Fence laws in Joplin, Missouri
What the Joplin municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Joplin sets no rule of its own, the Missouri rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Joplin, Missouri, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- The framework of a wood fence in Joplin goes on the inside whether the fence is a privacy fence or a decorative one, and the posts of a wire fence go inside the fabric, so the neighbor sees boards or mesh rather than rails and poles, and the answer turns on the kind of fence and the kind of post. The figure is 18 inches, for minimum depth a post is set in concrete.
- How tall
- Joplin writes its fence law as a whitelist in the nuisance chapter, and the answer turns on which of the four kinds of fence it is. The figure is 8 feet, for privacy fence height.
- Permits
- Missouri has no building code of its own and hands the job to local government by statute.
- Pool barriers
- Joplin sets no statewide pool barrier rule. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Spite fences
- Joplin has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Joplin leaves the measuring rule to the legislative body of each city, town and village.
- Corner lots
- Joplin draws the largest sight triangle in this set, and it is not close. The figure is 2 feet, for height limit above the roadway inside the triangle.
- Retaining walls
- Joplin leaves retaining walls to the building code each county, fire protection district or city adopts by reference in its own ordinance.
- Materials
- Joplin is one of the few cities in this set that tells an owner what a privacy fence has to be made of rather than what it may not be, and the answer turns on which kind of fence it is and what sits next to it. The figure is 12 inches, for widest board allowed on a privacy fence.
- Livestock
- A lawful fence in Missouri is posts and wire or boards at least four feet high, once the two owners agree on it or the associate circuit court decides it. The figure is 4 feet, for minimum height of a lawful fence in Missouri.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Joplin?
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Joplin answers this, but the answer changes depending on the kind of fence and the kind of post.
The framework of a wood fence in Joplin goes on the inside whether the fence is a privacy fence or a decorative one, and the posts of a wire fence go inside the fabric, so the neighbor sees boards or mesh rather than rails and poles. Then the section does something unusual and specifies the foundation. Every post except a metal T line post has to be set in concrete to a minimum depth of eighteen inches and has to measure at least four inches by four inches, with T posts allowed to be driven instead. That is a structural standard of a kind most fence ordinances leave to the building code or to nobody. No setback from a side or rear line is stated for an ordinary fence, though a tennis court fence has to stand six feet off every line and a privacy fence has to stay behind the rear of the building. Two maintenance duties run alongside: no fence may be kept in a dilapidated or dangerous condition, and on non-residential property fences and retaining walls have to be structurally sound and of approved materials.
All framework of a wood fence, whether a privacy fence or a decorative fence, must be on the inside portion of the fence, and all posts of a wire fence must be inside of the fabric. All posts (except metal "T" line posts) must be set in concrete to a minimum depth of 18 inches and shall be a minimum of four inches by four inches.
The answer turns on the kind of fence and the kind of post.
- the framework
- On the inside.
- the posts
- Eighteen inches into concrete. 18 in
- a metal T line post
- May be driven instead.
- a dilapidated fence
- A nuisance in its own right.
Also on fences on the property line in Joplin
- set in state lawA fence on the property line in Missouri starts with written notice to the neighbor. The two owners then meet, and each one builds or fixes the half on their own right. Right means standing at the middle of the shared line, on their own land, facing the fence. If they cannot agree, an associate circuit judge names viewers to split the cost. RSMo § 272.060Missouri · Statute
- set in state lawMissouri says what happens when one side does not build its half. If either side fails to build or fix its part in a reasonable time, the other can ask the associate circuit court for permission to do the work the way the court directs. The court then orders the other side to pay its share of the whole cost, plus court costs and reasonable lawyer fees. That order is a lien on the other side's land, meaning the debt is attached to the property until it is paid. RSMo § 272.070Missouri · Statute
- set in state lawMissouri also covers the case where only one neighbor wants a fence. That neighbor may build the whole thing and report the total cost to the associate circuit judge, who has the cost written onto each deed. If the other owner later runs livestock against that fence, the builder gets back half the cost of building it, split the way section 272.060 says. RSMo § 272.132Missouri · Statute
- set in state lawThe duty in Missouri does not end once the fence is up. Anyone who owns part of a fence on a property line keeps that part in good repair, to the standard in Chapter 272. The same section gives a right to cross the line. The person doing the repair may step onto the land next door to do it. RSMo § 272.110Missouri · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Joplin?
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Joplin answers this, but the answer changes depending on which of the four kinds of fence it is.
Joplin writes its fence law as a whitelist in the nuisance chapter. It is unlawful to erect or maintain any fence or other like structure except as the section allows, and then four kinds are named. A privacy fence may go on any lot at up to eight feet, but it may not come closer to the front property line than the nearest portion of the rear of the building, which is a stricter line than the front building line most cities use and puts the solid fence behind the back wall of the house. A decorative fence may go on any lot at up to four feet and has to be of open construction. A security fence may reach twelve feet on a business or industrial lot, with the top four feet in open wire, woven wire or barbed wire. An open wire fence around a private tennis court may also reach twelve feet, again with the top four open, and has to sit at least six feet off every property line.
Privacy fences may be erected on any lot, except as provided in section 54-83, and shall be no more than eight feet high and shall not be located closer to the front property line than the nearest portion of the rear of the building.
The answer turns on which of the four kinds of fence it is.
- a privacy fence
- Eight feet, and behind the back of the house. 8 ft
- a decorative fence
- Four feet, open construction. 4 ft
- a security fence on business land
- Twelve feet, top four open. 12 ft
- a tennis court fence
- Twelve feet, six feet off the lines. 6 ft
Also on fence height in Joplin
- no rule, documents checkedMissouri sets no statewide limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. Chapter 272 defines a lawful fence by whether it keeps livestock in, not by a maximum height for a yard fence, and Missouri runs no statewide building code for homes that could add one. The city or county sets the limit. RSMo ch. 272Missouri · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Joplin?
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Missouri answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Missouri has no building code of its own and hands the job to local government by statute. A county, a fire protection district or a city that already has power to pass such a rule may adopt a code by naming it instead of printing all of it, as long as the code is named by date and source. One copy has to sit with the local clerk, open to anyone, for ninety days before the rule passes, and the rule has to state its own penalty rather than borrow one from the code. The codes this covers are building construction and use, mechanical work, plumbing, electrical work and fire prevention.
This one is Missouri law, not Joplin law. All Missouri findings
Any community, if the community otherwise has the power under the law to adopt such an ordinance, may adopt or repeal an ordinance which incorporates by reference the provisions of any code or portions of any code, or any amendment thereof, properly identified as to date and source, without setting forth the provisions of such code in full.
Also on permits in Joplin
- no rule, documents checkedNothing in the fence division requires a permit, names a fee, or sends an owner to a counter before building. There is no application, no diagram and no inspection written into it. What the division has instead is enforcement after the fact, and it is sharper than most. A fence that breaks these rules is declared a nuisance, the owner or occupant of the lot it stands on is guilty of a misdemeanor, and each day the violation continues is a separate offense. The dangerous materials section carries its own misdemeanor on top of that. So the city does not screen a fence going up, it prosecutes one that went up against the rules. The property maintenance article adds a continuing duty on non-residential land without adding a permit to it. Division 3, Sections 54-81 through 54-84Joplin · Zoning code
Pool fence requirements in Joplin
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Joplin law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Missouri sets no statewide fence rule for a swimming pool at a private home. The only pool fencing rules in state regulation sit in health department chapters on public bathing places and on hotels and motels, and both are aimed at pools open to the public. The one place a swimming pool shows up in the statutes is a definition inside a section about what a landowner can be sued for, and it sets no fence at all.
This one is Missouri law, not Joplin law. All Missouri findings
Documents read before writing that:
- RSMo ch. 701Missouri Revisor of Statutes
- RSMo § 537.348Missouri Revisor of Statutes
Spite fence laws in Joplin
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Joplin law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Missouri has no spite fence law. Chapter 272 is the state fence chapter and it runs from what counts as a lawful fence through boundary fences, repairs and local option rules. Nothing in it covers a fence built to hurt a neighbor, and there is no height anywhere in it. A fence like that is an ordinary nuisance question in Missouri.
This one is Missouri law, not Joplin law. All Missouri findings
Documents read before writing that:
- RSMo ch. 272Missouri Revisor of Statutes
- RSMo § 272.060Missouri Revisor of Statutes
How fence height is measured in Joplin
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Joplin does not set this. It leaves it to the legislative body of each city, town and village.
Missouri gives a fence height and never says where to measure it from. Section 272.020 calls a fence of posts and wire or boards at least four feet high a lawful fence, and says nothing about the surface those four feet start at. Section 89.020 then lets every city, town and village set the height of buildings and other structures. So the number for a fence at a house, and the point it is measured from, are both written by the city.
This one is Missouri law, not Joplin law. All Missouri findings
the legislative body of all cities, towns, and villages is hereby empowered to regulate and restrict the height, number of stories, and size of buildings and other structures, the percentage of lot that may be occupied, the size of yards, courts, and other open spaces
The code hands this to the legislative body of each city, town and village, which is not published in the code itself.
Also on how height is measured in Joplin
- no rule, documents checkedThe fence division states eight feet, four feet and twelve feet and never says what any of them is measured from. No grade is named, a berm is not addressed, and a fence on a retaining wall is not addressed even though retaining walls appear in the property maintenance article alongside fences. The one vertical reference anywhere in the fence rules points downward rather than up, requiring posts to be set in concrete to a minimum depth of eighteen inches. The only datum in reach belongs to the traffic chapter, where the two foot limit inside a sight triangle is measured from the roadway, and that is a different surface from the ground a fence stands on. So an owner on a slope in Joplin has no written answer and is left with whatever the inspector measures from. Section 54-81Joplin · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Joplin
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Joplin answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Joplin draws the largest sight triangle in this set, and it is not close. Every corner lot has to provide a triangle whose short leg is fifteen feet and whose long leg is one hundred forty feet, measured along the curbline or edge of the pavement, and that area has to stay free of shrubbery, fences, merchandise, equipment, vehicles and any other obstruction to vision over two feet high measured from the roadway. A hundred and forty feet reaches well past a typical residential lot, so the rule catches fences that on most city maps would be nowhere near the corner. The uneven legs are the giveaway that this is a stopping sight distance calculation for the through street rather than a simple corner cut. The section is in the traffic chapter rather than the fence chapter, and it carves out one exception, saying it does not by itself require buildings to be set back in the C-2 district unless the zoning ordinance requires that anyway.
All corner lots shall provide sight distance triangles, the short leg of which shall be 15 feet, and the long leg of which shall be 140 feet, measured along the curbline or edge of the pavement. Such area shall be and remain free of shrubbery, fences, merchandise, equipment, vehicles or other obstructions to vision more than two feet in height measured from the roadway.
2 ftheight limit above the roadway inside the triangle
Also on corner visibility in Joplin
- set in state lawMissouri lists the ways a person may not damage a road, and fencing is one of them. Chapter 229 makes it against the law to block or damage a public road on purpose, including by fencing across or onto the right of way, or by planting a hedge or putting up an ad sign inside the road lines. A road overseer or county highway engineer sends written notice to take it out, and can ask the circuit court for permission to go clear it. The section does not reach charter counties or the City of St. Louis, and it sets no clear view triangle at a corner. Mo. Rev. Stat. 229.150Missouri · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in Joplin
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Joplin does not set this. It leaves it to the building code each county, fire protection district or city adopts by reference in its own ordinance.
Missouri puts no retaining wall rule in state law. Section 67.280 lets a county, a fire protection district or a city pass a rule that adopts a building code by naming it. The code has to be named by date and source, and a copy has to sit with the local clerk for ninety days first. So the rule for a wall that holds back earth is whatever the adopted code says, and it changes from one town to the next.
This one is Missouri law, not Joplin law. All Missouri findings
Any community, if the community otherwise has the power under the law to adopt such an ordinance, may adopt or repeal an ordinance which incorporates by reference the provisions of any code or portions of any code, or any amendment thereof, properly identified as to date and source, without setting forth the provisions of such code in full.
The code hands this to the building code each county, fire protection district or city adopts by reference in its own ordinance, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence materials allowed in Joplin
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Joplin answers this, but the answer changes depending on which kind of fence it is and what sits next to it.
Joplin is one of the few cities in this set that tells an owner what a privacy fence has to be made of rather than what it may not be. It has to be wood, with metal allowed only for the posts, and no board may be wider than twelve inches on a solid, staggered or basket weave fence. Solid panels such as plywood or wafer board are not allowed at all, except around a construction site for public safety, and those have to come down when the project finishes. A decorative fence has a wider list, wood, woven wire, chain link, wrought iron, square tubing or metal pipe, and still has to be open. The dangerous materials sit in their own section and carry a criminal penalty rather than a zoning one: spikes, sharp-pointed cresting, barbed wire and electrified fence next to a right-of-way, public way or residence make the person who placed or allowed them guilty of a misdemeanor, with the security fence the one exception.
Materials for construction of a privacy fence must be wood, except that posts may be made of metal. Maximum board width is 12 inches for solid, staggered or basket weave fences.
The answer turns on which kind of fence it is and what sits next to it.
- a privacy fence
- Wood, boards twelve inches at most. 12 in
- a decorative fence
- Six materials, all open.
- plywood or wafer board
- Construction sites only, then removed.
- barbed wire or electric near a home
- A misdemeanor.
Also on materials in Joplin
- set in state lawMissouri says what a battery charged fence is and blocks every city, county, town and village from banning one. To fit the definition it ties into an alarm that calls law enforcement, sits on land not set aside for homes, and runs off a battery of no more than twelve volts. It also has to stand completely inside a fence or wall that carries no current and is at least five feet tall, stop at ten feet, and carry warning signs no more than sixty feet apart. Whoever installs it has to give the local government written notice once it is up. Mo. Rev. Stat. 67.301Missouri · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Joplin
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Missouri answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A lawful fence in Missouri is posts and wire or boards at least four feet high, once the two owners agree on it or the associate circuit court decides it. The posts go firmly in the ground no more than twelve feet apart. The wire or boards are fastened tight and spaced so horses, cattle and animals like them cannot get through.
This one is Missouri law, not Joplin law. All Missouri findings
Any fence consisting of posts and wire or boards at least four feet high which is mutually agreed upon by adjoining landowners or decided upon by the associate circuit court of the county is a lawful fence.
4 ftminimum height of a lawful fence in Missouri
Also on agricultural fencing in Joplin
- set in state lawThe four feet in Missouri is a minimum, not a maximum. A separate section says nothing in the fence chapter stops either owner from building their own part, or the neighbor's part, better than the chapter asks for. So Chapter 272 sets the least a lawful fence can be and puts no cap on it. RSMo § 272.136Missouri · Statute
Documents behind this page
16 documents, of which 3 were published by Joplin itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Missouri Revisor of StatutesRevised Statutes of Missouri, Chapter 272, Section 272.060, Division fences, rights of parties in, how determined
- Missouri Revisor of StatutesRevised Statutes of Missouri, Chapter 272, Section 272.070, Duty of judge if owners disagree, apportionment of costs
- Missouri Revisor of StatutesRevised Statutes of Missouri, Chapter 272, Section 272.132, Total cost of fence attributable to one landowner, when
- Missouri Revisor of StatutesRevised Statutes of Missouri, Chapter 272, Section 272.110, Division fences to be kept in repair
- City of JoplinCode of Ordinances of the City of Joplin, Missouri, Chapter 54, Environment, Article I, Nuisances, Division 3, Fences
- Missouri Revisor of StatutesRevised Statutes of Missouri, Chapter 272, Fences, Enclosures and Trespassing Animals, full chapter listing
- Missouri Revisor of StatutesRevised Statutes of Missouri, Chapter 701, Minimum Standards for Certain Structures and Materials, full chapter listing
- Missouri Revisor of StatutesRevised Statutes of Missouri, Chapter 67, Section 67.280, Communities may incorporate by reference certain technical codes
- City of JoplinCode of Ordinances of the City of Joplin, Missouri, Chapter 26, Buildings and Building Regulations, Article XIII, Nonresidential Property Maintenance, Section 26-807, Fences and retaining walls
- Missouri Revisor of StatutesRevised Statutes of Missouri, Chapter 537, Section 537.348, Definition of conditional use
- Missouri Revisor of StatutesRevised Statutes of Missouri, Section 89.020, Powers of municipal legislative body
- City of JoplinCode of Ordinances of the City of Joplin, Missouri, Chapter 114, Traffic, Article I, In General, Section 114-13, Sight triangle at intersections
- Missouri Revisor of StatutesRevised Statutes of Missouri, Chapter 229, Section 229.150, Ditches and crossings, how made, obstructions or damage prohibited
- Missouri Revisor of StatutesRevised Statutes of Missouri, Chapter 67, Section 67.301, Battery-charged fence
- Missouri Revisor of StatutesRevised Statutes of Missouri, Chapter 272, Section 272.020, Fencing requirements
- Missouri Revisor of StatutesRevised Statutes of Missouri, Chapter 272, Section 272.136, Landowner may exceed lawful fence requirements
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 Joplin publishes, plus the Missouri rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Missouri 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