Fence laws in Sparks, Nevada
What the Sparks municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Sparks sets no rule of its own, the Nevada rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Sparks, Nevada, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- No distance is stated between a fence and any property line, so a fence may stand on the boundary at whatever height the district allows, and the answer turns on whether the fence carries wire that could overhang. The figure is 0 feet, for setback stated from a property line for a fence.
- How tall
- A fence or wall six feet or less may be put up in any zoning district, except where a sight issue may be created, and that exception is what drives everything else, and the answer turns on the setback, the district and how open the fence is. The figure is 6 feet, for fence or wall height allowed in any zoning district.
- Permits
- The fence section itself never mentions a permit, and the answer turns on what is being built and what the Administrator has to decide. The figure is 25 feet, for interval at which an electric fence warning sign has to appear.
- 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
- Sparks has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Nevada answers the measuring question in one place, the livestock title. The figure is 48 inches, for top barrier of a legal fence, measured above the ground. It reaches a legal fence for livestock trespass, not a fence at a house only.
- Corner lots
- Sparks answers the corner without geometry, and the answer turns on whether the Administrator finds a visibility issue.
- Retaining walls
- Sparks leaves retaining walls to the building code adopted by the governing body of each city or county.
- Materials
- The general rule is permissive: a fence may be built of wire, chain link, wood, stone or any standard building material the Administrator approves, and the words but not limited to keep the list open, and the answer turns on the material and the zoning district. The figure is 8 feet, for height of the fence barbed or razor wire has to sit on top of.
- 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 Sparks?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Sparks answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence carries wire that could overhang.
No distance is stated between a fence and any property line, so a fence may stand on the boundary at whatever height the district allows. The only property line language in the section belongs to the security materials, and it is about overhang rather than about position. Where barbed wire is used, the extension arms may not extend beyond the property line and neither may the wire itself, and the razor wire paragraph repeats both sentences word for word. That is aimed at the common practice of angling the arms outward over the sidewalk or the neighbor, and it forces them inward or straight up without saying so in those words. An electric theft deterrent device is placed by a different kind of limit, having to sit completely inside a non-electric fence or wall of at least six feet, so the electrified part is never the thing somebody touches first.
Extension arms, when used, shall not extend beyond the property line.
The answer turns on whether the fence carries wire that could overhang.
- an ordinary fence
- No setback stated. 0 ft
- barbed or razor wire arms
- Not past the line.
- the wire itself
- Not past the line either.
- an electric fence
- Completely inside a six foot non-electric fence.
Also on fences on the property line in Sparks
- 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 Sparks?
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Sparks answers this, but the answer changes depending on the setback, the district and how open the fence is.
A fence or wall six feet or less may be put up in any zoning district, except where a sight issue may be created, and that exception is what drives everything else. In a required front or exterior side setback the limit drops to three feet, and rises to four where the fence is at least fifty percent open construction, so a foot of height is bought with openness rather than with a permit. A residential fence may still go to six feet in the exterior side yard if the Administrator decides no visibility problem will be created, which puts the call on a person rather than on a measurement. In the Industrial district a fence may be erected in the required front setback or exterior side yard and go to six feet outright. A public utility in any zone may be enclosed with a fence and barbed wire so long as the total stays under nine feet.
Fences or walls six feet or less in height may be erected in any zoning district except where a sight issue may be created.
The answer turns on the setback, the district and how open the fence is.
- anywhere clear of a front setback
- Six feet. 6 ft
- a front or exterior side setback
- Three feet. 3 ft
- the same place, half open
- Four feet. 50%
- a public utility enclosure
- Nine feet with barbed wire on top. 9 ft
Also on fence height in Sparks
- 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 Sparks?
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Sparks answers this, but the answer changes depending on what is being built and what the Administrator has to decide.
The fence section itself never mentions a permit. Where the code confirms one exists is in the landscaping section, which exempts a list of permit types from having to file a landscape and irrigation plan, and names fencing in that list beside reroofing, siding, temporary power and sign permits. So Sparks issues fencing permits and they are treated as small work that does not trigger site landscaping. What the fence section does create is a set of judgment calls rather than applications. The Administrator approves any building material not on the list, decides whether a residential exterior side yard fence of six feet would create a visibility issue, and may waive construction hours by temporary use permit. An electric fence carries its own posted requirement instead of an approval, with a warning sign at least twelve inches by nine, lettering at least an inch, at intervals of at least twenty five feet, and one on each side of the fence.
Permits such as, but not limited to, reroofing, siding, temporary power, change of electrical service, change of furnace, mobile home set-up, addition of interior plumbing, addition of interior electrical, fencing, on and off-premises signs and encroachment.
The answer turns on what is being built and what the Administrator has to decide.
- a fencing permit
- Named in the code, exempt from a landscape plan.
- an unlisted material
- The Administrator approves it.
- six feet on an exterior side yard
- The Administrator decides.
- an electric fence
- Signs every twenty five feet, both sides. 25 ft
Also on permits in Sparks
- 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 Sparks
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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 Sparks 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 Sparks
- 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 Sparks
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Sparks 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 Sparks 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 Sparks
Compare how height is measured across all 50 states
Nevada answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Nevada 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.
This one is Nevada law, not Sparks law. All Nevada findings
The lower barrier must be not more than 12 inches from the ground and the space between any two barriers must be not more than 12 inches and the height of top barrier must be at least 48 inches above the ground.
48 intop barrier of a legal fence, measured above the ground
Also on how height is measured in Sparks
- no rule, documents checkedNone of the heights in the section says what it is measured from. The six feet allowed in any district, the three feet and four feet in a setback, the eight feet a barbed wire fence has to sit on and the ten foot cap on an electric fence are all bare numbers. No grade is named, no curb, no finished ground level, and nothing says whose side of a boundary a height is read from, which matters on the benched lots common on the east side of the Truckee Meadows. A berm is not addressed. A fence standing on a retaining wall is not addressed at all, which is a real gap in a city built against a hillside. A fence running down a slope is not addressed. The one thing the section does measure with care is the warning sign on an electric fence, down to the height of the lettering. Section 20.04.004.BSparks · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Sparks
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Sparks answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the Administrator finds a visibility issue.
Sparks answers the corner without geometry. The general allowance of six feet carries the words except where a sight issue may be created, and the three foot and four foot limits in a front or exterior side setback follow from that as the standing answer. Then the code hands the exception back to a person: a residential fence may still be six feet in the exterior side yard if the Administrator determines a visibility issue will not be created. Chapter 20.04 uses the phrase sight triangle in its landscaping standards and the phrase visibility triangle in its sign standards, and never defines either one or gives it a size, so the shape a reviewer has in mind is not written down in this chapter. There is no protected band of height, no leg length and no datum anywhere in the fence section.
Residential fences may be constructed up to six feet in height in the exterior side yard if the Administrator determines a visibility issue will not be created.
The answer turns on whether the Administrator finds a visibility issue.
- a front or exterior side setback
- Three feet, or four if half open.
- a residential exterior side yard
- Six feet, if the Administrator agrees.
- the Industrial district
- Six feet in the front setback outright.
- the size of a triangle
- The chapter never gives one.
Also on corner visibility in Sparks
- 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 Sparks
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Sparks 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 Sparks 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 Sparks
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Sparks answers this, but the answer changes depending on the material and the zoning district.
The general rule is permissive: a fence may be built of wire, chain link, wood, stone or any standard building material the Administrator approves, and the words but not limited to keep the list open. The restrictive rules then sort three security materials into three different scopes. Barbed wire above ground is permitted only in the C1, C2, TC, I and PF districts, only on top of an eight foot fence, and neither the wire nor its extension arms may reach past the property line. Razor wire is permitted only in the Industrial district, on the same eight foot fence, with the same limit on arms. Electric fencing is permitted only in the Industrial district too, on a battery of no more than twelve volts direct current, completely inside a non-electric fence at least six feet tall, and never over ten feet.
A fence may be constructed of but not limited to: wire, chain links, wood, stone or any standard building materials to the approval of the Administrator.
The answer turns on the material and the zoning district.
- ordinary materials
- Anything standard the Administrator approves.
- barbed wire
- C1, C2, TC, I and PF, on top of eight feet. 8 ft
- razor wire
- The Industrial district only.
- electric fencing
- Industrial only, inside a six foot non-electric fence. 10 ft
Also on materials in Sparks
- 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 Sparks
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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 Sparks 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 Sparks
- 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 Sparks 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)
- City of SparksSparks Municipal Code, Title 20, Zoning Code, Chapter 20.04, Development Standards, Section 20.04.004, 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 Sparks 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