Fence laws in Overland Park, Kansas
What the Overland Park municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Overland Park sets no rule of its own, the Kansas rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Overland Park, Kansas, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Toward a neighbor Overland Park is permissive and toward a street it is not, and the answer turns on what lies on the other side of the line. The figure is 0 feet, for setback from a side or rear line abutting another lot.
- How tall
- Overland Park sets one ceiling for the whole city, eight feet above the average grade, and then takes the front yard away entirely, and the answer turns on the yard, and whether the fence is a decorative entry fence. The figure is 8 feet, for maximum height for a fence or wall above the average grade.
- Permits
- A permit from the Code Administrator is required where a new fence or wall is built and where an existing one is extended, with no height threshold and no material threshold. The figure is 50 percent, for share of an existing fence whose replacement triggers 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
- Overland Park has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- The height rule names its datum in the same sentence as the number: eight feet above the average grade, and the answer turns on whether the structure is a fence or a retaining wall. The figure is 6 inches, for height a retaining wall may stand above the land being retained.
- Corner lots
- Overland Park leaves corner clearance to Section 18.420.060 of the Unified Development Ordinance, which defines the sight distance triangles.
- Retaining walls
- Overland Park 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
- Overland Park does not print a general list of permitted materials and writes two design rules instead, and the answer turns on where the fence stands and what kind of fence it is.
- Livestock
- Kansas puts the duty on the animal owner.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Overland Park?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Overland Park answers this, but the answer changes depending on what lies on the other side of the line.
Toward a neighbor Overland Park is permissive and toward a street it is not. A fence or wall may be built on the rear property line on any lot whose rear line abuts another lot or a designated thoroughfare, and on the side property line as well. But no fence may come closer than fifteen feet to the right-of-way of a super-collector, collector or local street, and on a double frontage lot whose rear yard backs onto one of those streets the fence stays fifteen feet off the rear line too. So the rule turns on what is on the other side of the line rather than on which line it is. A platted landscape easement is closed to fences altogether unless a master fence and screening plan has been approved by the Planning Commission, and where such a plan exists every fence in the easement has to match it.
A fence or wall may be constructed on the side property line, except that no fence shall be closer than 15 feet to any super-collector, collector or local street right-of-way.
The answer turns on what lies on the other side of the line.
- a line shared with a neighbor
- On the line. 0 ft
- a street right-of-way
- Fifteen feet back. 15 ft
- a platted landscape easement
- No fence without a master plan.
- a retaining wall
- Two feet off any street right-of-way.
Also on fences on the property line in Overland Park
- 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 Overland Park?
Compare fence height across all 50 states
Overland Park answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard, and whether the fence is a decorative entry fence.
Overland Park sets one ceiling for the whole city, eight feet above the average grade, and then takes the front yard away entirely. In a residential district a fence or wall may not be built in the front yard, or in front of the front platted building line, whichever is more restrictive. The single exception is a decorative entry fence, which is held to three feet or less and comes with a list of conditions: it may reach no more than twelve feet in front of the face of the house and never closer than fifteen feet to a street right-of-way, it sits in front of the main entry and does not run past either side of the house, it may not connect to any other fence, and it may not enclose an area without leaving an ungated opening to the yard at least thirty six inches wide. It also has to be kept painted, unbroken and clear of debris at its base.
Fences or walls may be constructed to a maximum height of 8 feet above the average grade subject to the restrictions of this subsection.
The answer turns on the yard, and whether the fence is a decorative entry fence.
- the general ceiling
- Eight feet above average grade. 8 ft
- a residential front yard
- No fence at all.
- a decorative entry fence
- Three feet, with eight conditions. 3 ft
- the opening in it
- Thirty six inches, ungated. 36 in
Also on fence height in Overland Park
- 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 Overland Park?
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Overland Park answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A permit from the Code Administrator is required where a new fence or wall is built and where an existing one is extended, with no height threshold and no material threshold. The second sentence is the one that catches people: a fence permit is also required to replace or reconstruct fifty percent or more of the linear length of the entire existing fence. That figure does double duty, because an old non-conforming fence may be rebuilt in the same place at the same size and material, but once half of its length is replaced it has to meet the current design standards. And whenever any fence or fence section changes in location, size or material, the result has to comply in full with the requirements for location and design, except for a change of location made to clear a sight distance triangle.
A fence permit shall also be required for the replacement or reconstruction of 50% or more of the linear length of the entire existing fence.
50%share of an existing fence whose replacement triggers a permit
Also on permits in Overland Park
- 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 Overland Park
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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 Overland Park 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 Overland Park
- 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 Overland Park
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Overland Park 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 Overland Park 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 Overland Park
Compare how height is measured across all 50 states
Overland Park answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the structure is a fence or a retaining wall.
The height rule names its datum in the same sentence as the number: eight feet above the average grade. Averaging is the forgiving choice on a sloping lot, since a fence following a grade change is judged on the whole run rather than at its highest point. The retaining wall rule is the strict one and it is written as a cap rather than a datum. A retaining wall is permitted where it is reasonably necessary because of the topography of the lot, where it stands at least two feet from any street right-of-way, and where it does not extend more than six inches above the ground level of the land being retained. Six inches is the tightest figure of its kind in this project, and it means a retaining wall in Overland Park is a retaining wall and not a wall with a view. A berm is not addressed and a fence standing on a retaining wall is not addressed.
Retaining walls may be permitted where they are reasonably necessary due to the topography of the lot, where the wall is located at least 2 feet from any street right-of-way, and where the wall does not extend more than 6 inches above the ground level of the land being retained.
The answer turns on whether the structure is a fence or a retaining wall.
- a fence
- Above the average grade.
- a retaining wall
- Six inches above the retained ground. 6 in
- that wall and a street
- Two feet clear of the right-of-way. 2 ft
- a fence on top of one
- Not addressed.
Also on how height is measured in Overland Park
- 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 Overland Park
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Overland Park does not set this. It leaves it to Section 18.420.060 of the Unified Development Ordinance, which defines the sight distance triangles.
The fence rules name the corner problem twice and never draw it. No fence may be replaced or reconstructed in a manner that obstructs the sight distance triangles as defined in Section 18.420.060, and the general rule that any change in a fence has to bring it into full compliance carries an exception for changes of location required to comply with that same section. So the triangle exists, it governs, and its dimensions live in the street and access chapter rather than in the fence chapter. The practical effect is that the fence section can be read end to end without learning how far back from a corner a fence has to stop, and somebody rebuilding an old fence has to go and read a different chapter to find out whether the line it stands on is still available.
No fence shall be replaced or reconstructed in a manner which obstructs the sight distance triangles as defined in 18.420.060.
The code hands this to Section 18.420.060 of the Unified Development Ordinance, which defines the sight distance triangles, which is not published in the code itself.
Also on corner visibility in Overland Park
- 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 Overland Park
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Overland Park 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 Overland Park 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 Overland Park
Compare materials across all 50 states
Overland Park answers this, but the answer changes depending on where the fence stands and what kind of fence it is.
Overland Park does not print a general list of permitted materials and writes two design rules instead. Every fence and wall has to be built with a finished surface facing outward from the property, and the code defines what that means for a wood fence: a surface where the pickets or slats are fully exposed to view, with the posts and support beams on the inside or designed as an integral part of the finished surface. The Director may let the posts sit outside where complying is a practical difficulty. The second rule is unusual and practical: a fence segment abutting a designated thoroughfare, except on a corner lot, has to include one gate opening per lot so somebody can get at the strip between the fence and the street to maintain and mow it. A decorative entry fence has the only material list in the section: brick or stone, split rail, wood rail, wrought iron or spaced picket.
All fence segments abutting a designated thoroughfare, except on corner lots, shall provide one gate opening per lot to allow access to the area between the fence and the edge of the street for maintenance and mowing.
The answer turns on where the fence stands and what kind of fence it is.
- any fence
- Finished side out, posts inside.
- a fence along a thoroughfare
- One gate per lot.
- a decorative entry fence
- Masonry, rail, iron or spaced picket.
- a practical difficulty
- The Director may allow posts outside.
Also on materials in Overland Park
- 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 Overland Park
Compare agricultural fencing across all 50 states
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 Overland Park law. All Kansas findings
It shall be unlawful for any livestock to run at large.
Also on agricultural fencing in Overland Park
- 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 Overland Park 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 Overland ParkOverland Park Municipal Code, Title 18, Unified Development Ordinance, Chapter 18.390, Accessory Uses and Structures
- 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 Overland Park 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