Fence laws in Kentwood, Michigan
What the Kentwood municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Kentwood sets no rule of its own, the Michigan rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Kentwood, Michigan, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Kentwood states the good side rule in a way that does not name the neighbor at all.
- How tall
- In every residential, commercial and office district Kentwood caps a solid front yard fence at three feet and lets a decorative open-type fence reach four, defining open by the spacing: the gaps between boards have to equal the width of the boards themselves, and the answer turns on the district, the yard, and whether the fence is solid or open. The figure is 3 feet, for solid front yard fence.
- Permits
- Kentwood sets its permit threshold at thirty inches, which is low enough that nearly every real fence is over it, and the answer turns on the height of the fence and where it stands. The figure is 30 inches, for height at which a permit is required.
- Pool barriers
- Michigan puts no pool fence height in its own statute.
- Spite fences
- Kentwood has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Kentwood leaves the measuring rule to the local unit of government that adopts the zoning ordinance.
- Corner lots
- Kentwood combines a judgment and a fixed area in the same paragraph, and the answer turns on whether the fence is inside the clear vision area.
- Retaining walls
- A retaining wall in Michigan needs no building permit if it is four feet tall or less, measured from the bottom of the footing up 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 under the Michigan residential code only.
- Materials
- Electric fences are unlawful to install, construct or maintain in any zoning district in Kentwood, with no exception written anywhere in the section, not for animals and not for industry, and the answer turns on the material, the district and the part of the lot. The figure is 10 feet, for setback for barbed wire from a road or a home.
- Livestock
- Michigan sets no height, wire count, board count or post spacing for a farm fence.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Kentwood?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Kentwood answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Kentwood states the good side rule in a way that does not name the neighbor at all. The finished side of a fence has to be oriented to the closest property line, so the answer follows from geometry rather than from who lives on the other side, and a fence set well inside a lot faces whichever boundary it happens to be nearest. The section then removes the argument for one common design by declaring that a fence built with alternating boards on opposite sides is finished on both sides, which settles what would otherwise be a judgment call about a board-on-board fence. Nothing in the section requires consent from the adjoining owner, sets a setback from the line, or says who pays, so orientation is the whole of what Kentwood regulates about a shared boundary.
The finished side of a fence must be oriented to the closest property line. Fences constructed with alternating boards on opposite sides of the fence are determined to be finished on both sides.
Also on fences on the property line in Kentwood
- set in state lawIn Michigan the owner who builds a fence on the line pays for it and for keeping it up, and the neighbor owes nothing. Most states split that cost. The neighbor starts owing a share of what the fence is worth now only when that neighbor or their renter begins using it to hold animals, and even then the neighbor can build a separate fence instead. The whole act covers only fences that hold animals, because section 43.51 defines a fence that way. MCL 43.53(1)Michigan · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Kentwood?
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Kentwood answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district, the yard, and whether the fence is solid or open.
In every residential, commercial and office district Kentwood caps a solid front yard fence at three feet and lets a decorative open-type fence reach four, defining open by the spacing: the gaps between boards have to equal the width of the boards themselves. Behind the front yard the figure is six feet where the lot is in or immediately next to a residential district or use. A corner lot street side yard repeats the three and four foot pair, and adds a setback rather than a ban for the taller solid option, requiring any solid fence over three feet to sit at least seventeen feet back from the street side lot line. Industrial districts run their own ladder, three feet solid or four feet decorative in the front yard, four feet of chain link or six feet of decorative metal behind the landscape setback, eight feet of chain link behind the front of the main building, and eight feet as the ceiling for anything in an industrial district.
Solid-type fences in the front yard shall not exceed a height of three (3) feet. A decorative open-type fence with spacing between boards equivalent to the board width of the fence may be permitted within the front yard area provided it does not exceed a height of four (4) feet.
The answer turns on the district, the yard, and whether the fence is solid or open.
- a solid fence in a front yard
- Three feet. 3 ft
- a decorative open fence in a front yard
- Four feet, with gaps as wide as the boards. 4 ft
- the rest of a residential lot
- Six feet. 6 ft
- a solid fence over three feet in a street side yard
- Seventeen feet back from the street side lot line. 17 ft
Also on fence height in Kentwood
- no rule, documents checkedMichigan sets no statewide limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. The state fence act defines a fence by what it holds in, not by height, and names no number. The seven feet in the residential code rules is the point where a permit starts being needed, not a cap. The city, village or township sets the limit. MCL 43.51Michigan · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Kentwood?
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Kentwood answers this, but the answer changes depending on the height of the fence and where it stands.
Kentwood sets its permit threshold at thirty inches, which is low enough that nearly every real fence is over it. Anything above that height requires a zoning permit and has to be reviewed and approved by the Zoning Administrator before construction starts, so the approval is a condition of building rather than something sorted out afterwards. The same official holds two discretionary powers in the section: allowing a fence of up to eight feet to enclose public services and installations, and deciding whether a fence on a corner or beside a driveway obstructs a driver view, which the code frames as a matter of opinion rather than a measured triangle. Separately, building any fence in a public right-of-way, a floodway easement or a drainage easement is unlawful without the consent of the City Engineer, and the section points to the Stormwater Management Ordinance for that.
All fences and walls exceeding thirty (30) inches in height shall require a zoning permit and shall be reviewed and approved by the Zoning Administrator prior to construction.
The answer turns on the height of the fence and where it stands.
- a fence over thirty inches
- A zoning permit, approved before construction. 30 in
- a right-of-way or a drainage easement
- The City Engineer has to consent.
- an eight foot fence round a public installation
- Zoning Administrator approval. 8 ft
Also on permits in Kentwood
- set in state lawA fence in Michigan seven feet tall or shorter needs no building permit. The state writes that number into its own rule rather than taking the model code as it comes. Rule 505 replaces section R105.2 of the residential code. The same no permit list also covers a separate shed up to 200 square feet, a retaining wall under four feet with no extra weight on the soil behind it, and a store bought pool less than 24 inches deep. Skipping the permit does not make legal any work that breaks the code or a city rule. R 408.30505Michigan · Building code
Pool fence requirements in Kentwood
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Michigan answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Michigan puts no pool fence height in its own statute. The state construction code act builds the Michigan code out of the national model codes, including the International Residential Code, plus whatever changes the director makes. So the fence rule for a pool at a house comes from that model code. The same act says a Michigan version of a code has to be free to the public before anyone can enforce it.
This one is Michigan law, not Kentwood law. All Michigan findings
The code shall consist of the international residential code, the international building code, the international mechanical code, the international plumbing code, the international existing building code, and the international energy conservation code published by the international code council and the national electrical code published by the national fire prevention association, with amendments, additions, or deletions as the director determines appropriate.
Spite fence laws in Kentwood
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Kentwood law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Michigan has no spite fence law. The state fence act covers who pays, who the fence viewer is, and what a fence viewer can decide, and section 43.55 says plainly that a fence viewer does not settle boundary arguments. Nothing in the act turns on why a fence went up or how tall it is. A claim about a fence built to annoy rests on ordinary nuisance law made by judges, and on city zoning.
This one is Michigan law, not Kentwood law. All Michigan findings
Documents read before writing that:
How fence height is measured in Kentwood
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Kentwood does not set this. It leaves it to the local unit of government that adopts the zoning ordinance.
Michigan never says where a fence height is measured from. Section 125.3201 of the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act lets a local government limit the height of buildings and other structures, and stops there. The state fence law says even less. Section 43.51 calls a fence anything good enough to hold an animal, with no number and no starting point. So the county, township or city writes both the limit and the way it is measured.
This one is Michigan law, not Kentwood law. All Michigan findings
A local unit of government may adopt land development regulations under the zoning ordinance designating or limiting the location, height, bulk, number of stories, uses, and size of dwellings, buildings, and structures that may be erected or altered, including tents and recreational vehicles.
The code hands this to the local unit of government that adopts the zoning ordinance, which is not published in the code itself.
Also on how height is measured in Kentwood
- no rule, documents checkedSection 3.19 gives five different height figures and never says where any of them is measured from. There is no definition of grade inside the section, nothing about a fence on a slope, nothing about a fence standing on a berm or a retaining wall, and nothing about which of two lots at different levels the reading is taken on. The one place the section anchors a measurement to the ground is the barbed wire rule, which requires the strands not to extend lower than six feet from the nearest ground level, and the phrase nearest ground level appears there and nowhere else. The general requirements subsection ahead of the heights deals with rights-of-way, corner visibility, electric fences and the permit threshold, so the gap is not an oversight in one subsection but a silence across the whole section. 3.19.A, General RequirementsKentwood · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Kentwood
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Kentwood answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence is inside the clear vision area.
Kentwood combines a judgment and a fixed area in the same paragraph. No fence may be erected on a corner lot or next to a driveway which, in the opinion of the Zoning Administrator, obstructs the view of a vehicle driver approaching the intersection or the driveway. That phrasing puts the decision with one official and covers driveways alongside intersections. Behind it sits a hard boundary: fencing is not permitted within the clear vision area at all, as that area is defined in Section 3.06 of the zoning ordinance. So a corner fence has two tests to pass, staying out of the defined area and satisfying the administrator about everything outside it. The height rules pull the same way, capping a corner street side yard at three feet solid and requiring a taller solid fence to stand seventeen feet back from the street side lot line.
No fence shall be erected on any corner lot or parcel or adjacent to any driveways, which will, in the opinion of the Zoning Administrator, obstruct the view of a vehicle driver approaching the intersection or driveway.
The answer turns on whether the fence is inside the clear vision area.
- inside the clear vision area
- No fencing at all, per Section 3.06.
- outside it, on a corner or by a driveway
- The Zoning Administrator judges whether it blocks the view.
Also on corner visibility in Kentwood
- set in state lawMichigan has a 1925 law about fences that sit in the road. Act 368 of 1925, in Chapter 247 of the Michigan Compiled Laws, lets the commissioner in charge of a road order an owner to pull back any fence, building or other thing that crosses into a public highway, and gives the owner thirty days. The order has to state how wide the road is and where the fence sits compared to the center line. An owner who ignores it owes a dollar a day. The law covers the road itself and nothing else. A clear view triangle at a corner comes from a city rule written under the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act. MCL 247.171Michigan · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in Kentwood
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Michigan answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A retaining wall in Michigan needs no building permit if it is four feet tall or less, measured from the bottom of the footing up to the top of the wall. The footing sits below the ground, so the four feet starts lower than the yard does. Michigan writes this itself. Rule 505 replaces section R105.2 of the residential code. A wall holding up a surcharge needs a permit at any height. A surcharge means extra weight pressing on the soil behind the wall, such as a driveway or a building. Skipping the permit does not make legal any work that breaks the code or a city rule.
This one is Michigan law, not Kentwood law. All Michigan findings
A retaining wall that is not more than 4 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 Kentwood
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Kentwood answers this, but the answer changes depending on the material, the district and the part of the lot.
Electric fences are unlawful to install, construct or maintain in any zoning district in Kentwood, with no exception written anywhere in the section, not for animals and not for industry. Chain link and wire fencing are barred from any residential, commercial or office front yard, and barred again from the street side yard of a corner lot, and in industrial districts from the required front yard landscape setback. Barbed wire is not banned but is pushed to the top of the fence and held away from people twice over: the strands are restricted to the uppermost portion, that portion has to be set back at least ten feet from a public right-of-way or from a perimeter property line abutting a residential district, and it may not extend lower than six feet above the nearest ground level. Those conditions appear once for public services and installations and again for storage and similar areas in industrial districts, in identical words.
It shall be unlawful to install, construct or maintain electric fences in any zoning district.
3.19.A.3, with B.1, B.4 and C.4
The answer turns on the material, the district and the part of the lot.
- an electric fence
- Unlawful everywhere in the city.
- chain link or wire at the front
- Not allowed in a residential, commercial or office front yard.
- barbed wire where it is allowed
- Top of the fence only, six feet up and ten feet back. 10 ft
Also on materials in Kentwood
- set in state lawMichigan says in its construction code act what a low voltage electric fence is. It counts as one only if it stands on land zoned for something other than homes and runs off a battery of 12 volts or less. It also has to sit inside a fence or wall that carries no current and stands at least 5 feet tall. It stops at 10 feet and carries shock warning signs no more than 60 feet apart, written in English and Spanish. A fence that meets the whole list needs no permit when a registered alarm company installs it. MCL 125.1528aMichigan · Building code
Livestock and boundary fence law in Kentwood
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Michigan answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Michigan sets no height, wire count, board count or post spacing for a farm fence. The fence viewers act defines a fence by what it does rather than what it is made of, so anything that holds an animal counts, and so does a natural barrier such as a river or a thick hedge. The animals it has to hold are the ones named in the running at large act: cattle, horses, sheep, swine, mules, burros or goats.
This one is Michigan law, not Kentwood law. All Michigan findings
means a structure or natural barrier which is sufficient to confine an animal as defined in section 1 of Act No. 328 of the Public Acts of 1976
Also on agricultural fencing in Kentwood
- set in state lawMichigan puts the duty on the animal owner across the whole state. An animal may not run loose anywhere in Michigan. The owner may not let it happen, and neither may anybody else who knows what they are doing. Running at large means the animal is off the owner's land and out of the owner's control. A person whose property gets damaged can ask the owner to pay, and nothing in the act asks that person to have built a fence first. MCL 433.12Michigan · Statute
Documents behind this page
10 documents, of which 1 was published by Kentwood itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Michigan LegislatureMichigan Compiled Laws, Chapter 43, Fences and Fence Viewers, Act 34 of 1978
- City of KentwoodKentwood Code of Ordinances, Appendix A, Zoning, Chapter 3, Section 3.19, Fences and walls
- Michigan LegislatureMichigan Compiled Laws, Chapter 43, Fences and Fence Viewers, Act 34 of 1978
- Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Bureau of Construction CodesMichigan Administrative Code, Construction Code, Part 5, Residential Code, R 408.30500 to R 408.30547g
- Michigan LegislatureMichigan Compiled Laws, Stille-DeRossett-Hale Single State Construction Code Act, Act 230 of 1972
- Michigan LegislatureMichigan Compiled Laws, Chapter 43, Fences and Fence Viewers, Act 34 of 1978
- Michigan LegislatureMichigan Compiled Laws, Michigan Zoning Enabling Act, Section 125.3201
- Michigan LegislatureMichigan Compiled Laws, Act 368 of 1925, Highway Obstructions and Encroachments, Section 247.171, Encroachments; removal order, service; temporary permit
- Michigan LegislatureMichigan Compiled Laws, Stille-DeRossett-Hale Single State Construction Code Act, Act 230 of 1972, Section 28a
- Michigan LegislatureMichigan Compiled Laws, Animals Running at Large, Act 328 of 1976
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 Kentwood publishes, plus the Michigan rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Michigan 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