property lines, and the answer turns on which line it is, and whether an easement runs along it. The figure is 0 feet, for setback from a side or rear property line.
- How tall
- Lenexa answers by type rather than by yard, using a table with a row for each kind of fence, and the answer turns on the type of fence and the district it stands in. The figure is 6 feet, for fence or non-retaining wall on residential property.
- Permits
- All new and replacement fences, walls and retaining walls need a permit before construction, and the application carries a scaled and dimensioned plot plan showing the fence along with every property line, easement, setback and structure, plus details of the materials, height and design, and the answer turns on whether the work is new, a replacement, or a repair. The figure is 50 percent, for share of a fence line whose replacement needs a permit.
- 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
- Lenexa has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Lenexa keeps its fence datum in the same paragraph that measures a building, and the two are deliberately different.
- Corner lots
- Lenexa leaves corner clearance to the AASHTO Green Book, A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets.
- Retaining walls
- Lenexa 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
- The table lists nine allowed materials for a fence: wood, aluminum, steel, wrought iron, PVC, chain link without slats, masonry, stone and concrete, and the answer turns on the material and the district.
- Livestock
- Kansas puts the duty on the animal owner.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Lenexa?
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Lenexa answers this, but the answer changes depending on which line it is, and whether an easement runs along it.
A fence may be located on the side and rear property lines. In a front yard it may come no closer to the front property line than the front wall of the constructed building, so the house sets the line rather than a setback does. On the street side of a corner lot the answer depends on the fence: a privacy fence, an open-style fence taller than four feet, and a wall all have to meet the required setback from the side street, while an open-style fence of four feet or less may sit fifteen feet back from the street side property line. Easements are handled at length. A fence in any easement needs approval from the entity that holds it, has to allow access and may need a gate, and where the Community Development Director finds it is harming the easement the fence can be made to move or go. Walls and retaining walls are prohibited in drainage easements outright, and a fence allowed in one for conveyance has to be open-style with at least four inches of clearance under the pickets.
Fences, walls, and retaining walls must be installed in a manner that will allow access to dedicated easements. A gate may be required to provide necessary access.
The answer turns on which line it is, and whether an easement runs along it.
- a side or rear line
- A fence may sit on it. 0 ft
- a front yard
- No closer than the front wall of the house.
- a low open fence on a corner
- Fifteen feet off the street side line. 15 ft
- a drainage easement
- No walls, and only an open fence.
Also on fences on the property line in Lenexa
- set in state lawKansas 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. K.S.A. 29-301Kansas · Statute
- 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
How tall can a fence be in Lenexa?
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Lenexa answers this, but the answer changes depending on the type of fence and the district it stands in.
Lenexa answers by type rather than by yard, using a table with a row for each kind of fence. A fence or non-retaining wall on residential property is six feet, and on non-residential property ten. An agricultural fence in the AG district is six feet and may stand anywhere on the property. A decorative fence is three feet, may go anywhere, and comes with two limits that keep it decorative: it may cover no more than seventy five percent of the lot width and may not fully enclose the yard. A recreational fence is six feet for a private swimming pool and ten for other uses, and anything over six feet keeps a fifteen foot setback from the property lines. Barbed wire in the BP districts may sit eighteen feet up on top of a fence at least six feet high. A retaining wall under four feet needs no permit and may not stand more than six inches above the retained surface.
A fence with a height between 42 inches and 72 inches is required to be installed directly on top of or within 18 inches of a retaining wall when the retaining wall is within three feet of a walkway and there is a drop of 30 inches or more.
Section 4-1-B-24-F-5-b, Table 1
The answer turns on the type of fence and the district it stands in.
- residential property
- Six feet. 6 ft
- non-residential property
- Ten feet. 10 ft
- a decorative fence
- Three feet, and it may not enclose the yard. 3 ft
- a drop by a walkway
- A fence is required, not optional. 30 in
Also on fence height in Lenexa
- no rule, documents checkedKansas 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. K.S.A. Chapter 29Kansas · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Lenexa?
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Lenexa answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the work is new, a replacement, or a repair.
All new and replacement fences, walls and retaining walls need a permit before construction, and the application carries a scaled and dimensioned plot plan showing the fence along with every property line, easement, setback and structure, plus details of the materials, height and design. Six situations are exempt. A decorative fence. An agricultural fence. A retaining wall under four feet. Replacing less than half of a single fence line with the same materials, height, design and location as was previously permitted, which the code illustrates with its own figure on how to work out where one fence line ends and the next begins. Replacing a fence that had to come out so work could be done in an easement. And replacing non-structural parts such as pickets. A security fence of barbed wire in any district is approved by the Planning Commission with a site plan or a special use permit.
All new and replacement fences, walls, or retaining walls require a permit prior to construction.
The answer turns on whether the work is new, a replacement, or a repair.
- a new fence
- A permit and a plot plan.
- replacing under half a fence line
- Exempt, if nothing changes. 50%
- a decorative or farm fence
- No permit.
- barbed wire for security
- The Planning Commission approves it.
Also on permits in Lenexa
- 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 Lenexa
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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 Lenexa 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 Lenexa
- 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 Lenexa
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Lenexa 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 Lenexa 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 Lenexa
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Lenexa answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Lenexa keeps its fence datum in the same paragraph that measures a building, and the two are deliberately different. A building is measured from the average finished grade along its front. A fence or wall is measured on the side with the least vertical exposure above finished grade, which means the higher ground governs and an owner on the upper lot may put up a fence that looks taller than six feet from below. Pittsburgh uses exactly the same phrase and Montgomery and Erie do the opposite. A retaining wall gets its own numbers rather than a datum: one under four feet may not stand more than six inches above the retained surface, and one retaining more than forty eight inches of unbalanced fill has to be designed by a Kansas licensed engineer to a safety factor of at least one and a half against sliding, overturning and rotational failure.
In the case of fences or walls, height shall be measured on the side with the least vertical exposure above finished grade.
Also on how height is measured in Lenexa
- 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 Lenexa
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Lenexa does not set this. It leaves it to the AASHTO Green Book, A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets.
Lenexa gives no triangle of its own. At the intersection of all streets, and at the intersection of a private driveway with a street, sight distance triangles are provided as recommended in the Green Book of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Because the Green Book sizes a triangle from the design speed and the type of control at the particular corner, the answer changes from one intersection to the next and cannot be read off the page. One class of driveway is excluded outright: a driveway serving an individual single-family or duplex use needs no triangle at all, which takes the ordinary house out of the rule entirely. The subdivision design chapter carries the cross reference. Huntsville, Alabama uses the same AASHTO reference for the same purpose and states its protected height band while Lenexa does not.
At the intersection of all streets and at the intersection of all private driveways with streets, excluding driveways serving individual single-family and duplex uses, sight distance triangles shall be provided as recommended in AASHTO’s Green Book.
The code hands this to the AASHTO Green Book, A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets, which is not published in the code itself.
Also on corner visibility in Lenexa
- 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 Lenexa
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Lenexa 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 Lenexa 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 Lenexa
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Lenexa answers this, but the answer changes depending on the material and the district.
The table lists nine allowed materials for a fence: wood, aluminum, steel, wrought iron, PVC, chain link without slats, masonry, stone and concrete. Chain link is allowed only bare, so the plastic slats people weave through it for privacy are out. Barbed wire has rows of its own, allowed in AG for agricultural purposes to eight feet and in the BP districts as three horizontal strands on top of a fence at least six feet high, and allowed anywhere else only by Planning Commission approval with a site plan or special use permit. Razor wire has a row too and the entry reads simply prohibited. Underground electric fencing is allowed in every district anywhere on the property with no permit. The general standards add that materials must be durable and suitable for year-round outdoor conditions and that the finished side faces outward with the supporting elements inside.
Fences, walls, and retaining walls must be installed with the finished side facing outward and supporting elements on the inside, when applicable.
The answer turns on the material and the district.
- the nine listed materials
- Allowed.
- chain link
- Allowed, but without slats.
- barbed wire
- Farms, business parks, or a special use permit.
- razor wire
- Prohibited.
Also on materials in Lenexa
- 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 Lenexa
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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 Lenexa law. All Kansas findings
It shall be unlawful for any livestock to run at large.
Also on agricultural fencing in Lenexa
- 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 Lenexa 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
- City of LenexaLenexa Unified Development Code, Title 4, Chapter 4-1, Zoning
- 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 Lenexa 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