Fence laws in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
What the Lancaster municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Lancaster sets no rule of its own, the Pennsylvania rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Lancaster opens the fence section by overriding the rest of the chapter: notwithstanding other provisions, fences, walls and hedges may be permitted in any required yard or permitted building area, subject to the height table. The figure is 0 feet, for setback stated between a fence and a property line.
- How tall
- Lancaster prints a grid rather than a sentence, splitting the answer by property type, by whether the barrier is a fence, a wall or a hedge, by position on the lot, and by district group, and the answer turns on the property type, the yard, the district and whether it is a fence, wall or hedge. The figure is 4 feet, for fence or wall in a minimum front yard on residential property.
- Permits
- No building or other structure may be erected, moved, added to or structurally altered without a permit for it, if one is required, and the chapter leaves that question to the Uniform Construction Code as the City has adopted and amended it, and the answer turns on whether the construction code requires a permit for the work. The figure is 9 months, for time a certificate of zoning compliance stays valid without activity.
- Pool barriers
- Pennsylvania prints no pool barrier height of its own.
- Spite fences
- Lancaster has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- The height table carries its datum in its own heading, which reads height limitations measured from grade, and the corner visibility rule uses the same word, protecting the space between three and ten feet from grade, and the answer turns on whether the structure is a fence or a retaining wall.
- Corner lots
- On a corner lot in every district except CB and CB1, nothing may be erected, placed, planted or allowed to grow so as to block vision between three feet and ten feet from grade inside the triangle drawn by two intersecting lines twenty five feet long along each cartway edge or curbline, joined by a third line. The figure is 25 feet, for length of each leg of the sight triangle along the cartway edge or curbline.
- Retaining walls
- A retaining wall four feet tall or less needs no permit in Pennsylvania, so long as it carries no surcharge, which means no extra load pressing on the dirt behind it. The figure is 4 feet, for height at or below which a retaining wall needs no permit, measured from the lowest level of grade to the top of the wall. It reaches residential buildings only.
- Materials
- Three material rules sit in the same sentence as the height table, and the answer turns on the material and whether the fence stands in a front yard.
- Livestock
- A fence made in whole or in part of wire, with or without barbs, counts as a legal fence under every Pennsylvania act about building and keeping up a fence on the line.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Lancaster?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Lancaster answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Lancaster opens the fence section by overriding the rest of the chapter: notwithstanding other provisions, fences, walls and hedges may be permitted in any required yard or permitted building area, subject to the height table. That sentence answers the boundary question by removing it, because a required yard is exactly the strip a setback would otherwise keep clear, so a fence may stand on the lot line at whichever height the table gives for that position. No distance from a neighbor appears anywhere in the section. The conditions attached are about sight rather than distance: no conflict with the visibility rule at intersections, and no obstruction of visibility at a driveway opening inside the triangle formed by the driveway and the property line and a line joining points five feet from where they meet. A parking lot may need a larger triangle under a separate section.
Notwithstanding other provisions of this chapter, fences, walls, and hedges may be permitted in any required yard or permitted building area, subject to the following maximum height restrictions
0 ftsetback stated between a fence and a property line
Also on fences on the property line in Lancaster
- no rule, documents checkedNo rule about a fence on the line appears in the published Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code. The two chapters that were read set permit rules and adopt model codes, and neither one says who pays for a fence on a boundary. The Pennsylvania line fence rule is not part of the consolidated statutes. It sits in an act of 1905, which makes the owners of improved and occupied land each build and keep up an equal part of the fence on the line between them. 34 Pa. Code 403.62Pennsylvania · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Lancaster?
Compare fence height across all 50 states
Lancaster answers this, but the answer changes depending on the property type, the yard, the district and whether it is a fence, wall or hedge.
Lancaster prints a grid rather than a sentence, splitting the answer by property type, by whether the barrier is a fence, a wall or a hedge, by position on the lot, and by district group. For residential property the numbers are steady: four feet for a fence or wall in the minimum front yard, six in a secondary front yard, six in the side and rear yards, six in the permitted building area, and the same figures for a hedge except that a hedge in a front yard is also four. Industrial and utility property may reach eight feet in a side or rear yard in a nonresidential district. Above the table, a special exception may add up to two feet to a fence or a hedge, and anything beyond that, or any wall over the maximum at all, needs a variance. A retaining wall necessary for structural engineering reasons is not subject to the height limits.
Special exception approval is required to increase the height of a fence or hedge up to two feet above maximum. A wall over maximum height and a fence or hedge over this special exception maximum height shall require a variance.
The answer turns on the property type, the yard, the district and whether it is a fence, wall or hedge.
- a residential minimum front yard
- Four feet. 4 ft
- a side or rear yard
- Six feet. 6 ft
- industrial side or rear in a nonresidential district
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- a special exception
- Two feet more, for a fence or hedge only. 2 ft
Also on fence height in Lancaster
- no rule, documents checkedPennsylvania sets no statewide limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. The six foot figure in the Uniform Construction Code is the point where a permit starts being needed, not a ceiling, so a taller fence is allowed with a permit unless local zoning says otherwise. The code adoption section names no height at all. Municipal zoning sets the limit. 34 Pa. Code 403.62Pennsylvania · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Lancaster?
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Lancaster answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the construction code requires a permit for the work.
No building or other structure may be erected, moved, added to or structurally altered without a permit for it, if one is required, and the chapter leaves that question to the Uniform Construction Code as the City has adopted and amended it. What the zoning chapter insists on is that no building permit issue except in conformity with the chapter, including any Zoning Hearing Board decision. Alongside it sits a certificate of zoning compliance, which is unlawful to do without for any structure created, erected, changed, converted, altered or enlarged, except minor alterations that change neither floor area nor use. The certificate goes null and void if no building permit has been issued, where one is needed, or no other activity occurs within nine months of the Zoning Officer approving it, and submitting plans to the City for further approvals counts as activity.
No building or other structure shall be erected, moved, added to or structurally altered without a permit therefor, if required.
The answer turns on whether the construction code requires a permit for the work.
- any structure
- A permit if the construction code wants one.
- any building permit
- It has to match the zoning chapter.
- a zoning compliance certificate
- Required before the use.
- nothing done for nine months
- The certificate is void. 9 months
Also on permits in Lancaster
- set in state lawA fence six feet tall or less needs no building permit anywhere in Pennsylvania. The state writes that exemption into its own regulation instead of leaving it inside the model code, and it holds as long as the work breaks no other law or ordinance. The same list exempts a retaining wall under four feet with no extra load pressing on the dirt behind it, and a factory built pool less than 24 inches deep. 34 Pa. Code 403.62(c)(1)Pennsylvania · Building code
Pool fence requirements in Lancaster
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Pennsylvania answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Pennsylvania prints no pool barrier height of its own. The Uniform Construction Code takes in a list of model codes by reference, and one of them is the International Swimming Pool and Spa Code of 2021, which holds the barrier height and the gate rules for a pool at a house. The same section takes in the International Residential Code of 2021. So the number sits in that model code rather than in the Pennsylvania regulation.
This one is Pennsylvania law, not Lancaster law. All Pennsylvania findings
International Swimming Pool and Spa Code of 2021
Spite fence laws in Lancaster
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Lancaster law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Pennsylvania has no spite fence law. The Uniform Construction Code chapters that reach a fence treat it as construction work and draw a permit line by height, with nothing about why the fence was built. A Pennsylvania claim over a fence put up to annoy a neighbor runs on a nuisance case in court and on local zoning.
This one is Pennsylvania law, not Lancaster law. All Pennsylvania findings
Documents read before writing that:
- 34 Pa. Code 403.62Pennsylvania Code and Bulletin
- 34 Pa. Code 403.21Pennsylvania Code and Bulletin
How fence height is measured in Lancaster
Compare how height is measured across all 50 states
Lancaster answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the structure is a fence or a retaining wall.
The height table carries its datum in its own heading, which reads height limitations measured from grade, and the corner visibility rule uses the same word, protecting the space between three and ten feet from grade. Grade is not further defined in the fence section, so the ordinance does not say whether it is the owner’s side or the neighbor’s where two yards sit at different levels, nor whether an owner may raise it with fill. What the section does settle is the case that usually causes the most trouble: a retaining wall necessary for structural engineering reasons is not subject to the height limits at all, which takes the wall out of the calculation rather than adding it in the way Philadelphia and Reading do. A berm is not addressed and a fence standing on top of a retaining wall is not addressed either.
Retaining walls that are necessary for structural engineering reasons are not subject to height limitations.
The answer turns on whether the structure is a fence or a retaining wall.
- a fence or hedge
- Measured from grade.
- a structural retaining wall
- No height limit at all.
- a fence on top of one
- Not addressed.
- a corner
- Three to ten feet from grade.
Also on how height is measured in Lancaster
- left to the townPennsylvania has no state fence height and no state rule for how one is measured. Every local zoning power in the state comes from the Municipalities Planning Code, and section 603 lets a local ordinance control the size, height, bulk and location of structures. A fence is a structure rather than a building, so that clause reaches it. The borough, township or city ordinance is the only document that says what six feet is counted from. MPC Section 603(b)(2), 53 P.S. 10603(b)(2)Pennsylvania · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Lancaster
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Lancaster answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
On a corner lot in every district except CB and CB1, nothing may be erected, placed, planted or allowed to grow so as to block vision between three feet and ten feet from grade inside the triangle drawn by two intersecting lines twenty five feet long along each cartway edge or curbline, joined by a third line. The code takes care of a detail most do not: bulbouts, the curb extensions a city builds to shorten a crossing, are excluded from the measurement, so a traffic calming project does not quietly move the triangle. Where a building already stands inside the twenty five foot area, nothing that obstructs vision may go in the smaller triangle created by the existing walls and porches, which is a sensible answer in a city of rowhouses built to the sidewalk. A driveway gets its own small triangle, five feet along the driveway and five along the property line.
nothing shall be erected, placed, planted, or allowed to grow in such a manner as to block vision between a height of three feet and 10 feet from grade within the triangular area established by the placement of two intersecting lines 25 feet in length along each cartway edge or curbline, excluding bulbouts, which are then connected by a third line forming the triangle.
25 ftlength of each leg of the sight triangle along the cartway edge or curbline
Also on corner visibility in Lancaster
- set in state lawPennsylvania uses the words corner sight distance, and they sit in the traffic rules rather than in a zoning ordinance. Section 212.6 lets the Department order a property owner to cut back or take out a tree, plant, shrub or other thing that is a traffic hazard on a state highway, and lets a local authority do the same on any highway inside its own lines. The section gives one example of a hazard, something that drops the corner sight distance below the minimum for a driver pulling out of a side road or a driveway. It draws no triangle and leaves the minimum to the standards. 67 Pa. Code 212.6Pennsylvania · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in Lancaster
Compare retaining walls across all 50 states
Pennsylvania answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A retaining wall four feet tall or less needs no permit in Pennsylvania, so long as it carries no surcharge, which means no extra load pressing on the dirt behind it. Pennsylvania prints that exemption in its own regulation rather than leaving it inside the model code, and it counts the four feet from the lowest level of grade to the top of the wall. The model code counts from the bottom of the footing instead, so a wall with a deep footing gets more room here. The exemption only holds if the work breaks no other law or ordinance.
This one is Pennsylvania law, not Lancaster law. All Pennsylvania findings
Retaining walls that are not over 4 feet in height measured from the lowest level of grade to the top of the wall unless the wall supports a surcharge.
4 ftheight at or below which a retaining wall needs no permit, measured from the lowest level of grade to the top of the wall
Fence materials allowed in Lancaster
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Lancaster answers this, but the answer changes depending on the material and whether the fence stands in a front yard.
Three material rules sit in the same sentence as the height table. A fence or wall may not be built from scrap metal, sheet metal, junk or sheets of plywood. It has to be uniform in construction materials and design, so a run patched together from different fencing is out even where each piece would be acceptable alone. And the finished side has to face the adjoining property or the public right-of-way, which puts the posts and rails on the owner’s side. A fourth rule is attached to the residential front yard row of the table rather than to the general text: a fence on a residential lot in a minimum front yard has to be mostly open in construction, and the code names a split rail, a picket and a chain link fence as examples, as opposed to a mostly solid fence. Barbed wire, razor wire and electric fencing are not mentioned anywhere in the section.
fences and walls shall not be constructed from scrap metal, sheet metal, junk or sheets of plywood and shall be uniform in construction materials and design.
The answer turns on the material and whether the fence stands in a front yard.
- scrap, sheet metal or plywood
- Not allowed.
- a patched together run
- It has to be uniform.
- the finished side
- It faces the neighbor or the street.
- a residential front yard
- Mostly open, not mostly solid.
Also on materials in Lancaster
- set in state lawA wire fence is lawful in Pennsylvania, with or without barbs, and an act of 1899 says so in two short sections. The first makes it lawful for any land owner in the state to build and keep a wire fence along any highway, then hands the limits to each town by making that right subject to whatever the local authorities restrict or ban. The second makes a wire fence a lawful fence on the line under every other fence act in the state, so long as it reaches the height those acts call for. 1899 Act 111, Section 1Pennsylvania · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Lancaster
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Pennsylvania answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A fence made in whole or in part of wire, with or without barbs, counts as a legal fence under every Pennsylvania act about building and keeping up a fence on the line. The act sets no wire count, no post spacing and no height of its own. It sends the height back to whatever the line fence act calls for.
This one is Pennsylvania law, not Lancaster law. All Pennsylvania findings
A fence, in whole or in part of wire, with or without barbs, is hereby declared to be a legal and lawful fence, within the meaning and provisions of any act of the Legislature of this State relative to the building, constructing and maintaining of line fences, provided that such wire fence shall be of the height required by such act or acts.
1899 Act 111, Section 2 (29 P.S. 32)
Also on agricultural fencing in Lancaster
- left to the townPennsylvania never prints a fence specification. The line fence act makes the owners of improved and occupied land each build and keep up an equal part of the fence on the line between them. When one of them says the other's half is not good enough, a person decides it rather than a table of numbers. The county surveyor acts as fence viewer, looks at the fence, and reports whether it is good enough. If it is, the one who complained pays the surveyor. If it is not, the matter goes to a justice of the peace, who gives the other owner forty days to build or repair. 1905 Act 118, Section 1 (29 P.S. 41)Pennsylvania · Statute
Documents behind this page
9 documents, of which 2 were published by Lancaster itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Pennsylvania Code and Bulletin34 Pa. Code Chapter 403, Administration, Permit requirements and exemptions
- Pennsylvania Code and Bulletin34 Pa. Code Chapter 403, Administration, Uniform Construction Code
- City of LancasterLancaster Code, Chapter 300, Zoning, Article VII, Supplementary District Regulations
- City of LancasterLancaster Code, Chapter 300, Zoning, Article X, Administration
- Pennsylvania General AssemblyPennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act of July 31, 1968, P.L.805, No.247
- Commonwealth of PennsylvaniaPennsylvania Code, Title 67, Transportation, Chapter 212, Official Traffic Control Devices
- Pennsylvania General AssemblyMaking Wire Fences Legal, Act of May 2, 1899, P.L. 163, No. 111
- Pennsylvania General AssemblyAct No. 111 of 1899, Making Wire Fences Legal, enacted May 2, 1899, Section 2 as amended April 7, 1976, P.L.807, No.31
- Pennsylvania General AssemblyAct No. 118 of 1905, Regulating Line Fences, enacted April 14, 1905
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 Lancaster publishes, plus the Pennsylvania rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Pennsylvania 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