Fence laws in Scranton, Pennsylvania
What the Scranton municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Scranton sets no rule of its own, the Pennsylvania rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Scranton, Pennsylvania, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Scranton has no statute splitting the cost of a fence on the boundary. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- How tall
- Scranton measures the panel rather than the fence, which matters because posts get their own allowance, and the answer turns on the district, the yard and whether an alley runs behind. The figure is 4 feet, for fence panel in a front yard in a residential district.
- Permits
- Scranton draws its permit line in money, and the answer turns on what the fence is worth and where it stands.
- Pool barriers
- Pennsylvania prints no pool barrier height of its own.
- Spite fences
- Scranton has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Scranton regulates the two ends of a fence and leaves the middle unanchored, and the answer turns on which part of the fence is being measured. The figure is 4 inches, for gap allowed between the bottom of a fence panel and the ground.
- Corner lots
- Scranton leaves corner clearance to the adopted subdivision and land development regulations of the City of Scranton.
- 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
- Scranton writes both lists and writes them the same way in the residential districts and everywhere else, 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 Scranton?
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Scranton law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
No 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.
This one is Pennsylvania law, not Scranton 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
Also on fences on the property line in Scranton
- no rule, documents checkedSection 445-23 sets heights, materials, a gap under the panel, a limit on the posts, a sight distance duty and a special exception route, and never states a distance between a fence and a property line. The list of permitted encroachments in a required yard in the section on deviations from dimensional requirements runs to twenty three entries, covering light fixtures, walkways, handrails, access drives, roof overhangs, flagpoles, vegetation, decorative lawn ornaments and walls not over thirty two inches, bird feeders, rain barrels under sixty five gallons and transit shelters, and a fence is not among them. So the fence section is the only place a fence is governed and it is silent on the boundary, which leaves the question of how close a fence may come to a neighbor unanswered in the zoning chapter. Section 445-23Scranton · Zoning code
How tall can a fence be in Scranton?
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Scranton answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district, the yard and whether an alley runs behind.
Scranton measures the panel rather than the fence, which matters because posts get their own allowance. In a residential district a fence panel in a front yard stops at four feet and a panel in a side or rear yard at six, except where the yard abuts an alley, where it drops back to four. That alley rule is the unusual part and it reflects a city where alleys carry real traffic behind the houses. Outside the residential districts a panel may be ten feet, falling to six where the lot sits next to a residential district or an alley. Above any of these the route is a special exception from the Zoning Hearing Board, and the applicant has to show that topographical constraints or special needs of the use make a taller fence necessary, and that it will not significantly harm the surrounding lots. The Board may attach landscaping or setback conditions when it grants one.
The maximum height of a fence panel in a side or rear yard shall be six feet, except when abutting alleys, where the maximum height shall be four feet.
The answer turns on the district, the yard and whether an alley runs behind.
- a residential front yard
- Four feet. 4 ft
- a residential side or rear yard
- Six feet. 6 ft
- abutting an alley
- Four feet.
- outside the residential districts
- Ten feet, six next to housing. 10 ft
Also on fence height in Scranton
- 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 Scranton?
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Scranton answers this, but the answer changes depending on what the fence is worth and where it stands.
Scranton draws its permit line in money. A zoning permit is required before the placement, erection, construction, improvement or alteration of a structure, and the chapter names a fence in the sentence, where the fair market value exceeds five hundred dollars. Below that figure no zoning permit is required, although a building permit may still be, and the chapter says so in the heading of the exemption list. The exception runs the other way in two places: in the Floodplain Overlay and the Airport Hazard Overlay a zoning permit is required for all construction or development regardless of cost, so a cheap fence in a flood zone still needs one. The applicant supplies enough information for the City to judge compliance, and the City may require it to be certified by a Pennsylvania licensed professional engineer or registered surveyor where an accurate review needs that.
The placement, erection, construction, improvement, or alteration of a structure, or portion thereof, including a fence, that has a fair market value exceeding $500, except that a zoning permit shall be required prior to all construction or development located in the Floodplain Overlay and the Airport Hazard Overlay, regardless of cost;
The answer turns on what the fence is worth and where it stands.
- a fence worth more than five hundred dollars
- A zoning permit.
- a cheaper fence
- None, though a building permit may apply.
- a floodplain or airport overlay
- A permit whatever it cost.
- a fence over the height limit
- A special exception from the Board.
Also on permits in Scranton
- 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 Scranton
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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 Scranton law. All Pennsylvania findings
International Swimming Pool and Spa Code of 2021
Spite fence laws in Scranton
Compare spite fences across all 50 states
Scranton 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 Scranton 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 Scranton
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Scranton answers this, but the answer changes depending on which part of the fence is being measured.
Scranton regulates the two ends of a fence and leaves the middle unanchored. The bottom of a fence panel may not sit more than four inches above the surface or ground that supports it, which closes the gap a dog or a child would use and stops an owner gaining height by raising the panel on stubs. The posts may not extend more than eight inches above the top of the panels, so a post cap is allowed and a second run of boards between the posts is not. Both rules apply in the residential districts and everywhere else alike. What the section never does is say what the four foot and six foot panel heights are measured from. No grade is named, a berm is not addressed, and a fence standing on a retaining wall is not addressed, although retaining walls needed to support the geotechnical needs of a lot are permitted in their own short subsection.
The bottom of a fence panel shall not extend more than four inches above the surface or ground that supports the fence.
The answer turns on which part of the fence is being measured.
- the gap underneath
- Four inches. 4 in
- the posts
- Eight inches above the panels. 8 in
- the panel height itself
- No datum named.
- a retaining wall
- Permitted where the ground needs it.
Also on how height is measured in Scranton
- 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 Scranton
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Scranton does not set this. It leaves it to the adopted subdivision and land development regulations of the City of Scranton.
The zoning chapter states the duty twice, once for residential districts and once for everywhere else, in identical words: no fence may be put up where it would interfere with the minimum sight distance specifications for street intersections and for intersections of driveways and streets as established in the adopted subdivision and land development regulations of the City of Scranton. The sentence after it adds that all fences comply with vision clearance distances as described herein, but the zoning chapter never gives a triangle, a leg length or a band of protected height, so the dimensions live in the subdivision regulations rather than in the zoning code. The same idea appears in the encroachment rules, where vegetation is permitted in a required yard provided a clear sight triangle is kept at intersections of public rights-of-way and at driveways.
No fence shall be erected at such a location as to interfere with minimum sight distance specifications for street intersections and intersections of driveways and streets as established in the adopted subdivision and land development regulations of the City of Scranton.
The code hands this to the adopted subdivision and land development regulations of the City of Scranton, which is not published in the code itself.
Also on corner visibility in Scranton
- 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 Scranton
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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 Scranton 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 Scranton
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Scranton answers this, but the answer changes depending on the material and whether the fence stands in a front yard.
Scranton writes both lists and writes them the same way in the residential districts and everywhere else. A fence has to be built of wood, chain link, stone, rock, concrete block, masonry brick, brick, decorative wrought iron, or another material similar in durability. Unacceptable materials are cast-off and secondhand items and anything else not originally intended to be fencing, and the code gives nine examples: plywood, particle board, paper, visqueen plastic, plastic tarp and similar materials, razor wire and other dangerous materials, sheet metal, roll metal and corrugated metal. The test is not what the thing is made of so much as whether it was made to be a fence. One design rule applies to residential districts only: a stockade fence is not permitted in a front yard, which leaves chain link and picket as the usual choices out front.
All fences must be constructed of wood, chain link, stone, rock, concrete block, masonry brick, brick, decorative wrought iron, or other material(s) which are similar in durability.
The answer turns on the material and whether the fence stands in a front yard.
- wood, masonry, chain link or iron
- Allowed.
- plywood, tarp or sheet metal
- Unacceptable.
- razor wire
- Named as a dangerous material and barred.
- a stockade fence out front
- Not permitted in a residential front yard.
Also on materials in Scranton
- 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 Scranton
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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 Scranton 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 Scranton
- 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 Scranton 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 ScrantonScranton Code, Chapter 445, Zoning, Article V, Supplementary Regulations, Section 445-23, Fences and walls
- City of ScrantonScranton Code, Chapter 445, Zoning, Article XI, Administration and Enforcement, Section 445-74
- 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 Scranton 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