Fence laws in Stillwater, Oklahoma
What the Stillwater municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Stillwater sets no rule of its own, the Oklahoma rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Stillwater, Oklahoma, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- The Stillwater table grants a fence in all yards and never states a distance from a lot line, so a fence may sit on the boundary at the heights the table allows, and the answer turns on whether the line carries an easement and whether the lot is a corner lot. The figure is 0 feet, for setback stated from an interior property line.
- How tall
- Stillwater prints a four-row table and it is easy to read, and the answer turns on the yard and whether the barrier is built or grown. The figure is 4 feet, for fence, hedge or visual barrier in a front yard.
- Permits
- The section that carries the fence heights opens with exemptions rather than with a permit, and they are exemptions from the whole article, and the answer turns on who owns the land.
- Pool barriers
- An outdoor pool in Oklahoma that is open to the public gets a barrier equal to a 6 foot high woven wire fence. The figure is 6 feet, for barrier height around an outdoor public bathing place open to the general public.
- Spite fences
- Stillwater has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Oklahoma names the ground in its fence statute, and only for the bottom of the fence. The figure is 54 inches, for height of a lawful fence, with no datum stated. It reaches a lawful fence under the fence viewer article of the animals title only.
- Corner lots
- Stillwater holds anything at a corner to three feet above the elevation of the lowest point of the crown of the adjacent roadway, and the word lowest is doing real work: where the road crowns or dips across the frontage, the most restrictive point on it sets the datum, and the answer turns on the classification of the streets meeting at the corner. The figure is 3 feet, for height above the lowest point of the crown of the adjacent roadway.
- Retaining walls
- Stillwater leaves retaining walls to the International Residential Code, 2018 edition, as amended and modified by the Oklahoma Uniform Building Code Commission in OAC 748:20-6.
- Materials
- Barb wire is a legal way to build a fence in Oklahoma, and the statute says how. The figure is 3 strands, for a barb wire lawful fence.
- Livestock
- Oklahoma writes out what a lawful fence for livestock is. The figure is 54 inches, for height of a lawful fence for restraining livestock.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Stillwater?
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Stillwater answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the line carries an easement and whether the lot is a corner lot.
The Stillwater table grants a fence in all yards and never states a distance from a lot line, so a fence may sit on the boundary at the heights the table allows. The one distance in the fence rule is measured from a street rather than a neighbor, holding a four to eight foot barrier five feet clear of the secondary front yard on a corner lot. What the section does state flatly, in the projections rules immediately following, is that under no circumstances may any portion of a structure project into an easement, and since the land development code treats a fence as a structure that sentence reaches a fence sitting over a utility or drainage easement. The only other setback nearby belongs to a deck or terrace under thirty inches, which may project five feet into a required yard but no closer than five feet to an interior side line.
Under no circumstances shall any portion of a structure project into an easement.
The answer turns on whether the line carries an easement and whether the lot is a corner lot.
- a shared lot line
- No distance stated. 0 ft
- an easement
- Nothing projects into it.
- a corner lot secondary front yard
- Five feet clear.
- a low deck or terrace
- Five feet off the side line.
Also on fences on the property line in Stillwater
- set in state lawNeighbors in Oklahoma share the job of keeping up the fence and the boundary markers between them, in equal parts. One neighbor can step out of that by leaving the land open, with no fence around it, as a public common. If that neighbor later encloses the land, a fair share of what the other one's fence is worth at that time has to be paid back. 60 O.S. § 70Oklahoma · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Stillwater?
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Stillwater answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard and whether the barrier is built or grown.
Stillwater prints a four-row table and it is easy to read. A fence of zero to four feet is allowed in all yards. A fence of four to eight feet is allowed in all rear, side and secondary front yards, which leaves the primary front yard at four feet and nothing higher. Hedges and required visual barriers are given their own two rows and the second of them has no upper figure at all: a hedge over four feet is allowed in all rear, side and secondary front yards, so a planted screen behind the house may grow as tall as it likes while a built one stops at eight. The rule underneath the table repeats the front yard limit in words and then makes one allowance for a corner lot: a fence, hedge or visual barrier of four to eight feet may extend to within five feet of the secondary front yard in a residentially zoned district.
No fence, hedge, or visual barrier taller than four feet shall extend into the front yard. A fence, hedge, or visual barrier four to eight feet in height may extend to within five feet of the secondary front yard of a corner lot in a residentially zoned district. Secondary front yard used here means the property line dividing the right of way from the street to which the address has not been assigned.
The answer turns on the yard and whether the barrier is built or grown.
- a front yard
- Four feet. 4 ft
- a rear, side or secondary front yard
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- a hedge behind the house
- No ceiling stated.
- a corner lot
- Five feet off the secondary front yard. 5 ft
Also on fence height in Stillwater
- no rule, documents checkedOklahoma sets no statewide limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. The property title on boundary fences deals with shared upkeep and not with size. The building code statute hands the choice of a code to a state commission and lets cities and counties go stricter, and it names no fence height. The one height in Oklahoma fence law is the 54 inch lawful fence, which describes a fence built to hold stock rather than a cap on a yard fence. Cities and counties set the limit at a house. 60 O.S. § 70Oklahoma · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Stillwater?
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Stillwater answers this, but the answer changes depending on who owns the land.
The section that carries the fence heights opens with exemptions rather than with a permit, and they are exemptions from the whole article. Railroad tracks, signals, bridges and similar facilities on a railroad right-of-way are out, together with maintenance work on them. So is property owned and used for government or university use by the county, the state, the federal government or any publicly funded institution of higher learning, which in a university town covers a great deal of land. That second exemption comes with an invitation: if such an entity elects to participate in the city development review process, all applicable regulations are to be followed from beginning to end, so the choice is all or nothing. Beyond that the section names no fence permit, no fee and no application. The public works director may waive the sight triangle requirement in accordance with the city standards.
Property owned and used for governmental or university use by any branch of the county, state or federal government or by any publicly funded institution of higher learning. If such entity elects to participate in the city development review process, all applicable regulations shall be followed from beginning through completion of the application.
The answer turns on who owns the land.
- an ordinary fence
- No permit named in this article.
- government or university land
- Exempt from the article.
- that owner opting in
- Every rule applies, start to finish.
- a sight triangle
- The public works director may waive it.
Also on permits in Stillwater
- set in state lawOne state body picks the building code for all of Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Uniform Building Code Commission reviews and adopts the codes for homes and commercial buildings, and what it adopts is the least a build has to meet anywhere in the state. Cities, counties and state agencies work from those minimums and may write stricter rules of their own. The statute itself names no fence and no permit exemption. 59 O.S. § 1000.23Oklahoma · Statute
Pool fence requirements in Stillwater
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Oklahoma answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
An outdoor pool in Oklahoma that is open to the public gets a barrier equal to a 6 foot high woven wire fence. An outdoor pool that is not open to the general public gets a barrier at least 4 feet tall, entered only through gates that close and latch on their own, and it cannot block a clear view of the water. A decorative barrier can have no opening wider than 4 inches, and no barrier may be built in a way that turns it into a ladder. The rules come from the State Department of Health and cover public bathing places.
This one is Oklahoma law, not Stillwater law. All Oklahoma findings
Outdoor pools open to general public such as municipal pools and pools used by organizations (YWCA, YMCA, etc.), shall be enclosed by a suitable barrier equal to a six (6) foot high woven wire fence.
6 ftbarrier height around an outdoor public bathing place open to the general public
Spite fence laws in Stillwater
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Stillwater law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Oklahoma has no spite fence law. The property title that covers boundary fences says nothing about a fence built to annoy a neighbor and sets no height at all. The nuisance title has no fence rule either. A claim about a spite fence in Oklahoma runs on the general nuisance law and on court rulings.
This one is Oklahoma law, not Stillwater law. All Oklahoma findings
Documents read before writing that:
- 60 O.S. §§ 69 to 78Oklahoma Legislature
- 50 O.S. §§ 1 to 44Oklahoma Legislature
How fence height is measured in Stillwater
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Oklahoma answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Oklahoma names the ground in its fence statute, and only for the bottom of the fence. Section 154 puts the lowest rail, wire or board between sixteen and twenty inches from the ground, then sets the whole fence at fifty four inches in height without saying fifty four inches from what. That rule describes a lawful fence built to hold stock. For a fence at a house, the city ordinance written under title 11 sets both the height and the point it is counted from.
This one is Oklahoma law, not Stillwater law. All Oklahoma findings
Provided, that the lowest or bottom rail, wire or board shall not be more than twenty (20) or less than sixteen (16) inches from the ground, and that such fence shall be fifty-four (54) inches in height
54 inheight of a lawful fence, with no datum stated
Also on how height is measured in Stillwater
- no rule, documents checkedThe height table states zero to four feet and four to eight feet and never says what those heights are measured from. No grade is named, a berm is not addressed, and a fence built on a retaining wall is not addressed. The corner rule is the opposite and is unusually careful, fixing the datum at the elevation of the lowest point of the crown of the adjacent roadway, and the sight distances there are measured along the back of curb or the edge of mat rather than along a lot line. The projections rules in the same section measure with the same care, allowing an eave two feet into a required yard, a fire escape three, and a terrace or deck five provided it stands no more than thirty inches above the average level of the adjoining ground. So the section names a datum for a deck and for a corner, and not for the fence. Section 23-121(b)Stillwater · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Stillwater
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Stillwater answers this, but the answer changes depending on the classification of the streets meeting at the corner.
Stillwater holds anything at a corner to three feet above the elevation of the lowest point of the crown of the adjacent roadway, and the word lowest is doing real work: where the road crowns or dips across the frontage, the most restrictive point on it sets the datum. The list of what is caught is unusually broad and includes a parked vehicle alongside walls, fences, signs, structures and plant growth. The triangle is then sized by what meets what, measured along the back of curb or the edge of mat rather than a property line. An alley or driveway meeting a local street gets fifteen feet each way. Two local or residential streets get twenty five. A collector or arterial takes the city standards instead of a figure in the code. The public works director may waive the requirement in accordance with those same standards.
If a corner lot has a front yard and side yard, no wall, fence, sign, other structure, vehicle or plant growth having a height in excess of three feet above the elevation of the lowest point of the crown of the adjacent roadway shall be maintained in a triangle formed by the following:
The answer turns on the classification of the streets meeting at the corner.
- the ceiling
- Three feet above the lowest crown. 3 ft
- an alley or driveway
- Fifteen feet each way. 15 ft
- two local streets
- Twenty five feet. 25 ft
- a collector or arterial
- The city standards apply.
Also on corner visibility in Stillwater
- left to the townOklahoma has no state rule for the clear view at a corner. Title 11 lets a city government control the height and size of buildings and other structures and the size of yards and open spaces, so a corner triangle can only come from a city ordinance written under that power. Title 69, the roads and bridges title, uses the words sight distance only in the part describing how a turnpike is designed, which is about the road and not about what stands on a corner lot. 11 O.S. 43-101Oklahoma · Zoning code
Retaining wall rules in Stillwater
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Stillwater does not set this. It leaves it to the International Residential Code, 2018 edition, as amended and modified by the Oklahoma Uniform Building Code Commission in OAC 748:20-6.
Oklahoma writes no retaining wall rule of its own. The Uniform Building Code Commission adopted the 2018 International Residential Code as the statewide minimum for one and two family homes and townhouses, and took in chapter 1 of that book, which holds the list of work that needs no permit. So the test for a wall that holds back earth comes from the adopted book, and a city or county may set a stricter rule on top of it.
This one is Oklahoma law, not Stillwater law. All Oklahoma findings
the Oklahoma Uniform Building Code Commission (the "OUBCC") hereby adopts the International Residential Code®, 2018 Edition (IRC® 2018) as amended and modified in this subchapter to be the statewide minimum code for residential construction within the State of Oklahoma for one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses
The code hands this to the International Residential Code, 2018 edition, as amended and modified by the Oklahoma Uniform Building Code Commission in OAC 748:20-6, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence materials allowed in Stillwater
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Oklahoma answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Barb wire is a legal way to build a fence in Oklahoma, and the statute says how. A barb wire lawful fence takes three barb wires, or four wires with two of them barbed. Posts go no more than two rods apart when two stays are used between them, or one rod apart with no stays, and a rod is sixteen and a half feet. The top wire sits fifty four to fifty eight inches up and the bottom wire sixteen to twenty inches off the ground. The same section sets a separate standard for a rail or board fence.
This one is Oklahoma law, not Stillwater law. All Oklahoma findings
except that a barb wire fence may consist of three barb wires, or four wires, two of which shall be barbed, the wires to be firmly fastened to the posts not more than two (2) rods apart, with two stays between the posts, or with posts not more than one (1) rod apart without such stays
3 strandsa barb wire lawful fence
Also on materials in Stillwater
- no rule, documents checkedThe fence provisions name no permitted material and prohibit none. Barbed wire is not mentioned, razor wire is not mentioned, chain link is not mentioned and an electric fence is not mentioned, so none of them is allowed or forbidden by this section. What the code regulates instead is the category: the table has three rows for fences, hedges and required visual barriers, and treats them differently by height and yard rather than by substance, with a hedge given more latitude than a fence behind the house. The definitions section defines a shrub as a woody plant distinguished from a tree by having several stems rather than a single trunk, which is the closest the chapter comes to specifying what a barrier is made of. The corner rule is the only place a material question surfaces, and it catches plant growth and parked vehicles alongside built things. Section 23-121(b)Stillwater · Zoning code
Livestock and boundary fence law in Stillwater
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Oklahoma answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Oklahoma writes out what a lawful fence for livestock is. A rail or board fence stands 54 inches tall, with the bottom rail no more than 20 and no less than 16 inches off the ground. A barbed wire fence may run three barbed wires, or four wires with two of them barbed, and the top wire sits 54 to 58 inches up. Fence viewers may accept any other fence they judge equal to that. An owner who leaves land open as a common does not pay toward a fence on the line until the land is enclosed or put to some other use.
This one is Oklahoma law, not Stillwater law. All Oklahoma findings
Provided, that the lowest or bottom rail, wire or board shall not be more than twenty (20) or less than sixteen (16) inches from the ground, and that such fence shall be fifty-four (54) inches in height, except that a barb wire fence may consist of three barb wires, or four wires, two of which shall be barbed
54 inheight of a lawful fence for restraining livestock
Documents behind this page
9 documents, of which 2 were published by Stillwater itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Oklahoma LegislatureOklahoma Statutes, Title 60, Property, Section 70
- City of StillwaterStillwater Code of Ordinances, Chapter 23, Land Development Code, Article VI, Land Use Classifications, Section 23-121
- Oklahoma LegislatureOklahoma Statutes, Title 59, Professions and Occupations, Sections 1000.20 to 1000.29, Oklahoma Uniform Building Code Commission Act
- Oklahoma State Department of HealthOklahoma Administrative Code Title 310, Chapter 315, Public Bathing Place Facility Standards, permanent final adoption
- Oklahoma LegislatureOklahoma Statutes, Title 50, Nuisances, Sections 1 to 44
- Oklahoma LegislatureOklahoma Statutes, Title 4, Animals
- Oklahoma LegislatureOklahoma Statutes, Title 11, Cities and Towns, Article 43, Municipal Planning and Zoning
- City of StillwaterStillwater Code of Ordinances, Chapter 23, Land Development Code, Section 23-86, Sight triangles
- Oklahoma Uniform Building Code CommissionOklahoma Administrative Code, Title 748, Chapter 20, Subchapter 6, IRC 2018, Permanent Rule effective September 14, 2022
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 Stillwater publishes, plus the Oklahoma rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Oklahoma 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