Fence laws in Olathe, Kansas
What the Olathe municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Olathe sets no rule of its own, the Kansas rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Olathe, Kansas, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Olathe states no distance between a residential fence and a lot line, and the measuring rule assumes the fence follows the line closely enough that the grade along it is the right reference, and the answer turns on the district and what the line faces. The figure is 0 feet, for setback stated from a residential property line.
- How tall
- A fence, wall or hedge in a residential district or the N district may reach six feet, and the answer turns on the district and whether the fence is in front of the house. The figure is 6 feet, for fence, wall or hedge in a residential district or the N district.
- Permits
- Section 18.50.050 sets heights, materials, placement and a sight distance duty and never mentions a fence permit, a fee or an application, so the ordinance itself creates no fence-specific approval, and the answer turns on what is being built and where it stands. The figure is 3 feet, for retaining wall height above which fencing is required.
- 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
- Olathe has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Olathe puts its datum in a parenthesis in the height sentence, and the phrase it uses is unusual enough to be worth reading twice: height is measured above the average grade level on the property line.
- Corner lots
- Two sight triangles are needed at each quadrant where two streets meet, public or private, and at commercial entrances, with the geometry taken from the Technical Specifications and Design Criteria for Public Improvement Projects rather than printed in the ordinance, and the answer turns on where the intersection is and how wide the obstruction is. The figure is 24 inches, for height allowed for an item in a sight triangle.
- Retaining walls
- Olathe 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
- In a residential district or the N district a fence or wall is limited, or similar, to one of nine named types: a brick or stone wall or pillars, chain link, wood stockade, split rail, wood rail, wrought iron, a spaced picket fence, imitation vinyl, or similar decorative material, and the answer turns on the district and whether the fence stands in front of the house.
- Livestock
- Kansas puts the duty on the animal owner.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Olathe?
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Olathe answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district and what the line faces.
Olathe states no distance between a residential fence and a lot line, and the measuring rule assumes the fence follows the line closely enough that the grade along it is the right reference. Two placement rules do apply on a house lot: a fence, wall or hedge along an arterial is allowed only when it is approved as part of a master fence and screening plan, and nothing may stand inside the sight distance triangle. In commercial and industrial districts the rule reverses and the fence is pushed back, barred from the setback area from street rights-of-way and from the perimeter landscape area. A retaining wall in those districts stands at least two feet from any street right-of-way, may not rise more than six inches above the land it retains, and is built only with the approval of the City Engineer and the Chief Building Inspector.
Fences, walls or hedges shall not be placed in the setback area from street rights-of-way or within the perimeter landscape area as provided in Section 18.30.130.
The answer turns on the district and what the line faces.
- a residential lot line
- No distance stated. 0 ft
- a commercial street frontage
- Out of the setback and the landscape area.
- an arterial
- Only under a master screening plan.
- a retaining wall
- Two feet off the right-of-way. 2 ft
Also on fences on the property line in Olathe
- 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 Olathe?
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Olathe answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district and whether the fence is in front of the house.
A fence, wall or hedge in a residential district or the N district may reach six feet. In a front yard or a corner side yard, meaning anywhere beyond the front of the house or structure, it drops to four feet and picks up two conditions in the same sentence: at least half of it has to be open, and it may not be chain link or any other metal or wire fencing. So the front yard rule is a height, an opacity and a material ban at once, and it treats a hedge the same as a fence. Commercial and industrial districts get a flat eight feet. The line between the two residential figures is the face of the house rather than a setback line, which matters on a deep lot where the house sits well back from the street.
Six (6) feet in residential districts or the N district. Fences, walls or hedges in front or corner side yards (beyond the front of the house or structure), shall not exceed four (4) feet in height, shall be at least fifty (50) percent open, and shall not include chain-link or any other metal or wire type fencing.
The answer turns on the district and whether the fence is in front of the house.
- a residential district
- Six feet. 6 ft
- a front or corner side yard
- Four feet, half open, no wire. 4 ft
- commercial or industrial
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- a hedge
- Treated the same as a fence.
Also on fence height in Olathe
- 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 Olathe?
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Olathe answers this, but the answer changes depending on what is being built and where it stands.
Section 18.50.050 sets heights, materials, placement and a sight distance duty and never mentions a fence permit, a fee or an application, so the ordinance itself creates no fence-specific approval. Two approvals do sit inside it. A fence, wall or hedge along an arterial is allowed only when approved as part of the master fence and screening plan under Section 18.30.130, which puts a subdivision boundary fence in front of the planning process rather than the counter. And retaining wall construction is subject to approval by the City Engineer and the Chief Building Inspector, two officers rather than one, which reflects that a wall holding back ground is both a drainage question and a structural one. Any fence over three feet on top of such a wall is required rather than permitted.
Any retaining wall above three (3) feet shall have fencing. Retaining wall construction is subject to approval by the City Engineer and Chief Building Inspector.
The answer turns on what is being built and where it stands.
- an ordinary fence
- No permit named in the section.
- a fence along an arterial
- Part of a master screening plan.
- a retaining wall
- Two officers sign off.
- a wall over three feet
- It has to be fenced. 3 ft
Also on permits in Olathe
- 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 Olathe
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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 Olathe 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 Olathe
- 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 Olathe
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Olathe 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 Olathe 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 Olathe
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Olathe answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Olathe puts its datum in a parenthesis in the height sentence, and the phrase it uses is unusual enough to be worth reading twice: height is measured above the average grade level on the property line. Not the ground the fence stands on, not the neighbor’s ground, and not an average across the lot, but the average along the line the fence follows. On a lot that slopes from front to back that averaging smooths out the difference, and on a lot that sits above its neighbor it fixes the reference at the boundary rather than at the top of the bank. The retaining wall rule beside it uses a different reference, capping a wall at six inches above the ground level of the land being retained, and adds a safety requirement most codes leave out: any retaining wall over three feet has to have fencing.
Fences, walls, or hedges may be constructed or planted to a maximum height (as measured above the average grade level on the property line) of:
Also on how height is measured in Olathe
- 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 Olathe
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Olathe answers this, but the answer changes depending on where the intersection is and how wide the obstruction is.
Two sight triangles are needed at each quadrant where two streets meet, public or private, and at commercial entrances, with the geometry taken from the Technical Specifications and Design Criteria for Public Improvement Projects rather than printed in the ordinance. What the ordinance does print is the band. Anything in the triangle has to be no higher than twenty four inches or lower than nine feet above, so a fence is held to two feet and a canopy tree or a raised sign passes over the top. Power poles, city signs and trees may be acceptable as long as they are less than eighteen inches wide. Items causing a sight restriction are removed, or trimmed where they are vegetation. The City Engineer may make an exception in the D Downtown District, on streets designed under the Compact Street Design option, and at signalized intersections.
Sight triangles are used to limit the location of and height of vegetation, structures, fences, walls, and other items at intersections. Any items in the triangle shall be no higher than twenty-four (24) inches, or lower than nine (9) feet above.
The answer turns on where the intersection is and how wide the obstruction is.
- a fence in the triangle
- Twenty four inches. 24 in
- something overhead
- Nine feet of clearance. 9 ft
- a pole, sign or tree
- Under eighteen inches wide may pass. 18 in
- downtown or a signalized corner
- The City Engineer may except it.
Also on corner visibility in Olathe
- 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 Olathe
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Olathe 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 Olathe 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 Olathe
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Olathe answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district and whether the fence stands in front of the house.
In a residential district or the N district a fence or wall is limited, or similar, to one of nine named types: a brick or stone wall or pillars, chain link, wood stockade, split rail, wood rail, wrought iron, a spaced picket fence, imitation vinyl, or similar decorative material. The phrase limited, or similar leaves the Planning staff room for something not on the list that looks like something that is. Three things are prohibited outright in residential districts other than AG and in commercial districts: barbed wire, razor wire and above ground electric fencing, so a farm fence in AG is the only place wire of that kind is allowed. And the front yard rule bars chain link and any other metal or wire fencing in front of the house, which removes several of the nine from the street frontage while leaving them available behind it.
Fences or walls shall be limited, or similar, to one of the following types of construction: brick or stone walls or pillars, chain-link, wood stockade, split rail, wood rail, wrought iron, spaced picket fence, imitation vinyl or similar decorative material.
The answer turns on the district and whether the fence stands in front of the house.
- a residential lot
- Nine named types, or something like them.
- barbed, razor or electric wire
- Prohibited outside AG.
- a front or corner side yard
- No chain link, metal or wire.
- a hedge
- A dense row of shrubs or low trees.
Also on materials in Olathe
- 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 Olathe
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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 Olathe law. All Kansas findings
It shall be unlawful for any livestock to run at large.
Also on agricultural fencing in Olathe
- 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
19 documents, of which 2 were published by Olathe 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 OlatheOlathe Unified Development Ordinance, Section 18.50.050, Fences, Walls or Hedges
- 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
- City of OlatheOlathe Unified Development Ordinance, Section 18.30.220, Streets
- 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 Olathe 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