Fence laws in Worcester, Massachusetts
What the Worcester municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Worcester sets no rule of its own, the Massachusetts rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Worcester, Massachusetts, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Worcester places a screening fence differently depending on which boundary it stands on, and says so in feet, and the answer turns on whether the boundary is a sidewalk or a neighboring home. The figure is 50 percent, for openness required at a sidewalk edge.
- How tall
- Worcester does not write a fence height limit, and the answer turns on whether the fence passes six feet. The figure is 6 feet, for height at which a fence becomes a structure.
- Permits
- Because a Worcester fence over six feet is a structure, the question of where it may go is answered by the rules on accessory building rather than by anything written about fences, and the answer turns on which yard the structure stands in.
- Pool barriers
- Massachusetts sets a pool fence height in law, but only for public and semipublic outdoor inground pools. The figure is 6 feet, for fence height around a public or semipublic outdoor inground swimming pool. It reaches public and semipublic outdoor inground pools, not a pool at a home only.
- Spite fences
- Massachusetts has a spite fence law, and it is the best known one in the country. The figure is 6 feet, for height above which a maliciously built fence may be treated as a private nuisance.
- Measured from what
- Worcester never says what a fence height is measured from. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Corner lots
- The whole of the Worcester traffic visibility rule for fences sits inside the maintenance paragraph of the landscaping standards, and it is a duty rather than a dimension.
- Retaining walls
- Massachusetts needs no permit for a wall that holds back dirt when it is four feet tall or less, measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall. The figure is 4 feet, for height at or below which a retaining wall needs no building permit. It reaches one and two family homes and townhouses up to three stories only.
- Materials
- Worcester takes a position on chain link that is neither permission nor prohibition, and the answer turns on the material and how much of it there is.
- Livestock
- Massachusetts calls a fence legal and sufficient at four feet tall and in good repair. The figure is 4 feet, for height of a legal and sufficient fence.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Worcester?
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Worcester answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the boundary is a sidewalk or a neighboring home.
Worcester places a screening fence differently depending on which boundary it stands on, and says so in feet. Along a sidewalk edge the fence goes just inside the property line, stands three to four feet high, and has to be at least fifty percent perforated, so the street keeps a view through it. Along a boundary with a neighboring residential use the screening area runs four to seven feet high, the fencing may sit up to the property line or within three feet of it, and that fencing has to be opaque. The two rules reverse each other on purpose: low and see through where the public walks, tall and solid where somebody lives. A swimming pool is placed by a third rule, having to stay at least six feet from the property lines and be enclosed by a separate four foot high fence of its own.
Fencing in a landscape screening area along a sidewalk edge shall be installed just inside the property line. Such fence shall be three (3) to four (4) feet in height and at least fifty percent (50%) perforated.
Article V, Landscaping Design Standards, with Article IV on accessory uses
The answer turns on whether the boundary is a sidewalk or a neighboring home.
- a sidewalk edge
- Just inside the line, three to four feet, half open. 50%
- a boundary with a home
- Four to seven feet, opaque, within three feet of the line. 3 ft
- a swimming pool
- Six feet off the line, inside its own four foot fence. 6 ft
Also on fences on the property line in Worcester
- set in state lawMassachusetts splits a fence on the line in equal shares between the two neighbors. That holds as long as both of them are working their land, and any deal the two make instead wins over it. Massachusetts also still appoints fence viewers in every town to settle arguments about those shares. M.G.L. c. 49, § 3Massachusetts · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Worcester?
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Worcester answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence passes six feet.
Worcester does not write a fence height limit. It writes a definition, and the definition does the work. A structure is a combination of materials assembled at a fixed location to give support or shelter, and the list of examples runs from buildings and bridges through tanks, tents, stadiums, reviewing stands, bins, flagpoles and antennas. Then comes the sentence that decides fences: one over six feet high is considered to be a structure. Below six feet the ordinance leaves a fence alone. At six feet and above it becomes a structure, and every rule the ordinance writes for structures, including the yard and setback requirements and the permit that goes with them, starts applying to it.
over six (6) feet high is considered to be a structure.
Article I, General Provisions, definition of STRUCTURE
The answer turns on whether the fence passes six feet.
- a fence of six feet or less
- Not a structure, and largely outside the ordinance. 6 ft
- a fence over six feet
- A structure, with the yard and setback rules that follow.
Also on fence height in Worcester
- no rule, documents checkedMassachusetts sets no limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. The six foot figure in Chapter 49 is what turns a spite fence into a nuisance case, not a cap on height. Chapter 49 covers fence viewers, fences on the line and boundary fights, and nowhere limits an ordinary fence. Height comes from town zoning bylaws. M.G.L. c. 49Massachusetts · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Worcester?
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Worcester answers this, but the answer changes depending on which yard the structure stands in.
Because a Worcester fence over six feet is a structure, the question of where it may go is answered by the rules on accessory building rather than by anything written about fences. No accessory building or use may occupy any part of a required front yard or exterior side yard, with a short list of exceptions for driveways and parking, yard gardens without farm structures and farm stands. An accessory building is separately held to ten percent of the floor area of the main building or ten percent of the unbuilt area of the lot, and a private unattached garage to ten percent of the lot area or seven hundred and fifty square feet, whichever is larger, with anything bigger needing a special permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals. So the route to a tall fence in a Worcester front yard runs through that board rather than through an over the counter permit.
No accessory building or use may occupy any part of a required front yard or exterior side yard
Article IV, Use Regulations, accessory buildings and uses
The answer turns on which yard the structure stands in.
- a required front or exterior side yard
- No accessory building or use.
- a driveway, parking area, yard garden or farm stand
- Excepted.
- anything above the size limits
- A special permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals.
Also on permits in Worcester
- set in state lawMassachusetts runs one building code for the whole state, written by the Board of Building Regulations and Standards under this law. The board makes the rules on building work and on issuing permits. The tenth edition is built on the 2021 International Codes, and its chapter 51 adopts the 2021 International Residential Code with Massachusetts changes. The list of work that needs no permit sits in that code, not in the law itself. M.G.L. c. 143, § 94Massachusetts · Statute
Pool fence requirements in Worcester
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Massachusetts answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Massachusetts sets a pool fence height in law, but only for public and semipublic outdoor inground pools. Those need a six foot fence held down at ground level. A board or stockade fence may be five feet, and anything over five feet has to be chain link. The section does not reach a pool behind a house, which falls under the state building code instead.
This one is Massachusetts law, not Worcester law. All Massachusetts findings
Every public and semipublic outdoor inground swimming pool shall be enclosed by a fence six feet in height and firmly secured at ground level provided that any board or stockade fence or structure shall be at least five feet in height, but if over five feet in height, the fence shall be chain link.
6 ftfence height around a public or semipublic outdoor inground swimming pool
Spite fence laws in Worcester
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Massachusetts answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Massachusetts has a spite fence law, and it is the best known one in the country. A fence, or anything built like one, that goes over six feet for no reason and was put up or kept up out of spite to annoy a neighbor counts as a private nuisance. The neighbor can sue for money over the harm to the comfort or use of their property. Both the height and the spite have to be there.
This one is Massachusetts law, not Worcester law. All Massachusetts findings
A fence or other structure in the nature of a fence which unnecessarily exceeds six feet in height and is maliciously erected or maintained for the purpose of annoying the owners or occupants of adjoining property shall be deemed a private nuisance.
6 ftheight above which a maliciously built fence may be treated as a private nuisance
How fence height is measured in Worcester
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Worcester law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Massachusetts puts a fence height in law and never says what it is measured from. Chapter 49 makes a fence over six feet a private nuisance when it is kept up to annoy a neighbor, and gives the six feet no starting point, which is what decides the answer on a slope or on top of a wall. The Zoning Act does not settle it either. Its section 3 is a list of things a local rule may not do, and it touches height only in passing, for child care buildings and for ham radio masts. Neither place gives a way to measure a fence.
This one is Massachusetts law, not Worcester law. All Massachusetts findings
Documents read before writing that:
- M.G.L. c. 49, s. 21Massachusetts General Court
- M.G.L. c. 40A, s. 3Massachusetts General Court
Fence rules for corner lots in Worcester
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Worcester answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
The whole of the Worcester traffic visibility rule for fences sits inside the maintenance paragraph of the landscaping standards, and it is a duty rather than a dimension. Planting and fencing have to be arranged and maintained so as not to obscure the vision of traffic. There is no triangle, no leg length, no band of protected heights and no separate treatment for a corner lot or a driveway, so the test is applied to the fence as built rather than measured off a plan. Because it sits in the maintenance paragraph, it also reaches a fence that was fine when it went up and has since been grown over, which a dimensional rule would not. The same paragraph requires landscaping to be kept in a healthy growing condition and plants that die to be replaced in kind within a reasonable period.
fencing shall be arranged and maintained so as not to obscure the vision of traffic.
Article V, Landscaping Design Standards, Maintenance of Landscaped Areas
Also on corner visibility in Worcester
- left to the townMassachusetts leaves this to the town. The public ways chapter lets the town board or officer in charge of laying out roads give permits for signs, awnings and other things that stick out into or over a public road. The same section lets that board set the fees and write its own rules and fines for them. The chapter runs from direction signs to snow clearing to bicycles, and never measures a corner. Zoning covers the rest, so both routes end at the local bylaw and neither one prints a triangle. M.G.L. c. 85, s. 8Massachusetts · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in Worcester
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Massachusetts answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Massachusetts needs no permit for a wall that holds back dirt when it is four feet tall or less, measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall. A wall holding up extra weight on the soil behind it, such as a driveway or a building, needs a permit at any height. Massachusetts dropped the first chapter of the model residential code and wrote its own, so this permit list is state text rather than a pointer to a model code. Other laws and the trade codes can still call for a permit.
This one is Massachusetts law, not Worcester law. All Massachusetts findings
Retaining walls that are not over four feet (1,219 mm) in height measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall, unless supporting a surcharge.
4 ftheight at or below which a retaining wall needs no building permit
Fence materials allowed in Worcester
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Worcester answers this, but the answer changes depending on the material and how much of it there is.
Worcester takes a position on chain link that is neither permission nor prohibition. It is to be discouraged in general, and where it is used it has to be limited to small areas and has to be vinyl coated, with the Planning Board deciding what color the coating will be. That last detail is unusual enough to be worth noticing, because it puts a design choice most cities never mention in the hands of a board. The ordinance also names a material it approves of, saying a wooden shadowbox fence is an effective screen between properties, and it asks for something more than a flat surface on a long run, requiring high fences that cover long distances to have surface textures that minimize their size.
In general, chain link fencing is to be discouraged.
Article V, Site Plan Review, Landscaping Design Standards, Fencing
The answer turns on the material and how much of it there is.
- chain link generally
- Discouraged.
- chain link where it is used
- Small areas only, vinyl coated, in a color the Planning Board picks.
- a long high fence
- Surface textures to reduce its bulk.
Also on materials in Worcester
- set in state lawMassachusetts bans barbed wire in one place by name. A fence running along a sidewalk on a public road may not carry barbed wire anywhere within six feet of the ground, and building or keeping one is a fine of twenty to fifty dollars. The rule sits in the public ways chapter, not the fence chapter, and it reaches only a fence beside a sidewalk. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 86, 6Massachusetts · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Worcester
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Massachusetts answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Massachusetts calls a fence legal and sufficient at four feet tall and in good repair. It can be rails, timber, boards, iron or stone. Brooks, rivers, ponds, creeks, ditches and hedges count too, and so does anything else the town fence viewers judge just as good. Height is the only number in it.
This one is Massachusetts law, not Worcester law. All Massachusetts findings
Fences four feet high, in good repair, constructed of rails, timber, boards, iron or stone, and brooks, rivers, ponds, creeks, ditches and hedges, or other things which the fence viewers consider equivalent thereto, shall be deemed legal and sufficient fences.
4 ftheight of a legal and sufficient fence
Also on agricultural fencing in Worcester
- set in state lawMassachusetts lets a landowner hurt by loose farm animals sue the owner of those animals, or hold the animals until the damage is paid. The section names horses, mules, asses, cattle, sheep, goats and swine, and it puts no fence condition on that right. Another section points the same way by making the town field driver pick up farm animals found loose on public roads or on common and unimproved land. M.G.L. c. 49, s. 29Massachusetts · Statute
Documents behind this page
12 documents, of which 1 was published by Worcester itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Massachusetts General CourtMassachusetts General Laws, Part I, Title VII, Chapter 49, Section 3, Maintenance of partition fences
- City of WorcesterCity of Worcester Zoning Ordinance
- Massachusetts General CourtMassachusetts General Laws, Part I, Title VII, Chapter 49, Fences, Fence Viewers, Pounds and Field Drivers, full chapter listing
- Massachusetts General CourtMassachusetts General Laws, Part I, Title VII, Chapter 49, Section 21
- Massachusetts General CourtMassachusetts General Laws, Part I, Title XX, Chapter 143, Section 94, Powers and duties of board
- Massachusetts General CourtMassachusetts General Laws, Part I, Title XX, Chapter 140, Section 206, Enclosure of swimming pools
- Massachusetts General CourtMassachusetts General Laws, Part I, Title VII, Chapter 40A, Section 3, Subjects which zoning may not regulate
- Massachusetts General CourtMassachusetts General Laws, Part I, Title XIV, Chapter 85, Section 8, Permits for signs and other structures projecting into or over ways
- Massachusetts Board of Building Regulations and Standards780 CMR 51.00: Massachusetts Residential Code, Chapter R1, Scope and Application, Tenth Edition, amendments to the 2021 International Residential Code
- Massachusetts General CourtMassachusetts General Laws, Part I, Title XIV, Chapter 86, Section 6, Barbed wire fences
- Massachusetts General CourtMassachusetts General Laws, Part I, Title VII, Chapter 49, Fences, Fence Viewers, Pounds and Field Drivers
- Massachusetts General CourtMassachusetts General Laws, Part I, Title VII, Chapter 49, Fences, Fence Viewers, Pounds and Field Drivers
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 Worcester publishes, plus the Massachusetts rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Massachusetts 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