Fence laws in Bellingham, Washington
What the Bellingham municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Bellingham sets no rule of its own, the Washington rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Bellingham, Washington, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Bellingham says which line it means. The figure is 20 feet, for leg of the vision triangle along each property line.
- How tall
- Bellingham states every fence height in inches and applies the whole list to fences, walls and hedges together, and the answer turns on which yard the fence stands in, and whether it stands in a required yard at all. The figure is 54 inches, for front yard fence on an interior lot.
- Permits
- Exceeding the Bellingham height limits is an administrative exception, and the hardest part of it is not a city test but a neighbor one, and the answer turns on whether every abutting owner agrees in writing. The figure is 50 feet, for radius of buildings the plans have to show.
- Pool barriers
- Washington sends pools at homes to the International Swimming Pool and Spa Code, 2021 edition, through its residential building code.
- Spite fences
- A Washington court can stop a structure built out of spite.
- Measured from what
- Washington gives one plain starting point, in its livestock fence law, and nowhere else. The figure is 48 inches, for top wire of a lawful fence, measured above the ground. It reaches a lawful fence for animal damage claims only.
- Corner lots
- The Bellingham vision triangle is drawn by measuring twenty feet along both the front and side fee title property lines and connecting the ends diagonally, so the legs come off the deeded boundary rather than off the curb or the pavement edge, and the answer turns on whether the object is a sign and how high it starts. The figure is 36 inches, for tallest object allowed in the vision triangle.
- Retaining walls
- Bellingham leaves retaining walls to the 2021 International Residential Code, published by the International Code Council, whose Sections R105.2 and R404 Washington leaves unamended. It reaches one and two family homes only.
- Materials
- Washington writes a lawful fence as a barbed wire fence and prints the build. The figure is 4 strands, for a lawful fence.
- Livestock
- Washington prints the fence in the statute. The figure is 48 inches, for height above the ground of the top wire of a lawful fence.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Bellingham?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Bellingham answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Bellingham says which line it means. The vision triangle legs are measured along the front and side fee title property lines, meaning the lines on the deed rather than the curb, the sidewalk or the edge of the pavement, and on a street where the right of way runs well behind the curb those two places are a long way apart. The city then puts the upkeep on the owner rather than on itself, making the property owner adjacent to the vision triangle responsible for maintaining the visibility inside it, so an overgrown hedge is the owner problem to fix. Nothing in the fence section sets a setback from a boundary, so a Bellingham fence may stand on the line, and the only thing the code asks of the neighbor is a signature when the fence goes above the stated height.
The vision triangle shall be the area defined within boundaries determined by measuring 20 feet along both the front and side fee title property lines and diagonally connecting the ends of the two lines.
20 ftleg of the vision triangle along each property line
Also on fences on the property line in Bellingham
- set in state lawWashington splits a fence on the property line in half. Where neighbors share one fence around their land and one of them needs a dividing fence, the other builds half of it once notice is given. The fence goes on the property line, or as close to it as can be managed. RCW 16.60.030Washington · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Bellingham?
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Bellingham answers this, but the answer changes depending on which yard the fence stands in, and whether it stands in a required yard at all.
Bellingham states every fence height in inches and applies the whole list to fences, walls and hedges together. A front yard on an interior lot takes fifty four inches, a front yard on a corner lot forty two, a side yard on a flanking street forty two, an interior side or rear yard seventy two, and the vision clearance triangle thirty six. The sentence that does the most work is the next one. All of those numbers apply only when the fence is inside a required yard, and a fence on private property that is not inside a required yard is held instead to the height limit of the zone, which in a Bellingham residential zone is a building height measured in the tens of feet. So the practical question in Bellingham is not how tall the fence is but whether it stands in a setback.
Fences, walls and hedges when located on private property but not located within a required yard shall not exceed the height limitation of the zone.
The answer turns on which yard the fence stands in, and whether it stands in a required yard at all.
- a front yard on an interior lot
- Fifty four inches. 54 in
- a front yard on a corner lot, or a side yard on a flanking street
- Forty two inches. 42 in
- an interior side or rear yard
- Seventy two inches. 72 in
- outside any required yard
- The height limit of the zone.
Also on fence height in Bellingham
- no rule, documents checkedWashington sets no limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. The state fence chapter says what counts as a lawful fence for livestock and how the cost of a shared fence is split, and it caps nothing at a house. The state residential code takes up the model code and adds no fence height. Cities and counties set it. RCW 16.60Washington · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Bellingham?
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Bellingham answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether every abutting owner agrees in writing.
Exceeding the Bellingham height limits is an administrative exception, and the hardest part of it is not a city test but a neighbor one. The submittal is three things: plans showing where the fence goes and every building within fifty feet of it, an illustrative drawing giving the construction material and the proposed height, and the written consent of all abutting property owners. That last requirement turns any one neighbor into a veto, which is rarer than the usual scheme of notifying neighbors and letting them object at a hearing. Once those are in, the planning and public works directors or their delegates have to make two findings: that the fence will not be detrimental to the neighborhood in terms of view, light and air, and that it would not be injurious to traffic safety.
The written consent of all abutting property owners.
The answer turns on whether every abutting owner agrees in writing.
- a fence within the stated limits
- No exception needed.
- a taller fence with every abutting owner signing
- Two directors weigh view, light, air and traffic safety. 50 ft
- one abutting owner refusing
- The submittal is incomplete.
Also on permits in Bellingham
- set in state lawWashington has no fence permit rule of its own. It uses the 2021 International Residential Code as the code for one and two family homes across the state, and it did not change that code's list of work that needs no permit, so the model list applies as written. That list is model code text and is printed on no Washington state site, so no fence height is quoted here. WAC 51-51-003Washington · Building code
Pool fence requirements in Bellingham
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Washington answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Washington sends pools at homes to the International Swimming Pool and Spa Code, 2021 edition, through its residential building code. The rule reaches a pool used only by the people who live at a single family house and their invited guests. Washington states no fence height of its own, so the numbers sit in that private code.
This one is Washington law, not Bellingham law. All Washington findings
The design and construction of swimming pools, spas, and other aquatic recreation facilities shall comply with the 2021 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code, if the facility is one of the following:
Spite fence laws in Bellingham
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Washington answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A Washington court can stop a structure built out of spite. A judge may order the owner or renter of land not to put up a structure meant to spite, injure or annoy a neighbor, and where one already stands, the court may order it taken down. The law turns on why it went up and not on how tall it is.
This one is Washington law, not Bellingham law. All Washington findings
An injunction may be granted to restrain the malicious erection, by any owner or lessee of land, of any structure intended to spite, injure or annoy an adjoining proprietor.
How fence height is measured in Bellingham
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Washington answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Washington gives one plain starting point, in its livestock fence law, and nowhere else. RCW 16.60.010 says a lawful fence has at least four barbed wires with the top wire 48 inches above the ground, give or take four inches, and the rest spaced 12, 22 and 32 inches below it. Above the ground is the answer, and it is the only answer the state gives. For a fence on a city lot, RCW 35.63.080 lets a council set rules for the height, number of stories, size, building and design of buildings and other structures, so the city ordinance gives both the limit and the point it starts from.
This one is Washington law, not Bellingham law. All Washington findings
A lawful fence shall be of at least four barbed, horizontal, well-stretched wires, spaced so that the top wire is forty-eight inches, plus or minus four inches, above the ground and the other wires at intervals below the top wire of twelve, twenty-two, and thirty-two inches.
48 intop wire of a lawful fence, measured above the ground
Fence rules for corner lots in Bellingham
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Bellingham answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the object is a sign and how high it starts.
The Bellingham vision triangle is drawn by measuring twenty feet along both the front and side fee title property lines and connecting the ends diagonally, so the legs come off the deeded boundary rather than off the curb or the pavement edge. Inside it nothing over thirty six inches is allowed, and the list reaches further than fences: no building, structure, vehicle, object, sign or vegetative growth. One exception exists, and it is the opposite of a height limit. The public works department may allow a single sign in the triangle provided the lowest part of it is at least nine feet above the ground and the department does not consider the support a traffic hazard, which lets a sign span the triangle overhead. The rule applies to corner lots outside commercial and industrial areas that require a front and flanking street side yard, and to commercial corner lots at an intersection with no stop light.
No building, structure, vehicle, object, sign or vegetative growth over 36 inches in height shall be permitted within this triangle;
The answer turns on whether the object is a sign and how high it starts.
- anything in the triangle
- Thirty six inches. 36 in
- a single sign approved by public works
- Allowed if it starts nine feet up. 9 ft
- a special circumstance such as extra right of way
- The public works director may waive the requirement.
Also on corner visibility in Bellingham
- set in state lawWashington puts its clear view duty at the railroad tracks. RCW 36.86.100 tells the county to clear brush and trees out of the county road right of way for 100 feet on each side of a railroad crossing, so a driver can see a train coming, and puts the same duty on the railroad for its own land. It also bans a sign within 100 feet of that crossing outside city limits, unless the county finds the sign does not cut the view. Nothing in it draws a triangle at an ordinary street corner. RCW 36.86.100Washington · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in Bellingham
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Bellingham does not set this. It leaves it to the 2021 International Residential Code, published by the International Code Council, whose Sections R105.2 and R404 Washington leaves unamended.
Washington has no rule of its own for a wall that holds back earth. It uses the 2021 International Residential Code for one and two family homes, and lists every section it changed as its own numbered rule. That list was read in full. Nothing changes Section R105, the list of work that needs no permit, so the model code pass for such a wall stands as written. The slot for Section R404, which covers foundations and walls that hold back earth, is marked reserved, so Washington added nothing there either. The number that answers the question is model code text, which the International Code Council sells and which no Washington state site prints.
This one is Washington law, not Bellingham law. All Washington findings
The 2021 edition of the International Residential Code as published by the International Code Council is hereby adopted by reference
The code hands this to the 2021 International Residential Code, published by the International Code Council, whose Sections R105.2 and R404 Washington leaves unamended, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence materials allowed in Bellingham
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Washington answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Washington writes a lawful fence as a barbed wire fence and prints the build. It takes at least four barbed, level, well stretched wires, with the top one about 48 inches off the ground and the others 12, 22 and 32 inches below it, tied to solid posts set no more than 24 feet apart. Posts more than 16 feet apart need stays every eight feet. The very next section says any other fence as strong and as well made counts too, so barbed wire is the standard to match and not the only material allowed.
This one is Washington law, not Bellingham law. All Washington findings
A lawful fence shall be of at least four barbed, horizontal, well-stretched wires, spaced so that the top wire is forty-eight inches, plus or minus four inches, above the ground and the other wires at intervals below the top wire of twelve, twenty-two, and thirty-two inches.
4 strandsa lawful fence
Livestock and boundary fence law in Bellingham
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Washington answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Washington prints the fence in the statute. A lawful fence carries at least four barbed wires, level and pulled tight. The top wire sits 48 inches off the ground, give or take four inches, and the others hang 12, 22 and 32 inches below it. Posts go in firmly and evenly, no more than 24 feet apart. Posts more than 16 feet apart need stays no more than eight feet from each other or from a post. Any other fence built just as strong counts too.
This one is Washington law, not Bellingham law. All Washington findings
A lawful fence shall be of at least four barbed, horizontal, well-stretched wires, spaced so that the top wire is forty-eight inches, plus or minus four inches, above the ground and the other wires at intervals below the top wire of twelve, twenty-two, and thirty-two inches.
48 inheight above the ground of the top wire of a lawful fence
Also on agricultural fencing in Bellingham
- set in state lawIn Washington the damages claim hangs on the fence. A person who built a lawful fence around their land and kept it in repair can sue the owner of an animal that broke through it, collect the full damage and the costs of the suit, and hold the animal until it is paid. Proving the fence was lawful when the animal broke through is enough. The fence has to be there first, so the landowner who wants the animals out is the one who builds. RCW 16.60.015Washington · Statute
Documents behind this page
8 documents, of which 2 were published by Bellingham itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Washington State LegislatureRevised Code of Washington, Chapter 16.60, Section 16.60.030, Partition fence, Erection, Notice
- City of BellinghamBellingham Municipal Code, Title 20, Chapter 20.12, Section 20.12.060, Vision clearance triangle
- Washington State LegislatureRevised Code of Washington, Chapter 16.60, Fences, full chapter
- Washington State Building Code CouncilWashington Administrative Code, WAC 51-51-003, International Residential Code
- City of BellinghamBellingham Municipal Code, Title 20, Chapter 20.12, Section 20.12.050, Fences
- Washington State Building Code CouncilWashington Administrative Code, WAC 51-51-0327, Section R327, Swimming pools, spas and hot tubs
- Washington State LegislatureRevised Code of Washington, Chapter 7.40, Section 7.40.030, Malicious erection of structure may be enjoined
- Washington State LegislatureRevised Code of Washington, Title 36, Chapter 36.86, County Roads and Bridges
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 Bellingham publishes, plus the Washington rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Washington 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