Fence laws in Clarksville, Tennessee
What the Clarksville municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Clarksville sets no rule of its own, the Tennessee rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Clarksville, Tennessee, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Clarksville lists the things allowed to project into a required yard or beyond a building setback line, and fences, walls and hedges are the third item, subject to the fence rules themselves, and the answer turns on whether the structure is a fence or a building. The figure is 3 feet, for projection allowed for an awning.
- How tall
- Clarksville states one fence height and attaches a condition to it, and the answer turns on whether the fence materially impedes vision across the yard. The figure is 42 inches, for fence that impedes vision in a front yard.
- Permits
- The Clarksville zoning ordinance names no fence permit, and the answer turns on whether a variance from the sight triangle is sought.
- Pool barriers
- Clarksville sets no statewide pool barrier rule. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Spite fences
- Clarksville has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Clarksville never says what a fence height is measured from. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Corner lots
- On a corner lot in Clarksville the triangle is drawn between the center lines of the two intersecting streets and a line joining points a stated distance from where they cross, and that distance is a hundred feet in every residential district and eighty feet in every other district apart from the Central Business District, and the answer turns on the district and the height of the obstruction. The figure is 100 feet, for corner triangle leg in a residential district.
- Retaining walls
- Clarksville leaves retaining walls to the 2018 International Residential Code, published by the International Code Council, and its Sections R105.2 and R404. It reaches one and two family homes only.
- Materials
- Clarksville regulates barbed wire from the bottom rather than the top, and the answer turns on the property type and what the fence screens. The figure is 5 feet, for height the lowest barbed strand has to start at.
- Livestock
- Tennessee counts more than wood and wire as a farm fence.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Clarksville?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Clarksville answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the structure is a fence or a building.
Clarksville lists the things allowed to project into a required yard or beyond a building setback line, and fences, walls and hedges are the third item, subject to the fence rules themselves. So no separate setback applies to a fence and it may run to the boundary. The company it keeps is instructive: awnings may project three feet, bay windows and chimneys four, porches and steps six, and an open fire escape six, while fences get no distance limit at all. Accessory buildings are handled in the opposite way and may not be located in any required yard. The section also states that no yard or open space required for one building may be occupied by or counted as open space for another, which is the rule that stops a shared fence being used to satisfy two lots. Nothing in the ordinance says which side the finished face points toward or divides the cost of a fence on a shared line.
Fences, walls, hedges, subject to the regulations as set forth herein.
The answer turns on whether the structure is a fence or a building.
- a fence
- May project into any required yard.
- an awning
- Three feet. 3 ft
- an accessory building
- Not in a required yard at all.
- orientation and cost
- Neither is addressed.
Also on fences on the property line in Clarksville
- set in state lawIn Tennessee a neighbor can get out of paying for a shared fence when one side is a farm and the other is not. The owner of the side that is not farmland can say in writing that the fence is not theirs to build or keep up. The notice goes by registered mail with a return receipt, or any other way that gives written proof it arrived, and it counts from the day the farm owner gets it. Once it is delivered, the farm owner cannot be sued over the fence being missing or in bad shape. Public Chapter 266 of 1999, Section 2, adding a section to T.C.A. Title 44, Chapter 8, Part 2Tennessee · Statute
- set in state lawThat way out lasts only while the land stays out of farming. The law counts land as non-farm when it is not farmland, has a house on it, and keeps no livestock. The day the land stops fitting that description, the notice stops working. If the farm owner built a fence while it was working, the other owner then pays a fair share of what the fence cost. A fight over the amount goes to the process in section 44-8-204. Public Chapter 266 of 1999, Section 2, subsection (d)Tennessee · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Clarksville?
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Clarksville answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence materially impedes vision across the yard.
Clarksville states one fence height and attaches a condition to it. In any required front yard, apart from the corner rule, no fence, wall, hedge or yard ornament is permitted which materially impedes vision across that yard above three and a half feet. The words materially impedes vision do the work: a solid privacy fence across the front is caught, and a split rail, picket or wrought iron fence that lets a driver see through it is not, whatever its height. Outside a required front yard the zoning ordinance sets no fence height at all, so a back yard fence has no stated maximum. Two other heights appear where a fence is required rather than permitted: a solid waste or salvage operation permitted on review has to be enclosed by a chain link fence at least eight feet high, and certain conditional uses have to screen storage behind a wall or fence of at least six feet.
In any required front yard, except as provided in paragraph (A) above, no fence, wall, hedge, or yard ornament shall be permitted which materially impedes vision across such yard above the height of three and one-half (3½) feet.
The answer turns on whether the fence materially impedes vision across the yard.
- a solid fence in a front yard
- Three and a half feet. 42 in
- a fence that can be seen through
- The limit does not bite.
- a side or rear yard
- No stated height at all.
- a salvage operation
- Eight feet of chain link required. 8 ft
Also on fence height in Clarksville
- no rule, documents checkedTennessee sets no limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. The state residential code has no fence rule in it, and the state fence law in Title 44 is about livestock and fences on a property line rather than height. Cities and counties set the limit, and some places have opted out of the state code entirely. Code Adoption HistoryTennessee · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Clarksville?
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Clarksville answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether a variance from the sight triangle is sought.
The Clarksville zoning ordinance names no fence permit. The approval it does describe is a variance from the sight triangle standards, and the route is unusually specific: the Director of Planning or a designee, with the concurrence of the Director of Streets or a designee, may recommend a variance to the Regional Planning Commission, which has the authority to grant it on application by the owner. A variance for landscaping has to take into account roadway conditions as they relate to traffic control devices, alignments, geometrics or other unique circumstances supported by generally accepted engineering practice or on-site studies. Separately, no landscape plan may be approved if the planting proposed where a public street meets a vehicular use area would create an unsafe obstruction in the opinion of the Director of Planning, so the plan review rather than a fence permit is where a fence beside a driveway gets looked at.
the Director of Planning or his designee with concurrence from the Director of Streets or his designee may recommend variances of this section to the Regional Planning Commission, which shall have the authority to grant variances upon application by the owner
The answer turns on whether a variance from the sight triangle is sought.
- an ordinary fence
- No fence permit named.
- a sight triangle variance
- Two directors recommend, the Commission decides.
- a landscape plan
- Refused if it would create an unsafe obstruction.
- a salvage or storage use
- The fence is a condition of the use approval.
Also on permits in Clarksville
- set in state lawTennessee has no fence permit rule of its own. It uses the 2018 International Residential Code, with state changes, as the code for one and two family homes across the state, and the Fire Marshal lists that code as taking effect on July 16, 2020. The state changes leave alone the list of work that needs no permit, so that list is model code text and not Tennessee text. Counties and cities can opt out of the state code altogether. Code Adoption History, residential codesTennessee · Agency guidance
Pool fence requirements in Clarksville
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Clarksville law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Tennessee sets no statewide fence rule for a pool at a house. The state took up the 2018 International Residential Code along with Appendix Q and nothing else. In that edition the pool fence rules sit in Appendix G, which Tennessee left out, so no state height reaches a pool at a home. Cities and counties can still set one.
This one is Tennessee law, not Clarksville law. All Tennessee findings
Documents read before writing that:
- Code Adoption HistoryTennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, State Fire Marshal's Office
- Codes EnforcementTennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, State Fire Marshal's Office
Spite fence laws in Clarksville
Compare spite fences across all 50 states
Clarksville law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Tennessee has no spite fence law. The state fence law in Title 44, Chapter 8 covers fencing that holds livestock and fences on a property line. It names no height and says nothing about a fence built to bother a neighbor. A fence like that is a nuisance case in court, not a matter of state law.
This one is Tennessee law, not Clarksville law. All Tennessee findings
Documents read before writing that:
- T.C.A. Title 44, Chapter 8Tennessee General Assembly
- Code Adoption HistoryTennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, State Fire Marshal's Office
How fence height is measured in Clarksville
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Clarksville law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Tennessee never says where a fence height is measured from. The state adopts its building and fire codes in one rule of the Division of Fire Prevention, and that rule does name starting points, for buildings. It takes the height of a roof from the lowest fire truck road surface next to the building up to the eave or parapet, and it counts stories from the grade plane, which is the average ground level around the building. Both rules are about buildings. The word fence is nowhere in the chapter, so the state names no starting point for a fence. The city or county ordinance decides.
This one is Tennessee law, not Clarksville law. All Tennessee findings
Documents read before writing that:
- Rule 0780-02-02-.01Tennessee Secretary of State
Also on how height is measured in Clarksville
- no rule, documents checkedThe corner rule fixes its reference point carefully, measuring the protected band from the average elevation of the existing surfaces of each street at their center lines, and the landscape standards measure from the crown of the pavement on the adjacent roadway. The front yard fence rule does neither. It states three and a half feet and never says what the three and a half feet is measured from, so on a lot that sits above or below the street the answer is unsettled. Nothing addresses a berm, a fence on top of a retaining wall, or ground raised before the posts go in, and no allowance is given for a post cap. The gap matters less than it would elsewhere because the ordinance sets no height at all outside the front yard, but on a sloping front yard the question of where the measurement starts is the whole question. 4.1(3)Clarksville · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Clarksville
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Clarksville answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district and the height of the obstruction.
On a corner lot in Clarksville the triangle is drawn between the center lines of the two intersecting streets and a line joining points a stated distance from where they cross, and that distance is a hundred feet in every residential district and eighty feet in every other district apart from the Central Business District. Those are by far the longest legs in this set, and measuring from the center lines rather than the right-of-way or the curb pushes the triangle further out again. Inside it nothing that materially impedes vision may stand higher than three and a half feet, except a retaining wall, and nothing may obstruct vision between three and a half feet and ten feet above the average elevation of the street surfaces at their center lines, so the protected band has a ceiling as well as a floor. A separate set of sight triangle standards in the landscape chapter governs required planting and sets minimum sight distances by posted speed.
On a corner lot, within the area formed by the center line of intersection or intercepting streets, and a line joining points on the center lines at a distance from their intersection as provided below, there shall be no fence, wall, structure and/or vegetation, which materially impedes vision, higher than three and one-half (3½) feet, except in case of a retaining wall
The answer turns on the district and the height of the obstruction.
- a residential district
- A hundred feet along each center line. 100 ft
- any other district
- Eighty feet. 80 ft
- the protected band
- Three and a half to ten feet. 10 ft
- a retaining wall
- Excepted.
Also on corner visibility in Clarksville
- set in state lawTennessee has one rule about seeing down the road, and it covers a new driveway onto a state highway. The Department of Transportation rule at 1680-10-01 takes up the driveway manual, and section 5.2 of that manual says a driveway goes where a driver can see far enough in both directions. Where the view is short, the turns the driveway allows get cut back. The manual prints a triangle showing it. The same rule says plainly that it sits on top of county and city land rules, and that is where a corner triangle for a fence comes from. Tenn. Comp. R. and Regs. 1680-10-01-.03, Manual section 5.2Tennessee · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in Clarksville
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Clarksville does not set this. It leaves it to the 2018 International Residential Code, published by the International Code Council, and its Sections R105.2 and R404.
Tennessee has no rule of its own for a wall that holds back earth. It uses the 2018 International Residential Code, with state changes, as the code for one and two family homes, and it names no height at which such a wall needs a permit. So the rule that applies is the model code text, which the International Code Council sells and which no Tennessee state site prints. Counties and cities can opt out of the state code, which is what makes the answer local in some places.
This one is Tennessee law, not Clarksville law. All Tennessee findings
International Residential Code (IRC), 2018 edition, published by the ICC, with amendments;
Currently Adopted Codes, residential code
The code hands this to the 2018 International Residential Code, published by the International Code Council, and its Sections R105.2 and R404, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence materials allowed in Clarksville
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Clarksville answers this, but the answer changes depending on the property type and what the fence screens.
Clarksville regulates barbed wire from the bottom rather than the top. It is unlawful for a commercial property owner or their agent to erect, maintain or permit barbed wire fencing of any type less than five feet above grade level, so the wire itself has to begin at five feet and the rule says nothing about how tall the fence may be. Writing it about the lowest strand rather than the fence height is unusual, and it reaches a strand added to an existing fence as readily as a new one. The rules that name a material do so where a fence is required for screening. A dumpster or other trash receptacle serving anything other than a single family or two family home has to sit on a concrete pad inside an opaque fence or wall of at least six feet, built of wood, masonry or other permanent material, with an opaque gate unless the opening faces away from streets and homes. A junkyard has to be enclosed by close-fitting plank or metal solid fences touching the ground and at least six feet high.
It shall be unlawful for any commercial property owner or his/her agent to erect, maintain, or permit barbed wire fencing of any type less than five (5) feet above grade level.
The answer turns on the property type and what the fence screens.
- barbed wire on commercial land
- Nothing below five feet. 5 ft
- a dumpster enclosure
- Opaque, six feet, wood or masonry. 6 ft
- a junkyard
- Solid plank or metal, touching the ground.
- an ordinary house fence
- No material named.
Also on materials in Clarksville
- set in state lawTennessee keeps a list of fences that count as good enough to hold farm animals, and the legislature has only made that list longer. An act of 1999 added two things to it. One is a fence made of man made materials sold for fencing, put up the usual way. The other is any system or device built on technology that is accepted for holding farm animals, which is where an electric fence fits. The same act lets the commissioner of agriculture add detail by rule, and says the law still works where no such rule exists. Tenn. Code Ann. 44-8-102(b)Tennessee · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Clarksville
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Tennessee answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Tennessee counts more than wood and wire as a farm fence. A fence made of man made materials sold for fencing counts, as long as it is put up the usual way and holds farm animals. So does any system or device built on technology that is accepted for holding farm animals, which is where an electric or wireless fence fits. An act of 1999 added both. The commissioner of agriculture can write rules adding detail, and the law still works where no such rule exists.
This one is Tennessee law, not Clarksville law. All Tennessee findings
In addition to subsection (a), sufficient fencing shall include: (1) fence constructed from synthetic materials commonly sold for fencing, if such materials are installed pursuant to generally acceptable standards, to confine or restrict the movement of farm animals
T.C.A. § 44-8-102(b), as added by Public Chapter 266 of 1999
Documents behind this page
9 documents, of which 4 were published by Clarksville itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Tennessee General AssemblyPublic Chapter No. 266, Senate Bill No. 658 (1999), an act to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 44, Chapter 8, relative to fencing and grazing
- City of ClarksvilleClarksville Zoning Ordinance, Chapter 4, District Bulk Regulations and Exceptions, Section 4.1, Exceptions for District Bulk Regulations
- Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, State Fire Marshal's OfficeCodes Enforcement, Code Adoption History
- Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, State Fire Marshal's OfficeCodes Enforcement
- City of ClarksvilleClarksville Zoning Ordinance, Chapter 7, Landscape, Buffering and Screening Requirements, Section 7.13, Landscape Restrictions and Sight Triangle Standards
- Tennessee Secretary of StateRules of the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, Division of Fire Prevention, Chapter 0780-02-02, Codes and Standards
- City of ClarksvilleClarksville Zoning Ordinance, Chapter 7, Section 7.14, Special Screening Requirements
- Tennessee Department of TransportationManual for Constructing Driveway Entrances on State Highways, 2015 Edition, adopted by Rule 1680-10-01-.03
- City of ClarksvilleClarksville Code of Ordinances, Title 10, Offenses, Section 10-203, Barbed wire fences
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 Clarksville publishes, plus the Tennessee rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Tennessee 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