Fence laws in Passaic, New Jersey
What the Passaic municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Passaic sets no rule of its own, the New Jersey rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Passaic, New Jersey, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Passaic writes its fence rules along the lot lines themselves and never states a setback, so a fence may stand on the boundary, and the answer turns on what the fence does to water and vehicles. The figure is 0 feet, for setback from a lot line.
- How tall
- Passaic allows a four foot fence anywhere and a six foot fence across the rear lot line and along the side lines as far forward as the rear line of the dwelling extended, and the answer turns on the zone, where along the lot the fence runs and what it abuts. The figure is 6 feet, for fence across the rear and along the side lines.
- Permits
- Passaic requires a zoning permit from the administrative officer before the construction, erection, alteration or use of any building or part of a building, any stationary sign, or any property, and the answer turns on what is being built or used.
- Pool barriers
- Passaic sets no statewide pool barrier rule. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Spite fences
- Passaic has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Passaic leaves the measuring rule to a municipal zoning ordinance adopted under the Municipal Land Use Law.
- Corner lots
- On every Passaic corner lot no fence or wall higher than three feet may stand inside the triangle formed by the property lines and a line joining points a set distance from their intersection, and no other obstruction to vision may sit between three feet and ten feet above the established grade of either street, and the answer turns on the interior angle at the corner. The figure is 20 feet, for leg of the triangle at ninety degrees or more.
- Retaining walls
- New Jersey writes its own rule for a wall that holds back earth instead of leaving it to the national code. The figure is 4 feet, for retaining wall height at or above which a construction permit is required.
- Materials
- Passaic bans barbed wire, razor wire and anything similar on any fence or atop any wall, in every zone, with no industrial exception, and the answer turns on the zone and what the fence is screening. The figure is 6 feet, for minimum height of required screening.
- Livestock
- New Jersey sets one height for a lawful fence and one job for it to do. The figure is 50 inches, for minimum height of a lawful fence, which the statute states as four feet and two inches.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Passaic?
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Passaic answers this, but the answer changes depending on what the fence does to water and vehicles.
Passaic writes its fence rules along the lot lines themselves and never states a setback, so a fence may stand on the boundary. The yard requirements of the chapter are expressly not to be read as prohibiting the permitted kinds of fence, which is how a fence gets into a required yard at all. What the section does prohibit is a fence or wall that impedes the natural flow of drainage across property lines, which reaches a solid fence built across a swale the same way it reaches a wall. Retaining walls are listed among the things the yard rules do not prohibit, so they are allowed in a yard without being folded into the fence heights. A paved yard has to carry a fence or other physical barrier to stop motor vehicles reaching any area not served by a curb cut.
Fences and walls which impede the natural flow of drainage across property lines are prohibited.
Section 317-50(A)(3), with (A)(1) and (A)(5)
The answer turns on what the fence does to water and vehicles.
- a lot line
- No setback stated. 0 ft
- drainage across the line
- A fence that blocks it is prohibited.
- a required yard
- The yard rules do not bar a fence.
- a paved yard
- A barrier against vehicles is required.
Also on fences on the property line in Passaic
- set in state lawNew Jersey only splits a fence on the line when at least one of the two neighbors is pasturing or keeping animals. Each neighbor who uses the land that way builds and keeps up a fair share. A neighbor who leaves the land empty and open, or who keeps no animals, owes nothing toward it. That is narrower than most states, where both sides share the cost whatever the land is used for. N.J.S.A. 4:20-7New Jersey · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Passaic?
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Passaic answers this, but the answer changes depending on the zone, where along the lot the fence runs and what it abuts.
Passaic allows a four foot fence anywhere and a six foot fence across the rear lot line and along the side lines as far forward as the rear line of the dwelling extended. The 2003 amendment then closed the gap most codes leave: the front yard, which the section says includes the entire front of the property to the corner of the house, is held to four feet. Two neighbor cases go higher. A fence or wall on a lot with a dwelling may be six feet where it is contiguous to a lot in a commercial or manufacturing district, and eight feet along a boundary between a manufacturing and a residential district. In the C, M-1 and M-2 zones an open fence may be eight feet. In every zone except R-1, R-2 and R-1A a solid six foot fence may enclose a vacant lot, provided the outside is properly finished and kept free of graffiti and advertising.
A fence not exceeding six feet in height across the rear lot line of the property and along the side lot lines from the rear lot line to a point equal to the rear line of the dwelling if extended to said side line, and provided that the side of any such fence facing an adjacent property shall be finished and shall not constitute an eyesore to such adjacent property owner or occupant.
The answer turns on the zone, where along the lot the fence runs and what it abuts.
- behind the house
- Six feet. 6 ft
- the front of the property
- Four feet, to the corner of the house. 4 ft
- a boundary with industry
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- a vacant lot
- Six feet solid, finished on the outside.
Also on fence height in Passaic
- no rule, documents checkedNew Jersey does not limit how tall a fence at a house can be. State law gives that job to the towns, which may set the size, height and shape of fences between neighboring lots. Height is a town rule in every New Jersey town. R.S. 40:48-1(29)New Jersey · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Passaic?
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Passaic answers this, but the answer changes depending on what is being built or used.
Passaic requires a zoning permit from the administrative officer before the construction, erection, alteration or use of any building or part of a building, any stationary sign, or any property. The application has to be in writing from the owner or an authorized agent, state the intended use, and come with a plan drawn to scale showing the proposed building or property in its exact relation to the lot and street lines, plus written evidence from the City Engineer about the street line. A second section backs that up from the other direction: no board, agency, officer or employee of the city may issue any permit, license or certificate for work that would not fully comply with the zoning chapter, and any approval given in violation is null and void without any need for revocation proceedings.
A zoning permit shall be obtained from the administrative officer prior to the construction, erection, alteration or use of any building or part of building or of any stationary sign or property.
Section 317-63, with Section 317-62
The answer turns on what is being built or used.
- any work on a property
- A zoning permit first.
- the application
- In writing, with a plan to scale.
- a permit issued in error
- Null and void on its own.
- earth moving or grading
- A separate permit from the Construction Code Official.
Also on permits in Passaic
- set in state lawNew Jersey runs one construction code for the whole state. The Commissioner of Community Affairs adopts it after a public hearing, and it covers building work everywhere in the state. The list of work that needs a permit, and the list of work that does not, sit inside that code at N.J.A.C. 5:23 and not in the statute. N.J.S.A. 52:27D-123New Jersey · Statute
Pool fence requirements in Passaic
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Passaic law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
New Jersey does have a pool barrier rule. It sits in the state construction code at N.J.A.C. 5:23-3.21, which takes in the International Swimming Pool and Spa Code and then changes parts of it. The Department of Community Affairs publishes that rule only as a PDF and its text could not be read, so no height is claimed here. The numbers live in the national code rather than in New Jersey text.
This one is New Jersey law, not Passaic law. All New Jersey findings
Documents read before writing that:
- N.J.A.C. 5:23-3.21New Jersey Department of Community Affairs
- N.J.S.A. 52:27D-123New Jersey Legislature
Spite fence laws in Passaic
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Passaic law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
New Jersey has no statewide spite fence law. A spite fence is one built to bother a neighbor rather than to do a job. Title 4, Chapter 20 covers fences on the line and says nothing about spite. State law instead lets each town set the size and height of fences between neighbors, so the answer is a town rule.
This one is New Jersey law, not Passaic law. All New Jersey findings
Documents read before writing that:
- N.J.S.A. 4:20-7New Jersey Legislature
- R.S. 40:48-1(29)New Jersey Legislature
How fence height is measured in Passaic
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Passaic does not set this. It leaves it to a municipal zoning ordinance adopted under the Municipal Land Use Law.
New Jersey states a fence number and never says where to measure it from. The state construction code says no permit is needed for a fence six feet or less in height, and it never says six feet above what. The Municipal Land Use Law fills the gap by handing the bulk, height, number of stories, direction and size of buildings and other structures to a town zoning rule. The town decides where the measuring starts.
This one is New Jersey law, not Passaic law. All New Jersey findings
Regulate the bulk, height, number of stories, orientation, and size of buildings and the other structures; the percentage of lot or development area that may be occupied by structures; lot sizes and dimensions
The code hands this to a municipal zoning ordinance adopted under the Municipal Land Use Law, which is not published in the code itself.
Also on how height is measured in Passaic
- no rule, documents checkedThe fence section states four feet, six feet and eight feet and never says what any of them is measured from. No grade is named, a berm is not addressed, and no allowance is made for a post cap. Retaining walls are named in the section only to say the yard rules do not prohibit them, so a fence built on top of one is not answered. The corner sight clearance rule two sections earlier shows the code fixing a datum when it wants one, protecting the band between three feet and ten feet above the established grade of either street. Where the fence rules do measure carefully it is horizontal rather than vertical: the six foot run stops at a point equal to the rear line of the dwelling extended to the side line, and the four foot front runs to the corner of the house. Section 317-50Passaic · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Passaic
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Passaic answers this, but the answer changes depending on the interior angle at the corner.
On every Passaic corner lot no fence or wall higher than three feet may stand inside the triangle formed by the property lines and a line joining points a set distance from their intersection, and no other obstruction to vision may sit between three feet and ten feet above the established grade of either street. A post, column or tree of no more than one square foot in cross section or one foot in diameter is allowed through that band. The triangle is twenty feet along each line where the interior angle at the corner is ninety degrees or more, and it grows by one foot for every ten degrees, or major fraction, that the angle falls below ninety. The fence section points at this rule from its own text, so the corner clearance applies whatever else the fence heights allow.
On every corner lot within the triangle formed by the property lines on such lot and a line drawn between points on such lines at the distance from their intersection specified below, there shall be no fence or wall higher than three feet nor any other obstruction to vision other than a post, column or tree not exceeding in cross section one square foot or one foot in diameter, between a height of three feet and a height of 10 feet above the established grade of either street.
The answer turns on the interior angle at the corner.
- a right angle corner
- Twenty feet along each line. 20 ft
- a sharper corner
- A foot more per ten degrees. 10 degrees
- inside the triangle
- Three feet. 3 ft
- a post or tree
- Allowed if it is thin enough.
Also on corner visibility in Passaic
- set in state lawNew Jersey protects the driver view in its highways title, and only for signs that need a state permit. Section 27:5-9 sets the conditions on that permit, and one of them is that the sign may not block a clear view of the road ahead or of official signs and signals. Nothing there reaches a fence at a house. A town gets the power to draw a corner sight triangle, the clear space kept open where two streets meet, from the Municipal Land Use Law. N.J.S.A. 27:5-9New Jersey · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in Passaic
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New Jersey answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
New Jersey writes its own rule for a wall that holds back earth instead of leaving it to the national code. A construction permit is needed to build, enlarge, change, rebuild or tear down such a wall four feet or taller, and also a shorter one that hurts a foundation. The four feet counts every wall on the same slope added together, measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall. Walls the town already reviewed in subdivision and site plan work, and walls a county engineer or the state transportation department reviews, are left out.
This one is New Jersey law, not Passaic law. All New Jersey findings
No person shall construct, enlarge, alter, reconstruct, or demolish a retaining wall or series of retaining walls having a total height four feet or greater, or a retaining wall less than four feet having a negative impact on a foundation, without first obtaining a construction permit.
4 ftretaining wall height at or above which a construction permit is required
Fence materials allowed in Passaic
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Passaic answers this, but the answer changes depending on the zone and what the fence is screening.
Passaic bans barbed wire, razor wire and anything similar on any fence or atop any wall, in every zone, with no industrial exception. Beyond that the section says little about product and more about the face a fence shows: the side of a six foot rear fence that looks at an adjoining property has to be finished and may not constitute an eyesore to that neighbor, and a solid fence around a vacant lot has to be properly finished on the outside and kept free of graffiti or advertising. The buffer and screening rules elsewhere in the article name materials where the city requires a screen, calling for a solid six foot fence, wall or evergreen hedge around a refuse collection area, and allowing a trellis, latticework, decorative block basket weave fencing, open artistic block or shrubbery to screen a boat, motor home or trailer.
The use of barbed wire, razor wire or similar shall not be permitted on any fence or atop any wall.
Section 317-50(A)(2), with (C)
The answer turns on the zone and what the fence is screening.
- barbed or razor wire
- Not on any fence, in any zone.
- the neighbor side
- Finished, and not an eyesore.
- a vacant lot fence
- Finished outside and kept clean.
- screening a boat or trailer
- Lattice, block, basket weave or shrubs. 6 ft
Also on materials in Passaic
- set in state lawNew Jersey calls an electric security fence a perimeter fence intrusion protection system, and it sets nine things such a fence has to do. It ties into an alarm somebody watches. It cannot go on land a town has set aside for homes only. It runs off a storage battery of no more than 12 volts and meets the international standard for the charger. It stands behind a fence or wall with no current in it at least five feet tall, stops at ten feet, carries warning signs no more than 40 feet apart, and is put in by somebody trained or certified to install it. N.J.S.A. 45:5A-54New Jersey · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Passaic
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New Jersey answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
New Jersey sets one height for a lawful fence and one job for it to do. It stands four feet and two inches from the surface of the ground, and it has to be close, strong and tight enough that horses and cattle cannot get through or under. Where the fence sits on the line and either neighbor works the land, it also has to be tight enough to stop sheep. Low meadow along a stream or river that floods is left out of that last part.
This one is New Jersey law, not Passaic law. All New Jersey findings
if four feet and two inches high measuring from the level or surface of the earth, and close, strong and sufficient to prevent horses and cattle from going through or under it.
50 inminimum height of a lawful fence, which the statute states as four feet and two inches
Also on agricultural fencing in Passaic
- set in state lawNew Jersey ties the damage claim to the fence. When horses, cattle or sheep get over, push through or break down a fence the chapter calls lawful, the owner of the animals pays the hurt neighbor for all of it. Two neutral people from the neighborhood set the amount, one picked by each side, and each has to own the same sort of property that was damaged. If the animal owner will not pick, the hurt neighbor picks both. If the two cannot agree, they bring in a third. N.J.S.A. 4:20-22New Jersey · Statute
- set in state lawNew Jersey bans barbed wire between neighbors unless the neighbor agrees to it. A fence on the line made of barbed wire, or of wire with barbs or points strung on it, is not a lawful fence without the next door owner's consent, and the statute forbids it outright without that consent. Most farm states treat barbed wire as the normal build. New Jersey does the opposite. N.J.S.A. 4:20-3New Jersey · Statute
Documents behind this page
13 documents, of which 2 were published by Passaic itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- New Jersey LegislatureNew Jersey Statutes (Unannotated), Title 4, Section 4:20-7, Duty to make and maintain portion of partition fence
- City of PassaicCode of the City of Passaic, Chapter 317, Zoning, Article X, Supplementary Regulations, Section 317-50, Fences and walls
- New Jersey LegislatureAssembly Bill A697 (2022 session), reproducing R.S.40:48-1 paragraph 29, Fences
- New Jersey LegislatureNew Jersey Statutes (Unannotated), Title 52, Section 52:27D-123, State Uniform Construction Code; adoption
- City of PassaicCode of the City of Passaic, Chapter 317, Zoning, Article XII, Administration and Enforcement, Section 317-63, Zoning permit
- New Jersey Department of Community AffairsN.J.A.C. 5:23-3, Uniform Construction Code subcodes (PDF, could not be read)
- New Jersey Business Action Center, Department of StateMunicipal Land Use Law, N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.
- New Jersey LegislatureNew Jersey Statutes, Title 27, Highways, Chapter 5, Roadside Sign Control and Outdoor Advertising
- New Jersey Department of Community AffairsNew Jersey Administrative Code, Title 5, Chapter 23, Uniform Construction Code, Subchapter 2, Administration and Enforcement
- New Jersey LegislatureP.L.2021, Chapter 2, An Act concerning perimeter fence intrusion protection systems and other alarm systems
- New Jersey LegislatureNew Jersey Statutes (Unannotated), Title 4, Agriculture and Domestic Animals, Section 4:20-1, Sufficiency of fences in general
- New Jersey LegislatureNew Jersey Statutes (Unannotated), Title 4, Agriculture and Domestic Animals, Section 4:20-22, Damages by animals breaking through lawful fences
- New Jersey LegislatureNew Jersey Statutes (Unannotated), Title 4, Agriculture and Domestic Animals, Section 4:20-3, Partition fences of barbed wire
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 Passaic publishes, plus the New Jersey rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in New Jersey 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