Fence laws in Plymouth, Minnesota
What the Plymouth municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Plymouth sets no rule of its own, the Minnesota rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Plymouth, Minnesota, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Plymouth does not set a distance between a fence and a lot line, but it puts a proof requirement close to one, and the answer turns on how close to the line the fence runs and what the easement carries. The figure is 6 feet, for distance from a lot line that can trigger a survey.
- How tall
- A fence in Plymouth of any opacity up to six and a half feet overall, with panels no more than six feet, may stand at or behind the minimum front setback line required for the principal structure, and the answer turns on the yard, the opacity of the fence and what it encloses. The figure is 6 feet, for fence panels behind the front setback line.
- Permits
- No person may erect, alter or relocate any fence or wall in Plymouth without first being issued a permit, and the answer turns on the use of the land and the height of the fence. The figure is 7 feet, for height at which a building permit is required.
- Pool barriers
- Minnesota rules say a public pool has to be closed off so children cannot get in. The figure is 5 feet, for minimum height of fencing around a public pool.
- Spite fences
- Minnesota counts a spite fence as a private nuisance.
- Measured from what
- Plymouth states each height limit twice and it is the clearest treatment of post caps in this set, and the answer turns on whether the panels or the posts are being measured. The figure is 42 inches, for fence required on top of a tall retaining wall.
- Corner lots
- Plymouth leaves corner clearance to Section 21105.05 of the zoning ordinance, which carries the sight clearance dimensions.
- Retaining walls
- A retaining wall in Minnesota needs no building permit if it is four feet tall or less, and the four feet is measured from the bottom of the footing up to the top of the wall, not from the ground. The figure is 4 feet, for height at or below which a retaining wall needs no building permit. It reaches work covered by the Minnesota State Building Code only.
- Materials
- Plymouth bans chicken wire, welded wire, plastic deer fence netting and similar products, snow fence, branches, and anything originally intended for another purpose, unless an applicant shows a high degree of architectural quality achieved with the material and the Zoning Administrator approves it first, and the answer turns on the material and whether the Zoning Administrator approved it.
- Livestock
- Minnesota lists the builds that count as a legal fence. The figure is 32 inches, for minimum woven wire height on a legal fence that carries two barbed wires above it.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Plymouth?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Plymouth answers this, but the answer changes depending on how close to the line the fence runs and what the easement carries.
Plymouth does not set a distance between a fence and a lot line, but it puts a proof requirement close to one. The Building Official may require a certificate of survey for any fence or wall to be built on or within six feet of a property line, unless the corner stakes are in place and marked and a survey is already filed with the city. No physical damage of any kind may occur to abutting property during installation unless the adjacent owner has agreed to it. The face of the fence, meaning the finished side showing no structural supports, has to face the abutting property or the street right-of-way, and both sides have to be kept in reasonable repair by the owner. Fences may not be placed on or extend into a public right-of-way. Fencing may not sit in a utility easement carrying a public water main or sewer pipe, or, for anything installed from the first of January 2025, in a pond access easement, without City Engineer review.
A certificate of survey may be required by the Building Official for all fences (except hedges and plantings) or walls to be constructed on or within six feet from the property line, unless corner property stakes are in place and marked and a survey is filed with the City.
The answer turns on how close to the line the fence runs and what the easement carries.
- within six feet of the line
- A survey may be required. 6 ft
- the face of the fence
- Faces the neighbor or the street.
- a water main or sewer easement
- City Engineer review.
- a wetland or rain garden
- No fence at all.
Also on fences on the property line in Plymouth
- set in state lawMinnesota splits the cost of a fence on the property line in equal shares, and only on farm land. Both sides have to be used, fully or partly, to raise or keep livestock, and at least one owner has to want a fence. Then each side builds and keeps up half. The statute names which animals count as livestock. A yard that holds none of them is outside the rule. Minn. Stat. 344.03, subd. 1(a)Minnesota · Statute
- set in state lawMinnesota settles a boundary fence argument through fence viewers, who are town officers picked for the job. When one side will not build or fix a fence it has to keep, the other side can complain to them. The fence viewers give notice, look at the fence or at whether one is needed, and can order the work done in a reasonable time. If that order is ignored, the side that complained can do the work and get paid back under section 344.05. Minn. Stat. 344.04Minnesota · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Plymouth?
Compare fence height across all 50 states
Plymouth answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard, the opacity of the fence and what it encloses.
A fence in Plymouth of any opacity up to six and a half feet overall, with panels no more than six feet, may stand at or behind the minimum front setback line required for the principal structure. Inside a required front yard the limit drops and splits by opacity. A fence of fifty percent opacity or more is held to three and a half feet overall with three foot panels, while a fence under fifty percent opacity, wrought iron, chain link or split rail given as examples, gets four and a half feet overall with four foot panels. So the more a fence can be seen through, the taller it may be at the front. Two other allowances reach ten feet without a conditional use permit: a fence enclosing tennis or other recreational courts, and a fence screening outside storage or loading in the industrial districts or an electrical substation in the public institutional district. Anything over six and a half feet elsewhere needs a conditional use permit and may not pass eight feet.
Fences constructed of materials with an opacity of up to 100 percent and not exceeding 6.5 feet in height (measured from the adjoining grade at the bottom to the top of support posts/post caps), provided that the actual fence panels/boards do not exceed 6 feet, may be located at or behind the minimum front setback lines, as required for the principal structure on the lot.
The answer turns on the yard, the opacity of the fence and what it encloses.
- behind the front setback line
- Six and a half feet overall, six foot panels. 6 ft
- a solid fence in a front yard
- Three and a half feet overall. 3 ft
- an open fence in a front yard
- Four and a half feet overall. 4 ft
- a tennis court or industrial screen
- Ten feet, under fifty percent opacity. 10 ft
Also on fence height in Plymouth
- no rule, documents checkedMinnesota sets no statewide limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. The boundary fence chapter says what a farm fence is built from and never caps a fence in a yard. The building code lets a fence up to seven feet go without a permit, which is a permit line and not a height cap. The city or county sets the limit. Minn. Stat. 344.02, 344.03Minnesota · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Plymouth?
Compare permits across all 50 states
Plymouth answers this, but the answer changes depending on the use of the land and the height of the fence.
No person may erect, alter or relocate any fence or wall in Plymouth without first being issued a permit. On agricultural, single family and two family lots that permit carries no charge, and the application has to include a site plan drawn to scale showing the house, accessory structures, all public easements, any required wetland buffers and the line of the proposed fence. A building permit and its fee arrive only where a fence would exceed seven feet or a wall would exceed four, and in that case the separate fence permit is not required. Every other land use goes through site plan review instead, with the matching fee. A developer installed fence in a new subdivision needs no fence permit where the approved plat drawings show it. Above six and a half feet a conditional use permit is required, capped at eight feet, and barbed wire, electrically charged and razor wire fences need an interim use permit unless they serve an agricultural use in the farm district or an essential service.
Except as otherwise provided herein, no person shall erect, alter or relocate any fence or wall within the City without first having been issued a permit therefor.
21130.01, Subd. 1 through 3, with Subd. 6
The answer turns on the use of the land and the height of the fence.
- a house lot fence
- A permit, with no fee.
- over seven feet
- A building permit instead. 7 ft
- over six and a half feet
- A conditional use permit, up to eight.
- barbed, electric or razor wire
- An interim use permit.
Also on permits in Plymouth
- set in state lawA fence in Minnesota seven feet tall or shorter needs no building permit. Minnesota runs one building code for the whole state, and the rules that come with it list the work that needs no permit. A fence is on that list up to seven feet. Above seven feet it needs a permit. Minn. R. 1300.0120, subp. 4Minnesota · Building code
Pool fence requirements in Plymouth
Compare pool barriers across all 50 states
Minnesota answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Minnesota rules say a public pool has to be closed off so children cannot get in. Where a fence does that job it has to stand at least five feet high, with gates that close and latch themselves and can be locked. No opening in the fence can be wider than four inches, no gap under it can be wider than two inches, and it cannot be built in a way that is easy to climb. The rule covers public pools. A pool at a private home is not in it.
This one is Minnesota law, not Plymouth law. All Minnesota findings
Access to a public pool must be controlled to effectively prevent the entrance of children.
5 ftminimum height of fencing around a public pool
Spite fence laws in Plymouth
Compare spite fences across all 50 states
Minnesota answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Minnesota counts a spite fence as a private nuisance. Any fence or other structure put up or kept there to annoy the owner or occupant next door falls under the statute. The current text names no height at all, so the test is why the fence is there, not how tall it is.
This one is Minnesota law, not Plymouth law. All Minnesota findings
Any fence, or any other structure, maliciously erected or maintained for the purpose of annoying the owners or occupants of adjoining property shall be deemed a private nuisance.
How fence height is measured in Plymouth
Compare how height is measured across all 50 states
Plymouth answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the panels or the posts are being measured.
Plymouth states each height limit twice and it is the clearest treatment of post caps in this set. The overall figure is measured from the adjoining grade at the bottom to the top of the support posts and post caps, and a second figure caps the actual fence panels or boards. Six and a half feet overall with six foot panels is the ordinary pair, three and a half with three at the front for a solid fence, four and a half with four for an open one. Writing both numbers removes the argument a single limit creates, where a builder sets a six foot panel and then adds a cap. For an open fence the code goes further still and says the four and a half feet includes ground clearance at the bottom as well as the posts and caps at the top, so the gap under a split rail fence counts toward the total. Nothing addresses a berm, and a fence on a retaining wall is dealt with as a safety requirement rather than a height question.
Fences constructed of materials with an opacity of under 50 percent (e.g., wrought iron, chain link, split rail) and not exceeding 4.5 feet in height (includes ground clearance at the bottom and support posts/post caps at the top), provided that the actual fence panels/boards do not exceed 4 feet, may be located within a required front yard area.
The answer turns on whether the panels or the posts are being measured.
- the overall height
- Grade to the top of the post caps.
- the panels
- Half a foot less than the overall figure.
- an open fence
- Ground clearance counts too.
- a retaining wall over four feet
- A three and a half foot fence required on top. 42 in
Also on how height is measured in Plymouth
- set in state lawMinnesota does name the ground, once. Section 344.02 lists the fences that count as legal, and the barbed wire one puts the top wire no more than forty eight inches high and the bottom wire twelve to sixteen inches from the ground. So the bottom of that fence is measured from the ground. The top is a bare number with no surface named, which leaves a fence on a slope unanswered. For a fence at a house, section 462.357 lets the city set the height rule, so the city decides how it is measured too. Minn. Stat. 344.02Minnesota · Statute
Fence rules for corner lots in Plymouth
Compare corner visibility across all 50 states
Plymouth does not set this. It leaves it to Section 21105.05 of the zoning ordinance, which carries the sight clearance dimensions.
No fence or wall in Plymouth may sit inside a traffic sight visibility triangle for a driveway or a street intersection unless it complies with the sight clearance regulations in Section 21105.05, and the dimensions are in that section rather than in the fence rules. Naming driveways alongside street intersections widens the reach from corner lots to every property with a curb cut. The companion rule covers planting from the other direction: there is no height restriction on plantings anywhere in the fence section, except that any planting inside or near a traffic sight visibility triangle has to meet the same sight clearance regulations. So a hedge is free to grow to any height in a back yard, and is held to the fence standard at a corner. Hedges and plantings also need no fence permit and are otherwise outside this section entirely.
No fence or wall shall be located within a traffic sight visibility triangle for a driveway or street intersection unless it complies with the sight clearance regulations set forth in Section 21105.05 of this Chapter.
The code hands this to Section 21105.05 of the zoning ordinance, which carries the sight clearance dimensions, which is not published in the code itself.
Also on corner visibility in Plymouth
- set in state lawMinnesota names the fence and names the roads. Chapter 160 makes it a misdemeanor to put a fence on the right of way of a trunk highway, a county state aid highway, a county highway or a town road. The one exception is a lane fence at the ends of a livestock crossing. The same section bars a building or structure inside the limits of any highway. Neither reaches a fence standing back on a private corner lot. Section 462.357 gives the city power over the height of structures and the size of yards, and a clear view triangle is written there. Minn. Stat. 160.2715Minnesota · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in Plymouth
Compare retaining walls across all 50 states
Minnesota answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A retaining wall in Minnesota needs no building permit if it is four feet tall or less, and the four feet is measured from the bottom of the footing up to the top of the wall, not from the ground. Minnesota prints this in its own state rule instead of pointing at a model code. Two things take a wall off the no permit list at any height. One is holding up a surcharge, which means extra weight pressing on the soil behind the wall, such as a driveway or a building. The other is holding back Class I, II or III-A liquids, which are liquids that burn.
This one is Minnesota law, not Plymouth law. All Minnesota 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 or impounding Class I, II, or III-A liquids;
4 ftheight at or below which a retaining wall needs no building permit
Fence materials allowed in Plymouth
Compare materials across all 50 states
Plymouth answers this, but the answer changes depending on the material and whether the Zoning Administrator approved it.
Plymouth bans chicken wire, welded wire, plastic deer fence netting and similar products, snow fence, branches, and anything originally intended for another purpose, unless an applicant shows a high degree of architectural quality achieved with the material and the Zoning Administrator approves it first. Two rules go further than most codes. Fences may not be supported using metal T-posts or U-posts or similar products except for agricultural uses in the farm district, which rules out the cheapest way to stand a wire fence up. And a fence has to be the same color on each side, again unless the Zoning Administrator approves a difference for architectural reasons, with bright colors such as neon or fluorescent prohibited apart from white and allowable temporary fencing. A chain link fence has to include a top rail with the barbed ends pointed toward the ground. Barbed wire, electrically charged and razor wire fences are available only by interim use permit.
Except for agricultural uses in the FRD District, fences shall not be supported using metal T- or U-posts or similar products.
The answer turns on the material and whether the Zoning Administrator approved it.
- metal T-posts or U-posts
- Only on a farm.
- chicken wire, deer netting or snow fence
- Prohibited without prior approval.
- color
- The same on both sides, nothing bright but white.
- chain link
- A top rail, barbed ends pointing down.
Also on materials in Plymouth
- set in state lawMinnesota lists five builds that count as a legal fence on a property line, and four of the five are wire. Barbed wire appears in all four, either on its own or stacked above woven wire, with rules on how many strands, how many barbs and how far apart the posts stand. The fifth is an open list of rails, beams, wires, boards, stone walls or a mix, so long as the fence viewers judge it equal to the others. No material is ruled out. Minn. Stat. 344.02Minnesota · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Plymouth
Compare agricultural fencing across all 50 states
Minnesota answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Minnesota lists the builds that count as a legal fence. Woven wire at least thirty two inches tall with two barbed wires above it counts. So does woven wire at least forty inches tall with one barbed wire above it, and woven wire at least forty eight inches tall with one barbed wire above it. All three go on well set posts no more than a rod apart. A rod is sixteen and a half feet. Four barbed wires also count, with at least forty barbs to the rod, the top wire no higher than forty eight inches and the bottom wire twelve to sixteen inches off the ground. Anything the fence viewers judge equal to those counts too.
This one is Minnesota law, not Plymouth law. All Minnesota findings
The following are legal and sufficient fences: (a) fences consisting of at least 32-inch woven wire and two barbed wires firmly fastened to well-set posts not more than one rod apart, the first barbed wire being above and not more than four inches from the woven wire and the second barbed wire being above and not more than eight inches from the first wire;
32 inminimum woven wire height on a legal fence that carries two barbed wires above it
Also on agricultural fencing in Plymouth
- set in state lawMinnesota puts the duty on the animal owner. Letting cattle, a horse, a donkey, a mule, sheep, swine or a goat run loose in the state is against the law, and driving an animal onto someone's land over their objection counts as running loose too. The section does not ask the neighbor to have built a fence first. Minn. Stat. 346.16Minnesota · Statute
Documents behind this page
9 documents, of which 1 was published by Plymouth itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Minnesota Legislature, Office of the Revisor of StatutesMinnesota Statutes, Chapter 344, Section 344.03, Expense; Equal Shares
- Minnesota Legislature, Office of the Revisor of StatutesMinnesota Statutes, Chapter 344, Section 344.04, Failure to Build or Repair; Rights of Complainant
- City of PlymouthPlymouth City Code, Chapter XXI, Zoning Ordinance, Section 21130.01, Fence/Wall Regulations
- Minnesota Legislature, Office of the Revisor of StatutesMinnesota Statutes, Chapter 344, Partition Fences
- Minnesota Department of Labor and IndustryMinnesota Rules, Chapter 1300, Part 1300.0120, Permits
- Minnesota Department of HealthMinnesota Rules, Chapter 4717, Part 4717.1550, Pool Access Restriction; Fencing
- Minnesota Legislature, Office of the Revisor of StatutesMinnesota Statutes, Chapter 561, Section 561.02, Maliciously Maintained Structure
- Minnesota Office of the Revisor of StatutesMinnesota Statutes, Chapter 160, Section 160.2715, Right-of-way use; misdemeanors
- Minnesota Legislature, Office of the Revisor of StatutesMinnesota Statutes, Chapter 346, Animals, Section 346.16, Running at Large; Defined; Prohibited; Treble Damages
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 Plymouth publishes, plus the Minnesota rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Minnesota 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