Fence laws in St. Charles, Missouri
What the St. Charles municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where St. Charles sets no rule of its own, the Missouri rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in St. Charles, Missouri, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Most codes say the finished side faces the neighbor, and the answer turns on which line the fence runs along. The figure is 10 feet, for setback for a tall fence on the non-entrance frontage.
- How tall
- St, and the answer turns on the yard, the kind of lot and how open the fence is. The figure is 7 feet, for fence in a side or rear yard.
- Permits
- A permit is required in St, and the answer turns on where the lot is and whether the fence is new or a replacement.
- Pool barriers
- St. Charles sets no statewide pool barrier rule. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Spite fences
- St. Charles has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- St. Charles leaves the measuring rule to the legislative body of each city, town and village.
- Corner lots
- St. The figure is 18 inches, for height limit above established street grade inside the triangle.
- Retaining walls
- St. Charles leaves retaining walls to the building code each county, fire protection district or city adopts by reference in its own ordinance.
- Materials
- No more than two different types of fencing material may appear on a St, and the answer turns on the district and what the fence is made of. The figure is 7 feet, for height above grade of the lowest barbed wire strand.
- 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 St. Charles?
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St. Charles answers this, but the answer changes depending on which line the fence runs along.
Most codes say the finished side faces the neighbor. St. Charles goes further and asks that the horizontal and vertical support posts be inside the fence area or hidden from both the neighbor's view and the general public's, so a fence that turns its good face to next door and its frame to the street still fails. The same sentence adds that fences must be straight and run parallel to the lot line, which rules out the angled or wandering run. No setback from a side or rear line is stated, but a tall fence on the non-entrance frontage of a corner lot has to sit back at least ten feet from the property line. The owner carries two continuing duties: making sure the fence does not block or obstruct the flow of stormwater, and replacing missing boards, pickets or posts within forty-five days using material of the same type and quality.
All fences must be constructed in a workmanship-like manner so that the horizontal and vertical support posts are inside of the fence area or hidden from both the neighbor's and general public's view. Fences must be straight and run parallel to the lot line.
The answer turns on which line the fence runs along.
- the supports
- Hidden from the neighbor and the street.
- the run of the fence
- Straight, parallel to the lot line.
- a tall fence on a corner frontage
- Ten feet off the property line. 10 ft
- a broken picket
- Replaced within forty-five days. 45 days
Also on fences on the property line in St. Charles
- 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 St. Charles?
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St. Charles answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard, the kind of lot and how open the fence is.
St. Charles allows seven feet in a side or rear yard, a foot more than the usual six, and it says the extra foot comes regardless of picket spacing. The front yard is where the code gets particular. A fence of four feet or less may project into a required front yard only if the gaps between its pickets are equal to or greater than the width of the pickets. Anything taller than four feet, or tighter than that ratio, is prohibited in a front yard on an ordinary single frontage lot. A double frontage lot may put such a fence in the front yard space behind the building, up to seven feet, if that street is not the principal entrance for any lot in the block and the design, color and material match or complement the house. A corner lot may do the same on the frontage that is not the principal entrance, again to seven feet. Commercial and industrial lots take eight feet, and fencing around tennis courts and other recreational amenities is exempt from the height rules entirely.
A fence of up to seven (7) feet in height may be located within the yard space at the side or rear of the property regardless of picket spacing.
The answer turns on the yard, the kind of lot and how open the fence is.
- a side or rear yard
- Seven feet. 7 ft
- a front yard
- Four feet, and open. 4 ft
- a corner or double frontage lot
- Seven feet on the non-entrance street. 7 ft
- a commercial or industrial lot
- Eight feet. 8 ft
Also on fence height in St. Charles
- 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 St. Charles?
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St. Charles answers this, but the answer changes depending on where the lot is and whether the fence is new or a replacement.
A permit is required in St. Charles for the construction of a fence and for the replacement of one, which is the part people miss. Swapping a rotted fence for the same fence in the same place still goes through the counter, and the fee is set in the separate fee schedule at Section 150.030 rather than printed here. A second approval sits on top in the historic parts of town. Fences in the Historic Downtown District and the South Main Historic Preservation District need approval from the Landmarks Board, and so does every fence on a corner lot anywhere in a superimposed historic district, whether or not the fence itself is historic. Pool fencing has to meet this section and every other city regulation that applies to it.
A permit is required for the construction or replacement of fences. The permit fee to be paid is stated in Section 150.030.
The answer turns on where the lot is and whether the fence is new or a replacement.
- a new fence
- A permit.
- replacing an old one
- Also a permit.
- a historic district
- Landmarks Board approval too.
- a corner lot in a historic district
- Landmarks Board, every time.
Also on permits in St. Charles
- 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 St. Charles
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St. Charles 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 St. Charles 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 St. Charles
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St. Charles 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 St. Charles 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 St. Charles
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St. Charles 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 St. Charles 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 St. Charles
- no rule, documents checkedThe fence section states four feet, seven feet, eight feet and ten feet and never says what any of them is measured from. No grade is named for a fence height, a berm is not addressed, a fence on a retaining wall is not addressed, and no allowance is made for a post cap. That silence is easier to notice here than in most cities, because the two rules sitting either side of it both fix a datum and do it well. The corner visibility section measures eighteen inches above the established street grade, and the barbed wire rule for business land requires the lowest strand to sit seven feet above grade. The section that does carry the word grade in its title, Section 400.560, turns out to be about draining surface water away from a building rather than about how anything is measured. Section 400.550St. Charles · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in St. Charles
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St. Charles answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
St. Charles draws the triangle and names the datum in one sentence. The visible area of a corner lot is bounded by the lines of the intersecting streets and a straight line joining them thirty feet from where the street right-of-way lines meet, and nothing over eighteen inches above the established street grade may be erected, planted or maintained inside it. Eighteen inches is low, well under the four foot allowance common elsewhere, and measuring from the established street grade rather than from the ground means a lot sitting above the road does not get to borrow the extra height. The rule covers planting as well as building, so a hedge is caught with the fence. The fence section points back to this one for any tall fence on the non-entrance frontage of a corner lot, and the code prints a figure alongside the text.
Within the visible area of a corner lot that is included between the lines of the intersecting streets and a straight line connecting them at points thirty (30) feet distant from the intersection of the street right-of-way lines, nothing extending to a height in excess of eighteen (18) inches above the established street grade shall be erected, planted or maintained.
18 inheight limit above established street grade inside the triangle
Also on corner visibility in St. Charles
- 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 St. Charles
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St. Charles 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 St. Charles 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 St. Charles
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St. Charles answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district and what the fence is made of.
No more than two different types of fencing material may appear on a St. Charles fence, and the code gives its own examples of what a legal pair looks like, wood with chain link or two kinds of wood. The banned list is about cheapness rather than danger: no cloth, slatted chain link, sheet metal, corrugated metal, metal scraps, canvas or anything like them, in whole or in part. Chain link is prohibited in a required front yard unless the lot is a corner and the fence is on the side that is not the principal entrance. On residential land the whole family of wire is out along the perimeter, meaning barbed wire, single strand wire, wire mesh, wire grid and chicken wire, and an electric fence is prohibited outright. On industrial land the electric fence comes back with nine conditions attached: light or heavy industrial only, a separate non-electrified perimeter fence between it and the property line, ten feet maximum and no more than two feet above that perimeter fence, six inches to a foot of separation, a sight-proof perimeter where the neighbor is a house, a warning sign every sixty feet, and certification by UL or a comparable testing agency.
No more than two (2) different types of fencing material [wood and chain-link or two (2) types of wood] are permitted. No fence shall be made of, in whole or in part, cloth, slatted chain-link, sheet metal, corrugated metal, metal scraps, canvas or other like material.
The answer turns on the district and what the fence is made of.
- any fence
- Two material types at most.
- wire at a house
- Barbed, mesh, grid and chicken wire are all out.
- barbed wire on business land
- Lowest strand seven feet above grade. 7 ft
- an electric fence
- Heavy or light industrial only, with nine conditions. 10 ft
Also on materials in St. Charles
- 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 St. Charles
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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 St. Charles 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 St. Charles
- 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
14 documents, of which 1 was published by St. Charles 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 St. CharlesCode of Ordinances of the City of St. Charles, Missouri, Chapter 400, Zoning Code, Article III, Other Use Regulations and Design Standards, Division 2, Design Standards, Section 400.550, 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
- 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
- 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 St. Charles 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