Fence laws in Pasco, Washington
What the Pasco municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Pasco sets no rule of its own, the Washington rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Pasco, Washington, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Pasco settles the old argument about which way a fence faces, and it does it by function rather than by naming a good side, and the answer turns on whether the posts are structural or part of the design.
- How tall
- Pasco starts every fence, wall and hedge at three and a half feet, which is low, and then sells the next eighteen inches on condition, and the answer turns on the yard, and how transparent the top of the fence is. The figure is 42 inches, for solid fence, wall or hedge.
- Permits
- Pasco attaches two emergency response conditions to the front yard fence that goes above three and a half feet, and they are the price of the extra height rather than a separate permit, and the answer turns on whether the front fence exceeds three and a half feet and whether its gate locks.
- 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
- Pasco uses two different datums depending on which way the fence faces, and the answer turns on whether the fence faces a street or a neighbor.
- Corner lots
- The Pasco corner rule offers a choice rather than a ceiling, and the answer turns on whether the fence is solid or seventy five percent transparent. The figure is 20 feet, for leg of the corner area at two streets.
- Retaining walls
- Pasco 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
- Pasco writes its materials rule as a list of things people actually try, and the answer turns on the district, the material, and whether the land is used for animals. The figure is 2 inches, for distance from the top rail a strand may sit.
- 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 Pasco?
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Pasco answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the posts are structural or part of the design.
Pasco settles the old argument about which way a fence faces, and it does it by function rather than by naming a good side. In every front yard, whether the lot has single, double or triple frontage, rails, posts and other structural fence supports may not be visible from a public street. The exception is written to allow honest design, letting posts and rails show where they are an integral part of the fence design and aesthetics rather than there solely to hold it up. On a double or triple frontage lot that means more than one side of the fence has to be the finished side. Commercial and industrial fencing is placed by a different rule with the same instinct, going on the inward side of any required perimeter landscaping so the planting, not the fence, is what the street frontage shows.
In all front yards, whether on properties with single, double, or triple frontage, rails, posts and other structural fence supports shall not be visible from a public street;
The answer turns on whether the posts are structural or part of the design.
- a front yard fence on any frontage
- The structure faces in.
- posts that are part of the design
- May be visible from the street.
- commercial or industrial land
- The fence goes behind the required landscaping.
Also on fences on the property line in Pasco
- 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 Pasco?
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Pasco answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard, and how transparent the top of the fence is.
Pasco starts every fence, wall and hedge at three and a half feet, which is low, and then sells the next eighteen inches on condition. In the front yard of a residential, retail business or office zoned lot the fence may reach five feet provided the added foot and a half is eighty five percent transparent material, so the top of a tall Pasco front fence is mostly open. The side, rear and secondary front yards of those same lots take six feet with no transparency condition. One further requirement follows the six foot yard fence: a gate or opening at least three feet wide has to lead into at least one side yard, which keeps a way in for a person on foot rather than leaving a sealed back yard.
The height of fences, walls and hedges shall be limited to three and one-half feet. An additional one and one-half feet comprised of 85 percent transparent material is permitted for a maximum of five feet within the front yard area of residentially zoned lots, retail business and office zoned lots.
The answer turns on the yard, and how transparent the top of the fence is.
- a solid fence anywhere the rule applies
- Three and a half feet. 42 in
- a front yard fence with a transparent top
- Five feet, the top foot and a half eighty five percent open. 85%
- a side, rear or secondary front yard
- Six feet, with a three foot opening into a side yard. 6 ft
Also on fence height in Pasco
- 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 Pasco?
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Pasco answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the front fence exceeds three and a half feet and whether its gate locks.
Pasco attaches two emergency response conditions to the front yard fence that goes above three and a half feet, and they are the price of the extra height rather than a separate permit. The fence has to carry address numbers conforming to the International Building Code, because a fence in front of the house can hide the number on the house. And if its gates are locked it has to be equipped with a Knox box, the key box a fire department opens with its own master key, so a locked front gate does not stop a crew reaching the building. Every fence in the city is separately required to conform to the most recent version of the Pasco Design and Construction Standards on sight distance triangles, which puts part of the corner rule in an engineering document the zoning code does not contain.
Fences greater than three and one-half feet in front yards must be equipped with Knox boxes if gates are locked.
25.180.050(1)(c)(i), (c)(ii) and (e)
The answer turns on whether the front fence exceeds three and a half feet and whether its gate locks.
- a front fence over three and a half feet
- Address numbers to the building code.
- that fence with locking gates
- A Knox box as well.
- any fence in the city
- Built to the current design and construction standards for sight triangles.
Also on permits in Pasco
- 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 Pasco
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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 Pasco 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 Pasco
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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 Pasco 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 Pasco
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Pasco answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence faces a street or a neighbor.
Pasco uses two different datums depending on which way the fence faces. A fence, wall or hedge standing between a structure and a street or alley is measured from the street curb or the alley grade, so the public side of the property is read from the public surface rather than from the yard, except where topographical irregularities occur. A fence between a structure and a common lot line is measured from the grade along that line, or from the top of any structural retaining wall that happens to be at the line. That second clause is the one that decides a terraced lot, because it puts the wall under the fence rather than beside it, and a six foot yard fence on top of a three foot wall is nine feet from the street and still six by the code.
The height of fences, walls and hedges located between a structure and street or alley shall be measured from the street curb or alley grade except in those cases where topographical irregularities occur.
The answer turns on whether the fence faces a street or a neighbor.
- a fence facing a street or alley
- Measured from the curb or the alley grade.
- a fence on a common lot line
- Measured from the grade at the line, or the top of a retaining wall there.
- a site with topographical irregularities
- The curb rule does not apply.
Also on how height is measured in Pasco
- set in state lawWashington 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. RCW 16.60.010Washington · Statute
Fence rules for corner lots in Pasco
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Pasco answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence is solid or seventy five percent transparent.
The Pasco corner rule offers a choice rather than a ceiling. Nothing solid over three feet above curb grade may stand within twenty feet of the intersection of two streets measured along the property lines, or fifteen feet at a street and an alley. But an alternative material, named as masonry, wrought iron, wood or a combination, may go to six feet provided the fence is seventy five percent transparent. A third option splits the difference, allowing a smaller seventy five percent transparent fence set on a wall of no more than three feet so long as the two together stay under six, and requiring that the fence be unobstructed by foliage or other matter at all times. A separate rule in the setbacks section covers the C-3 and I-1 districts, where nothing over thirty six inches above curb grade may stand in a vision triangle with equal twenty foot legs.
No fence, wall or hedge, landscape material or foliage higher than three feet above curb grade shall be located or planted within an area 20 feet along the property lines from the intersection of two streets, including the area between such points, or 15 feet from the intersection of a street and an alley;
25.180.050(1)(k), with PMC 25.175.020(7)
The answer turns on whether the fence is solid or seventy five percent transparent.
- a solid fence at a street corner
- Three feet above curb grade, within twenty feet of the corner. 20 ft
- a seventy five percent transparent fence
- Six feet, if it stays clear of foliage. 75%
- a transparent fence on a low wall
- Wall up to three feet, six feet combined.
- a vision triangle in the C-3 or I-1 district
- Thirty six inches above curb grade. 36 in
Also on corner visibility in Pasco
- 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 Pasco
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Pasco 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 Pasco 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 Pasco
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Pasco answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district, the material, and whether the land is used for animals.
Pasco writes its materials rule as a list of things people actually try. A fence may not be built out of tires, pallets, bed springs, multi-colored materials, tarps, plastic sheets, corrugated sheet metal except in an industrial district, wheel rims or anything similar not traditionally manufactured for fencing. Farm wire gets its own sentence, with hog wire, chicken wire, horseman wire mesh, v-mesh, field fence, woven field fence and welded utility fence all barred from residential and commercial zones, though horseman wire mesh and the rest may be used in suburban residential districts on tracts over an acre used for animal husbandry. Barbed and razor wire are prohibited in every residential district, the office district and the central business district, with the same animal husbandry exception, and the C-1 retail district allows exactly one strand along the top rail or within two inches of it. Electrified fences are barred from residential districts except behind an existing fence as a secondary means of securing property, or in suburban districts to contain farm animals.
Fences shall not be constructed out of tires, pallets, bed springs, multi-colored materials, tarps, plastic sheets, corrugated sheet metal, except in industrial districts, wheel rims and similar or like materials not traditionally manufactured or used for fencing purposes.
The answer turns on the district, the material, and whether the land is used for animals.
- salvage materials anywhere
- Prohibited, with sheet metal allowed only in industrial districts.
- farm wire on a residential or commercial lot
- Prohibited unless the tract is over an acre and keeps animals.
- barbed wire in the C-1 retail district
- One strand, on or within two inches of the top rail. 2 in
- residential fencing along the I-182 right of way
- Masonry block, or the cedar the city specifies.
Also on materials in Pasco
- set in state lawWashington 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. RCW 16.60.010Washington · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Pasco
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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 Pasco 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 Pasco
- 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
7 documents, of which 1 was published by Pasco 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 PascoPasco Municipal Code, Title 25, Chapter 25.180, Section 25.180.050, Design standards
- 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
- 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 Pasco 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