Fence laws in West New York, New Jersey
What the West New York municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where West New York sets no rule of its own, the New Jersey rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in West New York, New Jersey, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Fences and walls may be erected anywhere on a West New York lot, subject to the note, so no setback from a lot line is stated and a fence may sit on the boundary, and the answer turns on which yard faces the primary entrance. The figure is 0 feet, for setback from a lot line.
- How tall
- West New York allows fences and walls anywhere on a lot and then removes the front yard from that entirely, and the answer turns on the yard and how tall the fence is. The figure is 6 feet, for fence in a side or rear yard.
- Permits
- A zoning permit is required to build any West New York fence of six feet or less, the fee is seventy-five dollars, and the penalty for failing to get one is a minimum of fifty dollars, all three written into the zoning note itself, and the answer turns on how tall the fence is. The figure is 6 feet, for height at or below which a zoning permit applies.
- Pool barriers
- West New York sets no statewide pool barrier rule. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Spite fences
- West New York has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- West New York leaves the measuring rule to a municipal zoning ordinance adopted under the Municipal Land Use Law.
- Corner lots
- New Jersey protects the driver view in its highways title, and only for signs that need a state permit. It reaches signs permitted by the Roadside Sign Control and Outdoor Advertising Act along state highways only.
- 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
- New Jersey calls an electric security fence a perimeter fence intrusion protection system, and it sets nine things such a fence has to do. The figure is 5 feet, for minimum height of the nonelectric fence or wall that has to surround the system. It reaches an electric security fence on land a town has not set aside for homes only only.
- 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 West New York?
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West New York answers this, but the answer changes depending on which yard faces the primary entrance.
Fences and walls may be erected anywhere on a West New York lot, subject to the note, so no setback from a lot line is stated and a fence may sit on the boundary. Since the front yard carries a complete prohibition, working out which yard is the front does the job a setback usually does, and on a corner lot the code answers it plainly: the front yard is the one that faces the primary entrance to the residence or the commercial or mixed-use building. That leaves the side street frontage of a corner lot available for a six foot fence. Planting is treated differently from building: except where specifically prohibited, nothing in the note is to be read as preventing the use of hedges, trees or other planting anywhere on the lot, so a hedge may stand in a front yard where a fence may not.
Except where specifically prohibited under the terms of this or any other applicable chapter or regulations of the Town, nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit the uses of the hedges, trees or other planting anywhere on the lot.
The answer turns on which yard faces the primary entrance.
- a lot line
- No setback stated. 0 ft
- a corner lot
- The front is where the door faces.
- the side street frontage
- Six feet is available there.
- a hedge
- Allowed anywhere, including the front.
Also on fences on the property line in West New York
- 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 West New York?
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West New York answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard and how tall the fence is.
West New York allows fences and walls anywhere on a lot and then removes the front yard from that entirely. No fence may be erected in a residential, commercial or mixed-use building front yard, at any height, so the usual four foot decorative front fence has no place here. In the side and rear yards of residential, commercial and mixed-use properties a fence may reach six feet. Over six feet the code does not prohibit a fence but changes the paperwork, requiring a building permit instead of a zoning permit. The one required fence height elsewhere in the schedule belongs to a parking lot use abutting a residential district, where a thick hedge, fence or wall of not less than four feet has to run along the side and rear lines, and a private club with outdoor sports has to screen it with a hedge, fence or wall of at least four and a half feet.
No fence may be erected in a residential, commercial or mixed-use building front yard. For corner lots, the front yard shall be that yard which faces the primary entrance to the residence or commercial or mixed-use building. In the side and rear yards of residential, commercial and mixed-use properties, a fence may be erected to a maximum height of six feet.
The answer turns on the yard and how tall the fence is.
- a front yard
- No fence at all.
- a side or rear yard
- Six feet. 6 ft
- over six feet
- A building permit rather than a zoning one.
- a parking lot beside a house
- Four feet of hedge, fence or wall. 4 ft
Also on fence height in West New York
- 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 West New York?
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West New York answers this, but the answer changes depending on how tall the fence is.
A zoning permit is required to build any West New York fence of six feet or less, the fee is seventy-five dollars, and the penalty for failing to get one is a minimum of fifty dollars, all three written into the zoning note itself. A fence over six feet needs a building permit instead. The application comes from the Building Department and goes back to it with three things: a current survey of the property showing the proposed location of the fence, a copy of the license of the contractor who will install it, and the application form. The survey may be no more than ten years old, which rules out the deed drawing in the closing folder for most owners and is the requirement most likely to slow a job down.
A zoning permit shall be required for the construction of any fence six feet or less. The fee for this permit is $75, and the penalty for failing to obtain this permit shall be a minimum of $50.
The answer turns on how tall the fence is.
- six feet or less
- A zoning permit, seventy-five dollars. 6 ft
- over six feet
- A building permit.
- the survey
- No more than ten years old. 120 months
- the contractor
- Their license goes in with it.
Also on permits in West New York
- 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 West New York
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West New York 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 West New York 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 West New York
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West New York 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 West New York 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 West New York
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West New York 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 West New York 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 West New York
- no rule, documents checkedThe note states six feet once and never says what it is measured from. No grade is named, a berm is not addressed, a fence on a retaining wall is not addressed, and no allowance is made for a post cap. That single number carries a lot of weight in West New York, because six feet is also the line between a seventy-five dollar zoning permit and a building permit, so where the measurement starts decides which process an owner is in as well as whether the fence is legal. What the note does measure precisely is the paperwork rather than the fence: a survey of no more than ten years, a seventy-five dollar fee and a fifty dollar minimum penalty. Note 16(1)West New York · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in West New York
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New Jersey answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
New 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.
This one is New Jersey law, not West New York law. All New Jersey findings
A sign may not interfere or be likely to interfere with the ability of the operator of a motor vehicle to have a clear and unobstructed view of the highway ahead or of official signs, signals or traffic control devices.
Also on corner visibility in West New York
- no rule, documents checkedThe fence note draws no sight triangle and never mentions an intersection, a driver or a view. What it does instead is decide which yard of a corner lot counts as the front, defining it as the yard facing the primary entrance to the building, and then prohibit any fence in that yard. So one of the two street frontages of every corner lot is kept clear of fencing outright, which is a blunter instrument than a triangle and a more certain one. The other frontage is treated as a side yard and may carry a fence up to six feet right to the line, with nothing in the note requiring it to step down or open up near the corner. Note 16(1)West New York · Zoning code
Retaining wall rules in West New York
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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 West New York 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 West New York
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New Jersey answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
New 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.
This one is New Jersey law, not West New York law. All New Jersey findings
e. be surrounded by a nonelectric perimeter fence or wall that is not less than five feet in height;
5 ftminimum height of the nonelectric fence or wall that has to surround the system
Also on materials in West New York
- no rule, documents checkedThe fence note says nothing about what a fence may be built from. Barbed wire is not mentioned, razor wire is not mentioned, chain link is not mentioned, and there is no rule about which side faces the neighbor or how open a fence has to be. The note is about where a fence may stand, how tall it may be and what paperwork it needs, and nothing else. The only material words in the surrounding schedule belong to required screens rather than to fences an owner chooses: a parking lot abutting a residential district needs a thick hedge, fence or wall, and a private club with outdoor sports needs the same. The front yard prohibition does the work that an openness or material rule does in other towns, since the question of what a front fence looks like never arises. Note 16West New York · Zoning code
Livestock and boundary fence law in West New York
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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 West New York 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 West New York
- 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
12 documents, of which 1 was published by West New York 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
- Town of West New YorkCode of the Town of West New York, Chapter 414, Zoning, Schedule of District Regulations, Note 16
- 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
- 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 West New York 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