Fence laws in Carson City, Nevada
What the Carson City municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Carson City sets no rule of its own, the Nevada rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Carson City, Nevada, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- The section states no general setback from a side or rear line, so a six foot fence may sit on the boundary, and the answer turns on the kind of lot and which line is being measured from. The figure is 0 feet, for setback stated from a side or rear property line.
- How tall
- A fence, wall or hedge not exceeding six feet may go in any yard, and then three exceptions cut it back, and the answer turns on the yard, the district and whether the fence can be seen through. The figure is 6 feet, for fence, wall or hedge height allowed within any yard.
- Permits
- The section creates no fence permit of its own and instead points at two adopted codes, and the answer turns on where the fence is and what is being asked for.
- Pool barriers
- Nevada pool law covers a public pool, which it describes as any structure holding a man made body of water meant to be used by people as a group for swimming or bathing, whether or not anyone is charged for it.
- Spite fences
- Carson City has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Height is measured from the highest adjacent ground, either natural or filled, on which the fence stands.
- Corner lots
- A fence, wall or hedge over three feet, or one that obstructs vision to any significant degree, is prohibited inside any sight distance area, and the term is defined elsewhere in the code at Section 18.01.573 rather than drawn in the fence section, and the answer turns on whether the opening is a street corner, a driveway or a road with no dedicated right-of-way. The figure is 3 feet, for height a fence may not exceed inside a sight distance area.
- Retaining walls
- Carson City leaves retaining walls to the building code adopted by the governing body of each city or county.
- Materials
- Barbed fences are a permitted accessory use in the Conservation Reserve, Agricultural, Mobile Home 1 Acre, Single-Family 5 Acre, Single-Family 2 Acre and Single-Family 1 Acre districts, which is to say on the ranching and large-lot land, and in every other district only with the prior written approval of the Director, and the answer turns on the district and whether the material is deemed to block a view.
- Livestock
- Nevada says what a legal fence for livestock has to be. The figure is 20 feet, for maximum spacing between posts on a legal fence.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Carson City?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Carson City answers this, but the answer changes depending on the kind of lot and which line is being measured from.
The section states no general setback from a side or rear line, so a six foot fence may sit on the boundary. The distances it does state are all about the street. Anything over four feet is prohibited within five feet of the property line on the street side, which is a setback dressed as a height rule. A flag lot gets its own answer and it is the most permissive one: a six foot fence may be on the property line on all sides, except that the part of the parcel fronting a public street has to keep a ten foot setback for any fence over four feet. And where the property line runs down the middle of the road, the boundary for measuring setbacks is taken thirty feet off the centerline instead of at the deed line, which shifts every distance on that frontage.
Six-foot high fences on flag lots may be located on the property line on all sides, except that portions of the parcel fronting on a public street must maintain a 10-foot setback for fences over 4 feet in height.
The answer turns on the kind of lot and which line is being measured from.
- a side or rear line
- On the line. 0 ft
- the street side line
- Four feet within five feet of it. 5 ft
- a flag lot fronting a street
- Ten feet back for anything over four feet. 10 ft
- a property line in the road
- Measured thirty feet off the centerline.
Also on fences on the property line in Carson City
- no rule, documents checkedNevada has no law about splitting the cost of a fence on the line. Nothing in state law makes one neighbor pay a share of a boundary fence, and nothing sets a notice step before building one. The livestock chapter does say what a legal fence has to look like, but that definition decides who pays for damage done by stray animals, not who pays for the fence. The grazing chapter and the property chapter say nothing about cost either. That leaves a deal between the two neighbors or a city rule. NRS ch. 569Nevada · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Carson City?
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Carson City answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard, the district and whether the fence can be seen through.
A fence, wall or hedge not exceeding six feet may go in any yard, and then three exceptions cut it back. Anything over four feet is prohibited in a front yard setback or within five feet of the street side property line, and if the fence is made of sight-obscuring material it is held to three feet in those places. A split rail fence up to five feet is released from the section entirely in the four large-lot districts, MH1A, SF5A, SF2A and SF1A, and may sit on or inside the front or street side line. Anything over three feet, or anything that obstructs vision to any significant degree, is barred from a sight distance area. The rule that runs the other way is subsection 6: where a fence touches no setback at all and meets the building code, its height is governed by the building height restrictions of the zoning district, which on some lots is a great deal more than six feet.
A fence, wall or hedge not exceeding 6 feet in height may be located within any yard except as follows:
The answer turns on the yard, the district and whether the fence can be seen through.
- any yard, clear of a setback
- Six feet. 6 ft
- a front setback or within five feet of the street side line
- Four feet. 4 ft
- sight-obscuring material in those places
- Three feet. 3 ft
- a split rail fence on a large lot
- Five feet, and the section does not restrict it.
Also on fence height in Carson City
- no rule, documents checkedNevada does not limit how tall a fence at a house can be. NRS 278.580 leaves building codes to each city and county, so no state code carries a fence height or a fence permit rule. The only fence heights in Nevada law are the forty eight inch top barrier on a livestock fence and the five and six foot barriers around a public pool. Cities and counties set the height rule for a yard fence. NRS 278.580Nevada · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Carson City?
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Carson City answers this, but the answer changes depending on where the fence is and what is being asked for.
The section creates no fence permit of its own and instead points at two adopted codes. Every fence and wall has to satisfy the applicable requirements of the International Building Code and the International Fire Code as Carson City has adopted them, so whether a permit is needed is a building department question rather than a zoning one. Two zoning approvals sit on top of that. A fence inside a setback may be allowed above the height limits by a special use permit, which is the only route past four feet in a front yard. And a barbed fence outside the six rural and large-lot districts takes the prior written approval of the Director, with the word prior making an after the fact approval unavailable. The section also confirms it applies in all zoning districts, so none of this is district specific.
Fences within setbacks may be permitted in excess of height limitations by the approval of a special use permit.
The answer turns on where the fence is and what is being asked for.
- any fence or wall
- The building and fire codes apply.
- extra height inside a setback
- A special use permit.
- a barbed fence in town
- The Director, in writing, in advance.
- a fence clear of every setback
- The district building height governs it.
Also on permits in Carson City
- set in state lawNevada has no building code of its own. NRS 278.580 lets the governing body of any city or county adopt a building code, write the rules that enforce it, and set the permit fees. The statute names only two things a local code has to carry: the earthquake parts of the International Building Code, and standards for studying earthquake hazards. Whether a fence needs a permit is a city or county question. NRS 278.580Nevada · Statute
Pool fence requirements in Carson City
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Nevada answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Nevada pool law covers a public pool, which it describes as any structure holding a man made body of water meant to be used by people as a group for swimming or bathing, whether or not anyone is charged for it. A pool at a private home is left out when the owner or someone living there controls it and only family and invited guests use it. Foster homes, small child care homes and some private club pools are left out too.
This one is Nevada law, not Carson City law. All Nevada findings
means any structure containing an artificial body of water that is intended to be used collectively by persons for swimming or bathing, regardless of whether a fee is charged for its use
Also on pool barriers in Carson City
- set in state lawNevada requires a barrier that closes off the whole pool area at a public pool. It can be a fence, a wall, a building or something else. It has to keep small children out and give nothing to grab or stand on from the outside, and no part of a pool enclosure may double as a walkway people use to get somewhere else. NAC 444.136Nevada · Agency guidance
- set in state lawNevada sets two barrier heights for public pools, and both are taller than the four feet common in other states. A pool at a hotel, motel, other lodging, trailer park, apartment building, condominium or other building with many homes in it takes a barrier at least five feet high. Every other covered pool takes at least six feet. A layout where a gate or door opens straight from a room into the pool area is not allowed. NAC 444.136Nevada · Agency guidance
- set in state lawThe Nevada pool barrier rule also limits the gaps. Upright pieces sit no more than four inches apart, and any opening along the bottom stays under four inches tall. A gate or door into the pool area carries a permanent lock and a latch that closes and catches on its own, set at least three and a half feet above the ground. NAC 444.136Nevada · Agency guidance
Spite fence laws in Carson City
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Carson City law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Nevada has no spite fence law and no height that makes a fence a legal wrong on its own. A spite fence is one built to bother a neighbor rather than to do a job. The nuisance sections of chapter 40 never use the word fence, and NRS 40.140 gives only a broad test covering anything that blocks the free use of property. The public nuisance sections of chapter 202 mention a fence once, to say that fencing public land is not a nuisance when a federal agency allows or requires it.
This one is Nevada law, not Carson City law. All Nevada findings
Documents read before writing that:
- NRS 40.140Nevada Legislature
- NRS ch. 202Nevada Legislature
- NRS ch. 111Nevada Legislature
How fence height is measured in Carson City
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Carson City answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Height is measured from the highest adjacent ground, either natural or filled, on which the fence stands. Two choices are doing work in that sentence. Measuring from the highest adjacent ground means the neighbor standing higher sets the number, so a fence cannot be six feet on the uphill side and nine on the down. And the words either natural or filled mean an owner gains nothing by bringing in dirt first, because the raised ground is still the ground the fence is measured from. Taken together they are one of the tighter measuring rules in this project and they matter on the benched lots that run up the west side of the valley. What the section does not do is address a fence built on top of a retaining wall, so the answer there comes from reading the retaining wall as filled ground rather than from any sentence written for it.
The height of a fence, wall or hedge must be measured from the highest adjacent ground, either natural or filled, upon which it is located.
Also on how height is measured in Carson City
- set in state lawNevada answers the measuring question in one place, the livestock title. A legal fence has at least four side to side barriers, the lowest no more than twelve inches from the ground and the top at least forty eight inches above the ground. The ground is the starting point. The planning and zoning chapter has no match for it. NRS 278.020 gives cities and counties power over the improvement of land and over where structures go and how sound they are, without ever using the word height, so a fence at a house has no state starting point at all. NRS 569.431Nevada · Statute
Fence rules for corner lots in Carson City
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Carson City answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the opening is a street corner, a driveway or a road with no dedicated right-of-way.
A fence, wall or hedge over three feet, or one that obstructs vision to any significant degree, is prohibited inside any sight distance area, and the term is defined elsewhere in the code at Section 18.01.573 rather than drawn in the fence section. Two other rules build sight distance areas of their own. A driveway lot has to keep one measured from where the property lines meet next to the neighboring driveway, running ten feet along the common property line and ten feet along the street, which protects two neighbors backing out beside each other. And where a property line falls in the middle of the road, setbacks are measured from a boundary thirty feet off the centerline, with a sight distance area applied there too. The obstructs vision to any significant degree test sits alongside the three feet, so a tall open fence is not automatically safe.
A fence, wall or hedge that exceeds 3 feet in height or which obstructs vision to any significant degree is prohibited within any sight distance sight distance area, as that term is defined in CCMC 18.01.573.
The answer turns on whether the opening is a street corner, a driveway or a road with no dedicated right-of-way.
- a sight distance area
- Three feet, and nothing that blocks a view. 3 ft
- a driveway lot
- Ten feet along the line and ten along the street. 10 ft
- a property line in the middle of the road
- Measured from thirty feet off the centerline. 30 ft
- the shape of the area
- Defined at Section 18.01.573, not here.
Also on corner visibility in Carson City
- set in state lawNevada does have a state rule about blocking the view at an intersection, and it sits in the highway chapter rather than in any zoning law. NRS 405.110 says an advertising sign may not stand where it hides a clear view of a crossing highway. It reaches signs and advertising, nothing else. It draws no triangle, gives no distance, and says nothing about a fence on a house lot, so a corner fence is still a city or county matter under NRS 278. NRS 405.110Nevada · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in Carson City
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Carson City does not set this. It leaves it to the building code adopted by the governing body of each city or county.
Nevada has no rule of its own for a wall that holds back earth. NRS 278.580 lets the governing body of a city or county adopt a building code covering the design, strength and materials of structures, and adopt the rules that enforce it. Whether that kind of wall needs a permit, and how tall it can stand before it does, is answered by the code that city or county adopted.
This one is Nevada law, not Carson City law. All Nevada findings
the governing body of any city or county may adopt a building code, specifying the design, soundness and materials of structures, and may adopt rules, ordinances and regulations for the enforcement of the building code
The code hands this to the building code adopted by the governing body of each city or county, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence materials allowed in Carson City
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Carson City answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district and whether the material is deemed to block a view.
Barbed fences are a permitted accessory use in the Conservation Reserve, Agricultural, Mobile Home 1 Acre, Single-Family 5 Acre, Single-Family 2 Acre and Single-Family 1 Acre districts, which is to say on the ranching and large-lot land, and in every other district only with the prior written approval of the Director. Nothing else is prohibited by name, so wood, vinyl, masonry and plain chain link are simply allowed. What the section does instead of a materials list is define which materials block a view, and the definition is broader than people expect: picket fences, tight-railed fences, chain-link fences with slats and wire fences with slats are all deemed sight-obscuring. A picket fence counts, which surprises most owners, and being deemed sight-obscuring drops the limit from four feet to three in a front or street side setback.
For the purposes of this subsection, picket fences, tight-railed fences, chain-link fences with slat and wire fences with slats are deemed sight-obscuring.
The answer turns on the district and whether the material is deemed to block a view.
- a barbed fence on rural or large-lot land
- A permitted accessory use.
- a barbed fence anywhere else
- Only with the Director approving in writing.
- a picket or slatted fence
- Deemed sight-obscuring.
- every other material
- Not named either way.
Also on materials in Carson City
- set in state lawNevada orders every county board to pass a rule on battery charged fences, and the state says what that rule has to contain. The fence goes on land not marked for homes, or on rural home land. It runs off a battery of no more than 12 volts and meets the international standard for the charger. It sits behind a fence or wall with no current in it at least 5 feet tall, stops at 10 feet, and carries warning signs no more than 40 feet apart. A county may not ban one outright and may not charge a separate permit for it. NRS 244.3677Nevada · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Carson City
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Nevada answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Nevada says what a legal fence for livestock has to be. It carries at least four side to side barriers of wire, board, pole or similar material in common use nearby, with posts no more than twenty feet apart. Each post has to hold a sideways pull of 250 pounds at a point four feet up, and each barrier has to hold the same pull halfway between two posts.
This one is Nevada law, not Carson City law. All Nevada findings
a fence with not less than four horizontal barriers, consisting of wires, boards, poles or other fence material in common use in the neighborhood, with posts set not more than 20 feet apart.
20 ftmaximum spacing between posts on a legal fence
Also on agricultural fencing in Carson City
- set in state lawThe same Nevada rule fixes the spacing and the height of a legal fence. The lowest barrier sits no more than twelve inches off the ground, no two barriers are more than twelve inches apart, and the top barrier stands at least forty eight inches above the ground. NRS 569.431Nevada · Statute
- set in state lawNevada is a fence out state for cropland. The farmer builds the fence, not the animal owner. Nobody may collect for livestock damage to cultivated land, and no Nevada court may award it, if the land was not closed in by a legal fence when the animals got in. NRS 569.450Nevada · Statute
- set in state lawOnce land is closed in by a legal fence the rule turns around. If livestock break into ground held by a legal fence, the owner or manager of the animals pays the landowner for all the damage. A second trespass caused by that person neglecting the animals costs double. NRS 569.440Nevada · Statute
- set in state lawNevada calls every unfenced piece of land outside cities and towns open range when cattle, sheep or other farm animals graze or roam there by custom, license, lease or permit. That matters most on the highway. Under NRS 568.360 a person who owns or controls an animal running on open range does not have to keep it off a highway crossing that range and pays nothing for a crash there. Letting an animal into a fenced highway right of way through carelessness is different, and that does bring liability. NRS 568.355Nevada · Statute
Documents behind this page
11 documents, of which 1 was published by Carson City itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Nevada LegislatureNevada Revised Statutes, Chapter 569 (Estrays and Livestock)
- Nevada LegislatureNevada Revised Statutes, Chapter 568 (Grazing and Ranging)
- Nevada LegislatureNevada Revised Statutes, Chapter 111 (Estates in Property; Conveyancing and Recording)
- Carson CityCarson City Municipal Code, Title 18 Appendix, Carson City Development Standards, Division 1, Land Use and Site Design, Section 1.13, Fences, walls and hedges
- Nevada LegislatureNevada Revised Statutes, Section 278.580
- Nevada State Board of HealthNevada Administrative Code, Chapter 444
- Nevada LegislatureNevada Revised Statutes, Section 444.065
- Nevada LegislatureNevada Revised Statutes, Chapter 40 (Actions and Proceedings in Particular Cases Concerning Property)
- Nevada LegislatureNevada Revised Statutes, Chapter 202 (Crimes Against Public Health and Safety)
- Nevada LegislatureNevada Revised Statutes, Chapter 405, Control and Preservation of Public Highways
- Nevada LegislatureNevada Revised Statutes, Chapter 244, Counties: Government, Section 244.3677, Ordinance regulating battery charged fences: Requirements; prohibitions
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 Carson City publishes, plus the Nevada rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Nevada 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