Fence laws in St. Joseph, Missouri
What the St. Joseph 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. Joseph sets no rule of its own, the Missouri rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in St. Joseph, Missouri, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- The finished side of a St, and the answer turns on which way the fence faces and what is next door. The figure is 6 feet, for required screening fence next to residential property.
- How tall
- St, and the answer turns on the yard, how solid the fence is and how close the houses are. The figure is 4 feet, for fence in a front yard.
- Permits
- A fence permit is required in St, and the answer turns on what kind of fence is going up.
- Pool barriers
- St. Joseph sets no statewide pool barrier rule. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Spite fences
- St. Joseph has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Corner lots
- Nothing sight-obscuring may stand more than three feet high inside a St, and the answer turns on whether the obstruction is a fence or a tree. The figure is 3 feet, for height limit inside the visibility triangle.
- Retaining walls
- St. Joseph leaves retaining walls to the building code each county, fire protection district or city adopts by reference in its own ordinance.
- Materials
- St, and the answer turns on what the fence is made of and what land it stands on. The figure is 5 feet, for height below which barbed wire may not be maintained.
- 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. Joseph?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
St. Joseph answers this, but the answer changes depending on which way the fence faces and what is next door.
The finished side of a St. Joseph fence faces outward, or the owner finishes both sides, and either way the post and support beams may not be on the outside. Offering the two sided option is a small thing that matters on a corner lot or a through lot, where outward points two different directions. A business is held to the same idea more sharply: a commercial or industrial building next to residential property has to put up a six foot sight-obscuring fence of a consistent solid material such as wood or block, and the finished side has to face the houses. No setback from a lot line is stated for an ordinary fence. What is restricted is water rather than distance, since no fence may be built in a drainage easement or floodway unless the city engineer has advised the chief building official that it will in all probability not interfere with or impair the natural flow of water. A pool two feet deep or more needs its own four foot enclosure with locked gates, and a boundary fence can serve as that enclosure.
All fences shall be constructed with the finished side facing outward from the property or with both sides finished. The post and support beams shall not be on the outside.
The answer turns on which way the fence faces and what is next door.
- an ordinary fence
- Finished side out, or finish both.
- a business next to houses
- Six feet solid, good side to the houses. 6 ft
- a drainage easement or floodway
- The city engineer decides first.
- a pool two feet deep
- A four foot enclosure with locked gates. 4 ft
Also on fences on the property line in St. Joseph
- 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. Joseph?
Compare fence height across all 50 states
St. Joseph answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard, how solid the fence is and how close the houses are.
St. Joseph uses three heights where most cities use two. On residential property a fence may not exceed four feet in a front yard, six feet in a side yard or eight feet in a rear yard, so the side yard gets its own number rather than being lumped with the back. A separate test runs alongside the heights and catches the fence that is tall and solid at once: a fence over three feet high and more than fifty percent obscured is deemed sight-obscuring, and no sight-obscuring fence may stand forward of the front building line anywhere in the city, with porches, decks and patios not counted as part of that line. Then comes a rule almost nobody else writes, aimed at light and air between houses. No fence over four feet, or more than half obscured, may go between two primary structures on adjoining parcels where the total distance between those structures is under twelve feet. On a vacant lot the city works out where the face of a house would have been and allows the taller sight-obscuring fence only on and behind that line.
Fences shall not exceed four feet in height in any front yard area, six feet in height in any side yard area and eight feet in height in any rear yard area of any property used for residential purposes.
The answer turns on the yard, how solid the fence is and how close the houses are.
- a front yard
- Four feet. 4 ft
- a side yard
- Six feet. 6 ft
- a rear yard
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- houses under twelve feet apart
- Nothing tall or solid between them. 12 ft
Also on fence height in St. Joseph
- 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. Joseph?
Compare permits across all 50 states
St. Joseph answers this, but the answer changes depending on what kind of fence is going up.
A fence permit is required in St. Joseph before installing any fence, with the fee set in the separate schedule at subsection 7-400(11), and there is no height floor to slip under. The application is not a formality. It has to carry a diagram showing where the fence will go along with the property lines, setbacks and buildings, and a typical detail showing the material and general appearance, which is what lets the city test the sight-obscuring rules and the twelve foot gap rule before anything is built. One thing is carved out by name: the single strand low-voltage electric wire run along the inside base of an otherwise permitted fence needs no permit. Where the rules bind harder than an owner can live with, the board of adjustment can grant an exception under the same procedure used for signs and parking, and the order lapses after a year if the work has not started.
Except as provided for single strand electrical wires, a fence permit shall be obtained and the required fee paid as set out in subsection 7-400(11) before installation of any fence.
The answer turns on what kind of fence is going up.
- any fence
- A permit before installation.
- the application
- A site diagram and a material detail.
- a single strand electric wire
- No permit.
- a hardship
- The board of adjustment can grant an exception.
Also on permits in St. Joseph
- 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. Joseph
Compare pool barriers across all 50 states
St. Joseph 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. Joseph 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. Joseph
Compare spite fences across all 50 states
St. Joseph 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. Joseph 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. Joseph
Compare how height is measured across all 50 states
St. Joseph answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
St. Joseph answers the measuring question in one line: the height of a fence is measured from the highest adjoining finished grade. That is the strict reading, and it is worth noticing because it points the opposite way from Blue Springs sixty miles down the road, which measures from the lowest adjacent ground level. On a slope the two cities reach different numbers for the same fence. Taking the highest adjoining grade means a fence on the uphill side of a lot is judged against the raised ground rather than the low side, so an owner cannot gain height by standing the fence at the top of a bank. The word finished matters too, since it refers to the ground as it ends up after grading rather than as it was found. What the section leaves open is a fence on top of a retaining wall, which it never addresses.
The height of a fence shall be measured from the highest adjoining finished grade.
Also on how height is measured in St. Joseph
- 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 St. Joseph
Compare corner visibility across all 50 states
St. Joseph answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the obstruction is a fence or a tree.
Nothing sight-obscuring may stand more than three feet high inside a St. Joseph visibility triangle, and the rule names hedges, trees and other visual barriers alongside fences so a planted screen is caught with a built one. The triangle itself is defined in the sign article, formed by the right-of-way lines of the intersecting streets and a line joining points twenty five feet from where they meet, with an appendix of drawings in the code. The rule reaches driveways as well as street corners. Trees get a rule of their own instead of removal, and have to be kept trimmed so the canopy sits no lower than ten feet, which leaves the trunk in the triangle and the sight line under the branches. The purpose clause at the top of the section says the same thing in plain words, that the fence rules exist partly to ensure the safe visibility of pedestrian and vehicular traffic.
In no case shall a sight-obscuring fence, hedge, tree or other visual barrier be placed or maintained in excess of three feet high within a street or driveway intersection sight visibility triangle as defined in Section 31-113 of this Code of Ordinances. Trees within a street or driveway intersection sight visibility triangle shall be kept trimmed so the tree canopy is no less than ten feet high.
The answer turns on whether the obstruction is a fence or a tree.
- inside the triangle
- Three feet. 3 ft
- the size of it
- Twenty five foot legs. 25 ft
- a tree
- Trimmed to a ten foot canopy. 10 ft
- a driveway
- Same rule as a street corner.
Also on corner visibility in St. Joseph
- 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. Joseph
Compare retaining walls across all 50 states
St. Joseph 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. Joseph 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. Joseph
Compare materials across all 50 states
St. Joseph answers this, but the answer changes depending on what the fence is made of and what land it stands on.
St. Joseph asks for one material rather than a limit of two. A fence is to be built of a consistent material such as chain link, wood, concrete block, brick, stone or wrought iron, wood has to be naturally resistant to insects and decay or treated to resist them underground, and every post used for any type of fencing has to be set in a concrete base. That last requirement is a construction standard rather than an appearance one and very few codes in this set state it. Barbed wire is allowed only as an integral part of a security fence on non-residential property, and then never within five feet of the ground, or around land used for agriculture. Razor wire is prohibited in every zone in the city except where an official government agency uses it. An electric fence has to meet Underwriters Laboratory specifications and the National Electric Code, a fence that continuously conducts current is allowed only on agricultural land raising livestock, and a single strand low-voltage wire is allowed along the interior base line of an otherwise permitted fence with no permit at all.
All fences shall be constructed of a consistent material such as chain link, wood, concrete block, brick, stone, wrought iron or other like material.
The answer turns on what the fence is made of and what land it stands on.
- any fence
- One consistent material.
- the posts
- Set in a concrete base.
- barbed wire on business land
- Five feet up, security fences only. 5 ft
- razor wire
- Government agencies only.
Also on materials in St. Joseph
- 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. Joseph
Compare agricultural fencing across all 50 states
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. Joseph 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. Joseph
- 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. Joseph 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. JosephCode of Ordinances of the City of St. Joseph, Missouri, Chapter 31, Zoning, Article I, Zoning Code, Division 3, Supplementary District Regulations, Section 31-054, Fences and hedges
- 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. Joseph 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