Fence laws in Kenner, Louisiana
What the Kenner municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Kenner sets no rule of its own, the Louisiana rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Kenner, Louisiana, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Fences may be erected along lot boundaries, so no setback is required from a side or rear line, and the answer turns on which yard the fence runs through. The figure is 0 feet, for setback stated from a lot boundary for a fence.
- How tall
- Kenner gives a residential back or side yard fence a floor as well as a ceiling, and the answer turns on the yard, the use and what sits next door. The figure is 6 feet, for maximum height of a back or side yard fence at a residential dwelling.
- Permits
- Kenner leaves the fence permit rule to the Kenner building code, which the zoning article makes the condition of erecting a fence.
- Pool barriers
- Louisiana sets no statewide pool fence height.
- Spite fences
- Kenner has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Kenner writes one of the more complete measuring rules in this project and puts it in the same sentence as the height.
- Corner lots
- In any residential district, nothing on a corner lot may be kept above three feet on the corner side of a line drawn between two points on the centerlines of the intersecting streets, ninety feet out from where those centerlines cross. The figure is 90 feet, for distance along each street centerline that fixes the corner clearance line.
- Retaining walls
- Kenner leaves retaining walls to the International Residential Code, not including Part I-Administration. It reaches one and two family homes and townhouses only.
- Materials
- Kenner defines a fence by what it is made of, and the answer turns on the zoning of the area and how tall the fence is. The figure is 7 feet, for height above ground below which barbed wire may not be placed.
- Livestock
- Louisiana has no single answer for the whole state, and the answer turns on whether the ward has voted in a local option election to put the stock law in force.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Kenner?
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Kenner answers this, but the answer changes depending on which yard the fence runs through.
Fences may be erected along lot boundaries, so no setback is required from a side or rear line. The sentence after that is unusually specific about a fence that runs the other way: one segment of fence may be erected in each required side yard, lying roughly parallel to the front lot line, connecting the main building to a fence on or along a side lot line. That is the code describing a gate wing, the short return that closes a back yard off from the front, and permitting exactly one of them on each side. The front lot line is where it stops, because no fences are allowed in the required front yards. A swimming pool in a required rear or side yard has a distance of its own, needing its water edge at least four feet from a rear or interior side lot line, with a three foot walk space between the pool and the protective fence around at least half of it.
One (1) segment of fence may be erected in each required side yard area, in alignment approximately parallel to the front lot line and connecting the main building with a fence on or along a side lot line. No fences are allowed in the required front yards.
The answer turns on which yard the fence runs through.
- a side or rear lot boundary
- On the line. 0 ft
- a return across a side yard
- One segment per side.
- a required front yard
- None.
- a swimming pool
- Four feet from the line, three feet of walk inside the fence. 4 ft
Also on fences on the property line in Kenner
- set in state lawLouisiana treats a fence on the property line as shared by both neighbors unless somebody proves otherwise. When the land on both sides is fenced in, one owner can make the neighbor pay a share of building and repairing that shared fence. When the land next door is not fenced in, that right to split the cost exists only where a parish or city rule creates it. La. Civ. Code Art. 685Louisiana · Statute
- set in state lawThe Louisiana Civil Code gives a landowner the plain right to fence in their own land. The article states that right in one line. It sets no height, no material and no setback, so those details come from parish and city law. La. Civ. Code Art. 684Louisiana · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Kenner?
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Kenner answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard, the use and what sits next door.
Kenner gives a residential back or side yard fence a floor as well as a ceiling. It may be no less than four feet and no greater than six, which is a rule almost nobody else writes, and it means a two foot decorative fence along a side line is as much of a violation as an eight foot one. In a required front yard the answer is simpler: no fences are allowed at all, with one way out, which is that a public or private school or a church may have one on approval of the City Council as a conditional use. The screening heights run the other way and are minimums. A commercial use next to a residential use or district has to put up a six foot solid wood or masonry fence along the shared line, or eight feet if the commercial site is in a C-2 district, and a junk, wrecker or salvage yard has to screen with at least six feet.
Back yard and side yard fences for residential dwellings shall be no less than four (4) feet and no greater than six (6) feet in height, measured from average ground level or street centerline elevation to the highest point of the fence.
The answer turns on the yard, the use and what sits next door.
- a residential back or side yard
- Between four and six feet. 6 ft
- a required front yard
- No fence at all.
- a school or a church out front
- Allowed if the City Council approves.
- commercial land next to houses
- Six feet of solid fence, eight in C-2. 8 ft
Also on fence height in Kenner
- no rule, documents checkedLouisiana sets no limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. The Civil Code article on shared fences, the law that adopts the state construction code, and the law on pool fence rules were all read, and none of them caps a fence height. Height is set by parish and city rule. La. Civ. Code Art. 685Louisiana · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Kenner?
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Kenner does not set this. It leaves it to the Kenner building code, which the zoning article makes the condition of erecting a fence.
Neither the fence section in Chapter 5 nor the supplementary regulations in Article XII creates a fence permit. What the zoning article does instead is make the permission conditional on somebody else: fences may be erected along lot boundaries subject to the requirements of the building code, and Section 5-6 says the same thing about height, sending it to the zoning ordinance. So the two documents point at each other and then at a third. Three approvals do reach a fence by name. The City Council may allow a front yard fence at a school or a church as a conditional use. The Director of the Department of Inspections and Code Enforcement approves the safety fence or barrier around every swimming pool. And the same director decides what material counts as hazardous for the purpose of the seven foot barbed wire rule.
Fences may be erected along lot boundaries subject to the requirements of the building code.
The code hands this to the Kenner building code, which the zoning article makes the condition of erecting a fence, which is not published in the code itself.
Also on permits in Kenner
- set in state lawLouisiana adopts national model codes as the state construction code. For houses it adopts the International Residential Code, but leaves out Part I, on how the code is run, and Part VIII, on electrical work. Part I is where the permit rules live, so a permit question in Louisiana is answered by the parish or city that enforces the code, not by this law. La. R.S. 40:1730.28(A)(3)(a)Louisiana · Statute
Pool fence requirements in Kenner
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Louisiana answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Louisiana sets no statewide pool fence height. State law instead lets a parish or a city pass its own pool fence rule, and says that rule has to set a smallest height for the fence or wall and require gates that lock or hold people out. The law does not reach a parish or city that already had a pool fencing rule, or one with a home rule charter.
This one is Louisiana law, not Kenner law. All Louisiana findings
The ordinance shall provide for minimum heights for fences or walls enclosing the pool and locking or limited access gates.
Also on pool barriers in Kenner
- set in state lawThe Louisiana health code sets a barrier rule for public pools in Class A and Class B. The barrier has to be at least 4 feet tall, with nothing on the outside to grab or step on. The gate has to close and latch by itself, with the latch at least 45 inches above the ground and hardware for a lock. This covers public pools rather than a pool behind a house. LAC 51:XXIV.705Louisiana · Agency guidance
Spite fence laws in Kenner
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Kenner law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Louisiana has no spite fence law. The Civil Code articles on fencing in land and on shared fences were read, along with the article on the limits of owning property, and none of them mention spite, malice, or blocking a neighbor's light or view. A neighbor hurt by work on nearby land falls back on the general rule in Article 667, which turns on the damage done and on reasonable care, not on why a fence went up.
This one is Louisiana law, not Kenner law. All Louisiana findings
Documents read before writing that:
- La. Civ. Code Art. 667Louisiana State Legislature
- La. Civ. Code Art. 685Louisiana State Legislature
How fence height is measured in Kenner
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Kenner answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Kenner writes one of the more complete measuring rules in this project and puts it in the same sentence as the height. A back or side yard fence is measured from average ground level, or from street centerline elevation, to the highest point of the fence, which gives a reviewer two references and does not say which one wins where they differ. The sentence after it closes the loophole that makes most fence height rules leak: the height of the fence includes any berms, chain, or retaining walls. So a six foot fence sitting on a two foot berm is an eight foot fence and is over the limit, and the same goes for a fence on top of a retaining wall. The corner rule uses a third reference again, measuring three feet from the crown of the street rather than from the ground the fence stands on.
Height of fence shall include any berms, chain, or retaining walls, if applicable.
Also on how height is measured in Kenner
- left to the townLouisiana never says where a fence height is measured from. State law lets every city set the height, number of stories and size of a structure. The Civil Code says only that a landowner may fence in land, and that a fence on a boundary is treated as shared. Neither one gives a height, and neither says what surface a height is read from. A parish or city rule is the only place an answer could appear. La. R.S. 33:4721Louisiana · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Kenner
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Kenner answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
In any residential district, nothing on a corner lot may be kept above three feet on the corner side of a line drawn between two points on the centerlines of the intersecting streets, ninety feet out from where those centerlines cross. Ninety feet is the longest leg of any corner rule in this project and it is measured along the middle of the road rather than along a curb or a property line, so the protected area on the lot itself is smaller than the number first suggests. The list of what is caught is broad, covering a fence, a structure, a sign, a planting or any other obstruction, with no exception for an open fence. The datum is the crown of the street, which is the high point of the road surface, so a lot sitting above the road loses height and one sitting below gains it.
In any residential district, no fence, structure, sign, planting, or other obstruction shall be maintained above a height of three (3) feet, measured from the crown of the street, on a corner lot, within that area between the side and front lot lines of the lot and a line joining two (2) points lying on the centerlines of the street intersecting at the corner and ninety (90) feet distance from the point of intersection.
90 ftdistance along each street centerline that fixes the corner clearance line
Also on corner visibility in Kenner
- set in state lawLouisiana treats this as keeping the road itself clear. State law lets the Department of Transportation and Development go to court to stop anything being put up inside the limits of a highway. It can also pull out something already there, at the owner's cost, after a short notice. A fence built onto the road strip is caught by that. Nothing in the chapter draws a triangle at a corner or sets a height near an intersection, so a clear view triangle in Louisiana comes from the parish or the city. La. R.S. 48:347Louisiana · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in Kenner
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Kenner does not set this. It leaves it to the International Residential Code, not including Part I-Administration.
Louisiana adopts the International Residential Code as part of the state construction code and leaves out two parts of it, Part I on how the code is run and Part VIII on electrical work. The law prints no rule of its own about a wall that holds back dirt, and the long list of Louisiana changes never mentions one. Because the dropped part is the part with the permit rules in it, the height at which such a wall needs a permit comes from the parish or city, while the building rules for the wall itself come from the model code.
This one is Louisiana law, not Kenner law. All Louisiana findings
International Residential Code, not including Part I-Administration and VIII-Electrical. The applicable standards referenced in that code are included for regulation of construction within this state.
The code hands this to the International Residential Code, not including Part I-Administration, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence materials allowed in Kenner
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Kenner answers this, but the answer changes depending on the zoning of the area and how tall the fence is.
Kenner defines a fence by what it is made of. The general definition allows wood as rails or stakes, wrought iron, solid plastic, chain link, masonry, vegetation meaning a hedge, metal other than corrugated tin, and similar materials. In areas zoned residential the list is shorter and closed, dropping metal: wood, wrought iron, solid plastic, chain link, masonry and hedge only. Metal is then let back in under a specification rather than a name, allowed in residential areas if it is twenty four or twenty six gauge metal R panel or flair panel with a polyester enamel color finish, capped with a five and three eighths inch cut and put up with long life rustproof screws. No fragile or readily flammable material such as paper, cloth or canvas may form part of a fence or be added to one. A fence over eight feet may not be of combustible material at all, and barbed wire or anything the director deems hazardous may not sit less than seven feet above the ground along a public thoroughfare, a park or any adjacent property.
Fences over eight (8) feet in height shall not be of combustible material. Barbed wire or other material deemed hazardous by the director shall not be placed less than seven (7) feet above the ground or grade along public thoroughfares, parks or any adjacent properties.
The answer turns on the zoning of the area and how tall the fence is.
- residential land
- Wood, iron, solid plastic, chain link, masonry or hedge.
- metal at a house
- Only R or flair panel, twenty four or twenty six gauge.
- over eight feet
- Nothing combustible.
- barbed wire
- Seven feet up, at the least. 7 ft
Also on materials in Kenner
- set in state lawLouisiana sets one statewide standard for a battery charged fence, which is an electric fence wired into a burglar alarm. A parish or city may write rules for one, but those rules have to hold it to the state list. It sits behind a fence or wall at least five feet tall that carries no charge. It stops at ten feet, or two feet above that outer fence. Warning signs go up at least every forty feet. A parish or city may not ban one outright, and farm and animal fences that carry a charge are left out of the section. La. R.S. 33:1376Louisiana · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Kenner
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Louisiana answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the ward has voted in a local option election to put the stock law in force.
Louisiana has no single answer for the whole state. Each ward of each parish votes on its own stock law, and the rule only applies in a ward once a majority of its voters have said so. A ward can hold that vote at any time, but no more than once a year. Where the stock law is on, it is illegal to let livestock go loose on the public roads of that ward. A separate list of named highways is covered everywhere in the state and is left out of the ward vote.
This one is Louisiana law, not Kenner law. All Louisiana findings
The provisions of this Part shall not apply to those highways provided for in R.S. 3:2803 or be enforced in any ward of any parish of this state unless and until so ordered and authorized by a majority in number of the voters of said ward voting in an election held in said ward as hereinafter provided for in R.S. 3:3011.
The answer turns on whether the ward has voted in a local option election to put the stock law in force.
- the ward has voted to put the stock law in force
- The owner of livestock may not knowingly or carelessly let the animals go loose on the public roads of that ward.
- the ward has not voted to put the stock law in force
- The rule is not enforced in that ward, and only the highways on the separate statewide list stay covered.
Also on agricultural fencing in Kenner
- no rule, documents checkedLouisiana never says what a fence has to be to count as a lawful fence. The Civil Code articles give a landowner the right to fence and a way to split the cost of a shared fence, and neither one names a height, a wire count, a board count or a post spacing. The stock law defines livestock, owner and public highway, and defines no fence at all. Its ban turns on animals being loose rather than on any fence standard. La. Civ. Code Art. 684Louisiana · Statute
Documents behind this page
15 documents, of which 2 were published by Kenner itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Louisiana State LegislatureLouisiana Civil Code, Article 685, Common fences
- Louisiana State LegislatureLouisiana Civil Code, Article 684, Enclosures
- City of KennerKenner Code of Ordinances, Appendix A, Unified Development Code, Article XII, Supplementary Use and Performance Standards
- Louisiana State LegislatureLouisiana Revised Statutes, Title 40, Section 1730.28, Mandatory adoption of certain nationally recognized codes and standards as the state uniform construction code; adoption by reference
- Louisiana State LegislatureLouisiana Revised Statutes, Title 33, Section 4875.1, Exercise of police power; enclosure of residential and commercial swimming pools
- Louisiana Department of Health, Office of Public HealthLouisiana Administrative Code, Title 51, Public Health - Sanitary Code, Part XXIV, Chapter 7, Section 705, Barriers
- Louisiana State LegislatureLouisiana Civil Code, Article 667, Limitations on use of property
- Louisiana State LegislatureLouisiana Revised Statutes, Title 33, Section 4721, Grant of power to municipalities
- Louisiana State LegislatureLouisiana Revised Statutes, Title 48, Section 347, Removal of obstacles or hazards from highway or vicinity; campaign signs
- Louisiana State LegislatureLouisiana Revised Statutes, Title 33, Section 1376, Ordinances; battery-charged fences; parishes and municipalities
- City of KennerKenner Code of Ordinances, Chapter 5, Buildings and Building Regulations, Article I, Section 5-6, Fence regulations
- Louisiana State LegislatureLouisiana Revised Statutes, Title 3, Part VII, Local Regulation of Livestock on Public Highways
- Louisiana State LegislatureLouisiana Civil Code, Article 685, Common fences
- Louisiana State LegislatureLouisiana Revised Statutes, Title 3, Part VII, Definitions
- Louisiana State LegislatureLouisiana Revised Statutes, Title 3, Part VII, Livestock at large on highways unlawful
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 Kenner publishes, plus the Louisiana rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Louisiana 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