Fence laws in Albany, Oregon
What the Albany municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Albany sets no rule of its own, the Oregon rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Albany, Oregon, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- A fence may never extend beyond the property line, stated flatly and without exception, and the answer turns on how the adjoining street is improved. The figure is 0 feet, for setback where the street has a sidewalk and planter strip.
- How tall
- In an Albany residential or mixed use zone a fence may be no taller than four feet in a required front setback, and up to eight feet in the side and rear setbacks, and the answer turns on the zone and which setback the fence sits in. The figure is 4 feet, for fence in a required residential front setback.
- Permits
- Oregon leaves a wood, wire mesh or chain link fence off the statewide building permit list. The figure is 7 feet, for height at or below which a local ordinance may not require a building permit for a wood, wire mesh or chain link fence.
- Pool barriers
- A public pool in Oregon sits inside an enclosure at least 6 feet tall, meant to keep out people who should not get in. The figure is 6 feet, for minimum height of an enclosure around a public aquatic venue.
- Spite fences
- Albany has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Albany answers three measuring questions and one of its answers is the strictest in this project.
- Corner lots
- Albany splits the corner rule in two and uses a different instrument for each, and the answer turns on whether the street is local and residential or a collector or arterial. The figure is 20 feet, for measurement along each lot line at a controlled intersection.
- Retaining walls
- Oregon sets the retaining wall rule in two halves. The figure is 4 feet, for height at or below which a local ordinance may not require a building permit for a retaining wall, measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall. It reaches one and two family dwellings only.
- Materials
- Albany does not list permitted materials, and the answer turns on whether the fence is required screening and where it stands. The figure is 75 percent, for minimum opacity of a sight-obscuring fence.
- Livestock
- Oregon calls the farm standard an adequate fence and says what it has to do rather than how it is built.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Albany?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Albany answers this, but the answer changes depending on how the adjoining street is improved.
A fence may never extend beyond the property line, stated flatly and without exception. On a corner lot, where Albany treats both frontages as front yards, the owner may put a six foot fence along the street that does not contain the main door provided the fence does not come forward of the building, and the setback for it is then chosen by what the street is built out to. If the street has sidewalks and a planter strip the fence may sit on or behind the property line. Sidewalks without a planter strip and it stands three feet back from the sidewalk. Curbs and gutters but no sidewalk and it stands ten feet from the face of the curb. An unimproved street and it stands three feet from the property line. That is four different answers picked by what is actually on the ground rather than one distance applied everywhere.
If the adjoining street is improved with curbs and gutters but no sidewalks, the fence is located 10 feet from the face of the curb.
The answer turns on how the adjoining street is improved.
- a sidewalk and a planter strip
- On or behind the line. 0 ft
- a sidewalk and no planter
- Three feet off the sidewalk. 3 ft
- curbs but no sidewalk
- Ten feet off the curb face. 10 ft
- any fence anywhere
- Never past the property line.
Also on fences on the property line in Albany
- set in state lawOregon splits the cost of a fence on the line between neighbors. When one person already keeps a good fence there and the neighbor then encloses the other side, that neighbor pays half of what the fence is worth as a fence on the line. The two of them set that value between them. If they cannot agree, the one owed the money may sue for half the cost of building or repairing it, and the winning side also gets attorney fees. ORS 96.010Oregon · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Albany?
Compare fence height across all 50 states
Albany answers this, but the answer changes depending on the zone and which setback the fence sits in.
In an Albany residential or mixed use zone a fence may be no taller than four feet in a required front setback, and up to eight feet in the side and rear setbacks. Eight feet is also the outright ceiling: in no instance and in no zone may a fence exceed eight feet except where one narrow section allows it, and anything over eight has to meet the building setbacks rather than sitting on the line. The commercial and industrial zones invert the front yard rule and allow eight feet there, with the caveat that an eight foot fence carrying barbed wire on top, or any fence taller than eight feet, is not permitted in a front setback at all. The downtown and waterfront zones go back to four feet, measured within ten feet of the front lot line rather than by setback. A property on the National Register of Historic Places may exceed the front yard figure with Landmarks Commission approval.
Fences must be no taller than 4 feet in required front setbacks unless allowed below.
The answer turns on the zone and which setback the fence sits in.
- a residential front setback
- Four feet. 4 ft
- a side or rear setback
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- a commercial or industrial front setback
- Eight feet, no wire on top.
- anywhere at all
- Eight feet is the ceiling. 8 ft
Also on fence height in Albany
- no rule, documents checkedOregon sets no statewide limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. The fence chapter deals with cost sharing, repair and removal, not size. The residential code names 7 feet, and that figure is a floor on how low a city may set its permit trigger rather than a cap on how tall a fence may be. Cities and counties set the height limit. ORS Chapter 96Oregon · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Albany?
Compare permits across all 50 states
Oregon answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Oregon leaves a wood, wire mesh or chain link fence off the statewide building permit list. A city may pass its own ordinance requiring a permit for one, and the state code puts a floor under that: the city trigger cannot reach a fence 7 feet tall or less. A city may set the trigger higher than 7 feet, and it may regulate a fence made of some other material at any height. One rule holds everywhere in Oregon, that a fence acting as a swimming pool barrier needs a building permit.
This one is Oregon law, not Albany law. All Oregon findings
A municipality may adopt an ordinance to regulate the construction of other fences constructed of wood, wire mesh or chain link, provided that the threshold established for requiring a building permit does not include fences that are 7 feet (2134 mm) or less in height.
7 ftheight at or below which a local ordinance may not require a building permit for a wood, wire mesh or chain link fence
Also on permits in Albany
- set in state lawOregon runs one building code for the whole state. The statute makes that code the same in every city and county, and it stops a local government enforcing its own rule on a matter the state code already covers when the local rule asks for something different. The director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services can allow an exception. ORS 455.040Oregon · Statute
- no rule, documents checkedThe fence standards run to two pages of heights, setbacks, opacity and measurement and never mention a permit, a fee or an application. What they carry instead is a continuing duty. Every fence, whether required or not, will be maintained, and no fence is allowed to become or remain in a condition of disrepair, with noticeable leaning, missing slats, broken supports and overgrowth of weeds or vines all named as examples. That makes the enforcement point ongoing rather than at installation. Two approvals appear and neither is a general fence permit: the Landmarks Commission signs off a taller front yard fence on a National Register property, and an electrified fence carries its own set of fire department access conditions. This is recorded as silence in the development code rather than a finding that Albany requires nothing, because the building code is a separate document that was not read. Section 9.380Albany · Zoning code
Pool fence requirements in Albany
Compare pool barriers across all 50 states
Oregon answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A public pool in Oregon sits inside an enclosure at least 6 feet tall, meant to keep out people who should not get in. The gap under the fence is held to 2 inches over grass or gravel and 4 inches over a solid surface, and openings between bars go no wider than 4 inches. A gate onto a public way closes and latches on its own. A pool open only part of the year may use a 4 foot enclosure. The rules come from the Oregon Health Authority and cover public aquatic facilities.
This one is Oregon law, not Albany law. All Oregon findings
ENCLOSURES shall be no less than 6 feet (1.83 m) in height.
OAR 333-060-1000, Section 4.8.6.2.4A
6 ftminimum height of an enclosure around a public aquatic venue
Spite fence laws in Albany
Compare spite fences across all 50 states
Albany law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Oregon has no spite fence law. The fence chapter covers cost sharing, repair, removal and gates, and never mentions a fence built to annoy a neighbor. The property rights chapter has no fence height and no rule about ill will either. A claim of that kind rests on a nuisance case in court or on a local ordinance.
This one is Oregon law, not Albany law. All Oregon findings
Documents read before writing that:
- ORS Chapter 96Oregon Legislative Assembly
- ORS Chapter 105Oregon Legislative Assembly
How fence height is measured in Albany
Compare how height is measured across all 50 states
Albany answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Albany answers three measuring questions and one of its answers is the strictest in this project. Height is taken from the average height of the grade next to the fence, which judges a run as a whole rather than at its worst point. Then the berm: where a fence is built on a berm or a retaining wall, the height is measured from the bottom of the berm, so the mound and the wall both count against the fence. Springfield, sixty miles south, measures the same fence from the top of the berm, and Portland and Bend start at the top of the retaining wall. Three Oregon cities, three different answers to one question. The third rule runs the other way and is generous: the height includes the fence, wall or picket but not the posts, and not an arbor or trellis over an entrance gate, so a decorative gateway does not blow the limit.
Fence height must be measured from the average height of the grade adjacent to where the fence is to be located. If a fence is to be constructed on top of a berm or retaining wall, the height must be measured from the bottom of the berm. Fence height includes the height of the fence, wall, or picket and does not include the posts, or arbors and trellises at entrance gates.
Also on how height is measured in Albany
- left to the townOregon names 7 feet for a fence and never says 7 feet from what. The residential code lists work a city may choose to require a permit for, puts wood, wire mesh and chain link fences on that list, and blocks a city from setting the permit trigger at 7 feet or less. A city may go higher than 7 feet and may regulate fences of other materials at any height. So the measuring point comes from the city ordinance. ORSC Section R105.2Oregon · Building code
Fence rules for corner lots in Albany
Compare corner visibility across all 50 states
Albany answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the street is local and residential or a collector or arterial.
Albany splits the corner rule in two and uses a different instrument for each. For residential uses and driveways on local streets it prints fixed distances: twenty feet along each lot line at a controlled intersection, thirty at an uncontrolled one, fifteen at a residential driveway and twenty at an alley under twenty five feet wide, with the triangle closed by a diagonal across the open ends and rounded corners extended to a point. For anything non-residential, and for every intersection or driveway involving a collector or arterial, the area becomes a sight distance read from a table of posted speeds and lane counts, running from two hundred feet at twenty miles an hour to eleven hundred and fifty feet at sixty with signal control. That upper figure is the largest sight distance anywhere in this project, and it is measured along the center of the approaching travel lanes from a point fifteen feet back from the nearest lane.
Controlled Intersection (stop sign or signal) 20 feet Uncontrolled Intersection 30 feet Residential District driveways 15 feet
Section 12.180, Table 12.180-1
The answer turns on whether the street is local and residential or a collector or arterial.
- a controlled residential corner
- Twenty feet each way. 20 ft
- an uncontrolled one
- Thirty feet. 30 ft
- a residential driveway
- Fifteen feet. 15 ft
- a collector or arterial
- A sight distance from the speed table. 1150 ft
Also on corner visibility in Albany
- left to the townOregon has no state rule for the clear view at a corner. ORS 227.215 lets a city regulate land development and require a development permit, so a corner triangle comes from the city ordinance. The highway chapter, ORS 374, does use the words sight distance, but only as a test the Department of Transportation applies when it decides whether to allow a new driveway onto a state highway. ORS 227.215Oregon · Zoning code
Retaining wall rules in Albany
Compare retaining walls across all 50 states
Oregon answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Oregon sets the retaining wall rule in two halves. Statewide, a wall needs a building permit at any height when it keeps people using a building safe, holds up a regulated building, or holds back dirt that could hit a regulated building if the wall let go. For any other retaining wall a city may pass its own ordinance, and the state code puts a floor under it: the city permit trigger cannot reach a wall 4 feet tall or less, measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall. A city may set that trigger higher than 4 feet. The 4 foot floor falls away where the wall holds up a slope steeper than 3 to 1 or carries a load that is not soil.
This one is Oregon law, not Albany law. All Oregon findings
A municipality may adopt an ordinance to regulate other retaining walls, provided that the threshold established for requiring a permit does not include retaining walls 4 feet (1219 mm) or less in height, when measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall
4 ftheight at or below which a local ordinance may not require a building permit for a retaining wall, measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall
Fence materials allowed in Albany
Compare materials across all 50 states
Albany answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence is required screening and where it stands.
Albany does not list permitted materials. Where it has to describe a fence it describes what the fence achieves, and it does so with a test that names the observer position. To be sight-obscuring, a fence or wall has to be at least seventy five percent opaque when viewed from any angle at a point twenty five feet away, and a hedge has to be an evergreen species that meets the same standard year round within two years of planting. Salem uses the identical twenty five foot observer distance for the opposite test, capping a front yard fence at twenty five percent opaque, which is another sign these Oregon codes share a common ancestor. Required screening fences have to be at least six feet tall, kept in safe condition, with wooden materials protected from rot, decay and insect infestation. Barbed wire is restricted by position rather than banned, prohibited on top of an eight foot fence in a commercial front setback and within ten feet of a front lot line downtown.
fences and walls must be at least 75 percent opaque when viewed from any angle at a point 25 feet away from the fence or wall
The answer turns on whether the fence is required screening and where it stands.
- a required screen
- Three quarters opaque at twenty five feet. 75%
- a screening hedge
- Evergreen, meeting it within two years.
- barbed wire downtown
- Not within ten feet of the front line. 10 ft
- an ordinary fence
- No material named.
Also on materials in Albany
- no rule, documents checkedOregon never says what a fence may be built from. The line and partition fence chapter runs six sections and names no material at all. Its only test is whether the fence is the sort a careful farmer would keep on the line. The estray chapter in the animal title calls an adequate fence a continuous barrier of natural barriers, structures, masonry, rails, poles, planks, wire or a mix of them, and then tests it by whether it holds cattle and horses in or out. Neither chapter says a word about barbed wire, razor wire or an electric fence. ORS 96.010 to 96.060Oregon · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Albany
Compare agricultural fencing across all 50 states
Oregon answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Oregon calls the farm standard an adequate fence and says what it has to do rather than how it is built. It is a continuous barrier made of natural barriers, structures, masonry, rails, poles, planks, wire, or a mix of them, kept up so it stands as a continuous guard against cattle or horses getting in or out. A hedge, ditch, river, stream, pond or lake can serve as the natural barrier. The definition gives no height, no wire count and no post spacing.
This one is Oregon law, not Albany law. All Oregon findings
means a continuous barrier consisting of natural barriers, structures, masonry, rails, poles, planks, wire or the combination thereof, installed and maintained in a condition so as to form a continuous guard and defense against the ingress or egress of cattle or equines into or from the lands enclosed by the barrier.
Also on agricultural fencing in Albany
- left to the townBecause the statute gives no numbers, whether a fence was good enough gets decided case by case. When cattle or horses break through a fence on open range and the answer matters, the State Department of Agriculture makes that call, and it weighs how good farmers in that particular area build and keep their fences. The department may charge a fee for making the call. ORS 607.300Oregon · Statute
- depends, see the pageOregon runs both systems at once and a map decides which one applies. A livestock district is an area where a class of livestock may not run loose. Open range is an area where livestock may lawfully run loose. Every incorporated city is a livestock district. The county governing body forms a district, adds land to it, takes land out and dissolves it, and it publishes notice when it does. ORS 607.045(1)Oregon · Statute
Documents behind this page
9 documents, of which 2 were published by Albany itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Oregon Legislative AssemblyOregon Revised Statutes, Chapter 96, Line and Partition Fences, 2025 Edition, Section 96.010
- City of AlbanyAlbany Development Code, Article 9, On-Site Development and Environmental Standards, edition of May 23, 2025
- Oregon Building Codes Division, Department of Consumer and Business Services2023 Oregon Residential Specialty Code, Chapter 1, Scope and Administration
- Oregon Legislative AssemblyOregon Revised Statutes, Chapter 455, Building Codes, 2025 Edition, Section 455.040
- Oregon Health Authority, Public Pool ProgramOregon Public Aquatic Facility Rules, OAR 333-060-1000, Aquatic Facility Design Standards and Construction, effective April 1, 2025
- Oregon Legislative AssemblyOregon Revised Statutes, Chapter 105, Property Rights, 2025 Edition
- Oregon Legislative AssemblyOregon Revised Statutes, Chapter 227, City Planning and Zoning
- City of AlbanyAlbany Development Code, Article 12, Public Improvements, edition of November 8, 2025
- Oregon Legislative AssemblyOregon Revised Statutes, Chapter 607, Livestock Districts; Estrays; Animals at Large
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 Albany publishes, plus the Oregon rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Oregon 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