Fence laws in Lee's Summit, Missouri
What the Lee's Summit municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Lee's Summit sets no rule of its own, the Missouri rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Lee's Summit, Missouri, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- A fence in Lee's Summit may stand on the side and rear property lines with no setback, and a front yard fence may extend to the front line as long as it stays under four feet and clears the sight triangle, and the answer turns on which line the fence runs along and what street it faces. The figure is 0 feet, for setback from a side or rear property line.
- How tall
- A Lee's Summit front yard fence is held to four feet and it cannot be solid: it has to be a decorative wall, or a fence of slats with at least two inch spacing, and it may run all the way to the property line as long as no sight distance triangle is compromised, and the answer turns on the yard and whether the lot is a corner. The figure is 4 feet, for fence in a front yard.
- Permits
- No permit is needed for a fence up to six feet in Lee's Summit, and the permit appears only when the fence goes taller, and the answer turns on how tall the fence is and how much of it is being rebuilt. The figure is 6 feet, for height allowed with no permit.
- Pool barriers
- Lee's Summit sets no statewide pool barrier rule. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Spite fences
- Lee's Summit has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Lee's Summit names its datum in the same sentence that sets the line, allowing a fence or wall up to six feet above the average grade before a permit is required. The figure is 6 feet, for height measured above the average grade.
- Corner lots
- Lee's Summit protects a band rather than setting a height cap, and the answer turns on what the fence stands between. The figure is 25 feet, for leg of the triangle at a street intersection.
- Retaining walls
- Lee's Summit leaves retaining walls to the building code each county, fire protection district or city adopts by reference in its own ordinance.
- Materials
- The development code writes a short list rather than a ban list, and the answer turns on the yard and the district.
- 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 Lee's Summit?
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Lee's Summit answers this, but the answer changes depending on which line the fence runs along and what street it faces.
A fence in Lee's Summit may stand on the side and rear property lines with no setback, and a front yard fence may extend to the front line as long as it stays under four feet and clears the sight triangle. Which way it faces is settled: the finished side goes outward and the posts and support beams go on the inside, unless they are designed as an integral part of the finished surface. Then the code adds a rule almost nobody else writes. Every fence segment abutting an arterial or collector street, except on a corner lot, has to provide one gate opening per lot so somebody can reach the strip between the fence and the street to maintain and mow it. A retaining wall gets its own treatment, allowed where slope makes it reasonably necessary, kept at least two feet off any street right-of-way, and held to six inches above the ground being retained unless the building code calls for a guardrail.
A fence or wall shall be constructed with a finished side facing outward from the property. The posts and support beams shall be on the inside or shall be designed as an integral part of the finished surface.
The answer turns on which line the fence runs along and what street it faces.
- the finished side
- Facing out, posts in.
- a side or rear line
- No setback. 0 ft
- an arterial or collector street
- One gate per lot for mowing.
- a retaining wall
- Two feet off the right-of-way. 2 ft
Also on fences on the property line in Lee's Summit
- 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 Lee's Summit?
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Lee's Summit answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard and whether the lot is a corner.
A Lee's Summit front yard fence is held to four feet and it cannot be solid: it has to be a decorative wall, or a fence of slats with at least two inch spacing, and it may run all the way to the property line as long as no sight distance triangle is compromised. A rear yard fence may be six feet and may sit on the rear property line. A side yard fence may sit on the side line, but anything over four feet may not extend beyond the face of the house, and a four foot side fence that does run to the front line has to meet the front yard slat rule. A corner lot gets one relaxation, letting a six foot privacy fence encroach fifteen feet into the required front yard. Commercial and industrial lots take eight feet and a tennis court fence may be twelve.
A decorative wall, or fence consisting of slats with a minimum of two-inch spacing not exceeding four feet in height may be constructed in a front yard and extend to the property line provided no sight distance triangle is compromised.
The answer turns on the yard and whether the lot is a corner.
- a front yard
- Four feet, and slatted. 4 ft
- a rear yard
- Six feet, on the line. 6 ft
- a side yard past the house
- Nothing over four feet. 4 ft
- a corner lot
- Six feet may reach fifteen feet into the front yard. 15 ft
Also on fence height in Lee's Summit
- 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 Lee's Summit?
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Lee's Summit answers this, but the answer changes depending on how tall the fence is and how much of it is being rebuilt.
No permit is needed for a fence up to six feet in Lee's Summit, and the permit appears only when the fence goes taller. Above six feet a building permit for a fence comes from the Building Official. The city then closes the gap that would otherwise let a tall fence be rebuilt piece by piece without review, requiring a permit for the replacement or reconstruction of fifty percent or more of the entire linear length of an existing fence that already exceeds six feet. Where a tall fence or retaining wall was called for by a preliminary development plan, final development plan approval has to come first before any fence permit issues. A retaining wall above four feet needs a permit and a structural analysis. Subdivision entry features that span the city right-of-way take a license agreement and approval from the Governing Body.
If a fence or wall exceeds six feet in height, a building permit for a fence shall be obtained from the Building Official. A building permit for a fence shall be required for the replacement or reconstruction of 50 percent or more of the entire linear length of an existing fence that exceeds six feet in height.
The answer turns on how tall the fence is and how much of it is being rebuilt.
- six feet or under
- No permit. 6 ft
- taller than six feet
- A building permit for a fence.
- rebuilding a tall fence
- Half its length triggers the permit. 50%
- a retaining wall over four feet
- A permit and a structural analysis. 4 ft
Also on permits in Lee's Summit
- set in state lawMissouri 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. RSMo § 67.280Missouri · Statute
Pool fence requirements in Lee's Summit
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Lee's Summit 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 Lee's Summit 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 Lee's Summit
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Lee's Summit 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 Lee's Summit 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 Lee's Summit
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Lee's Summit answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Lee's Summit names its datum in the same sentence that sets the line, allowing a fence or wall up to six feet above the average grade before a permit is required. Average grade is a better answer than most cities in this state give, because it settles a fence on sloping ground: the measurement is taken against the average rather than against the low point, so a fence running downhill is judged as a whole. The accessory structure table adds a second measuring habit, saying that a detached deck height is measured to the highest point of the structure, meaning the roof peak or the hand rail, which is the same idea applied to something else. What the section still does not answer is a fence standing on top of a retaining wall, although retaining walls are regulated in the same subsection.
A fence or wall may be constructed to a maximum height of six feet above the average grade without a permit being required.
6 ftheight measured above the average grade
Also on how height is measured in Lee's Summit
- left to the townMissouri 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. RSMo 89.020.1Missouri · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Lee's Summit
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Lee's Summit answers this, but the answer changes depending on what the fence stands between.
Lee's Summit protects a band rather than setting a height cap. Nothing may interfere with the line of sight between two feet and eight feet above the adjoining pavement inside the triangle, so a fence has to stop below two feet or start above eight, and in practice that means it stays out. The triangle at a street intersection is formed by lines at least twenty five feet long along the edges of the pavement from the point of intersection. Where two driveways meet, or a driveway meets a sidewalk, the legs are twenty feet instead. The code also names its source, defining the sight triangle as the triangular area for sight distance preservation defined by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Green Book, and it sends anything near a highway intersection to the AASHTO requirement directly.
No landscaping or screening materials, signs, parked vehicles, or other objects other than essential directional signs, traffic control devices, and utility structures approved by the city shall interfere with the line of sight between a height of two feet and eight feet above the adjoining street or driveway pavement, within the triangular area formed by:
The answer turns on what the fence stands between.
- two streets
- Twenty five foot legs. 25 ft
- a driveway or sidewalk
- Twenty foot legs. 20 ft
- inside the triangle
- Nothing between two and eight feet. 2 ft
- a highway intersection
- The AASHTO triangle applies.
Also on corner visibility in Lee's Summit
- 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 Lee's Summit
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Lee's Summit 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 Lee's Summit 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 Lee's Summit
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Lee's Summit answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard and the district.
The development code writes a short list rather than a ban list. Only wood, vinyl, steel, masonry or wrought iron may be used for a residential fence, and no more than two of them may appear across the main surface of the exterior face. Accent pieces such as post caps are allowed on top of those two, which is a detail most codes leave to an inspector. Chain link is allowed in a side or rear yard but not in a front yard. The wire rules sit somewhere else entirely, in the building code, and they are the harder edge: barbed wire and electric fences are unlawful outside the agricultural and planned industrial districts. The one way back in is three strands at most, on top of a chain link or other fence at least six feet tall, guarding outdoor storage, and never on residential land. A special use permit can authorize a different method of fencing.
It shall be unlawful to erect or maintain barbed wire or electric fences other than in zoning districts AG and PI; provided, however, that not more than three (3) strands of barbed wire shall be permitted on top of a chain link or other type of fence not less than six (6) feet in height as outside security for storage of equipment or materials in any zoning district other than residential.
The answer turns on the yard and the district.
- a residential fence
- Five materials on the list.
- any one fence
- Two of them at a time.
- post caps
- Allowed on top of the two.
- barbed wire or electric
- Out, except in the AG and PI districts.
Also on materials in Lee's Summit
- 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 Lee's Summit
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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 Lee's Summit 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 Lee's Summit
- 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 Lee's Summit 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 Lee's SummitUnified Development Ordinance of the City of Lee's Summit, Missouri, Article 6, Use Standards, Division IV, Accessory Uses and Structures, Section 6.1350, Residential districts, Permitted accessory uses and structures
- 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
- 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
- Missouri Revisor of StatutesRevised Statutes of Missouri, Chapter 229, Section 229.150, Ditches and crossings, how made, obstructions or damage prohibited
- City of Lee's SummitUnified Development Ordinance of the City of Lee's Summit, Missouri, Article 8, Site Standards, Division I, Design Standards, Section 8.370, Vision clearance, Sight triangle
- Missouri Revisor of StatutesRevised Statutes of Missouri, Chapter 67, Section 67.301, Battery-charged fence
- City of Lee's SummitCode of Ordinances of the City of Lee's Summit, Chapter 7, Lee's Summit Building Code, Article I, Administration, Section 7-121, Barbed wire and electric fences
- 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 Lee's Summit 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