Fence laws in Redmond, Washington
What the Redmond municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Redmond sets no rule of its own, the Washington rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Redmond, Washington, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Washington splits a fence on the property line in half.
- How tall
- Redmond splits the city in two, and the answer turns on the zone, the yard, and whether another law demands the extra height. The figure is 4 feet, for wall or fence in a front yard.
- Permits
- Redmond gives prohibited locations a section of its own, and it is a short list of land where the answer is no regardless of height, material or design: critical areas, critical area buffers, native growth protection areas, designated greenbelts and designated open space.
- 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
- Redmond reads a fence from the existing grade at its base up to the top edge of the slats or other fence material, and then adds three words that settle a common inspection argument: exclusive of fence posts.
- Corner lots
- Redmond writes its sight triangle as a table of nine intersection types rather than one figure, and the answer turns on the type of intersection and the speed of the street. The figure is 100 feet, for long leg of the triangle at an arterial.
- Retaining walls
- Redmond does not give a wall and fence combination its own ceiling, and the answer turns on whether the fence sits on the wall or near it. The figure is 5 feet, for distance at which a wall and fence are added together.
- Materials
- Electric fences are confined to the UR and RA-5 zones, with a further use in the zones from NR through NMF when they go with the keeping of large domestic animals, and the answer turns on the zone, the material, and what the fence faces. The figure is 2 feet, for setback of an electric fence from a property line.
- 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 Redmond?
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Washington answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Washington 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.
This one is Washington law, not Redmond law. All Washington findings
When two or more persons own land adjoining which is inclosed [enclosed] by one fence, and it becomes necessary for the protection of the interest of one party said partition fence should be made between them, the other or others, when notified thereof, shall erect or cause to be erected one-half of such partition fence, said fence to be erected on, or as near as practicable, the line of said land.
How tall can a fence be in Redmond?
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Redmond answers this, but the answer changes depending on the zone, the yard, and whether another law demands the extra height.
Redmond splits the city in two. In the residential zones and the three centers a wall or fence in any front yard is four feet or less and everything else on the lot is six, and those two figures are published in a site plan drawing rather than in a sentence, in the cell of the height table where other cities put words. In all other zones the limit is eight feet anywhere on the lot, subject to the landscaping chapter. Two footnotes sit under the table and both let a fence go higher without a variance. Where a federal or state requirement demands more height for safety and security the maximum may be exceeded, on documentation from the applicant approved by the Administrator. And where the building code requires something such as a guard rail on top of a retaining wall or rockery, the extra height is allowed but may not exceed the minimum the building code requires.
Walls and fences located in any front yard must be 4 feet or less otherwise 6 feet
Table 21.24.030.A and its legend
The answer turns on the zone, the yard, and whether another law demands the extra height.
- any front yard in a residential zone or a center
- Four feet. 4 ft
- elsewhere on a residential lot
- Six feet. 6 ft
- all other zones
- Eight feet anywhere on the lot. 8 ft
- a federal or state safety requirement
- Higher, with documentation the Administrator approves.
Also on fence height in Redmond
- 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 Redmond?
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Redmond answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Redmond gives prohibited locations a section of its own, and it is a short list of land where the answer is no regardless of height, material or design: critical areas, critical area buffers, native growth protection areas, designated greenbelts and designated open space. There is one exception and it runs the other way, covering fences the critical areas chapter itself requires, which are usually the temporary barriers put up to keep construction out of a buffer. So in Redmond the question at the edge of a wetland, a steep slope or a protected stand of trees is not how tall the fence may be but whether a fence may exist, and the ordinary height table never gets reached. The 2026 ordinance rewrote this section, and the underlying prohibition has been in force since April 2011.
Fences are prohibited in critical areas, critical area buffers, native growth protection areas, designated greenbelts, and designated open space, except as required by RZC 21.64.010.R.2.
Also on permits in Redmond
- 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 Redmond
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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 Redmond 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 Redmond
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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 Redmond 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 Redmond
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Redmond answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Redmond reads a fence from the existing grade at its base up to the top edge of the slats or other fence material, and then adds three words that settle a common inspection argument: exclusive of fence posts. A post standing proud of the boards, a cap on it or a decorative finial does not count, so the number is about the screen rather than about the tallest thing in the line. The datum is the existing grade on the site, meaning the ground as it already is rather than a grade created for the project. The same section applies the table to raised ground in two ways. A fence on top of a wall or rockery may not exceed the table figure, and a fence and a rockery or retaining wall standing within five feet of each other are added together and held to the same figure.
Fence height shall be measured as the vertical distance between the existing grade on the site at the base of the fence and the top edge of the slats or other fence material (exclusive of fence posts).
Also on how height is measured in Redmond
- 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 Redmond
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Redmond answers this, but the answer changes depending on the type of intersection and the speed of the street.
Redmond writes its sight triangle as a table of nine intersection types rather than one figure. The two legs are projections of the pavement edge or curb face, measured as if the street were fully built to city standards, and the third line joins their ends. An intersection involving arterials at thirty miles an hour or more takes twenty feet by a hundred. A local access street takes twenty by sixty five, and so do most driveways. An uncontrolled or yield situation on a public local access street takes seventy by seventy, which is the only entry where both legs are long. Downtown, Overlake and Marymoor Village get a pedestrian sight distance triangle instead for the driveway direction, described as two ten foot lines drawn along the back of the sidewalk and the edge of a garage access. Inside any of them, a view is protected between two feet and eight feet above existing street grade, applied in both directions along the intersecting streets.
The obstruction of a motor vehicle operator’s view at an intersection shall be prohibited within the “Sight Distance Triangle” described in this section and in RZC Appendix 2, Construction Specification and Design Standards for Streets and Access, between a height of two feet and eight feet above existing street grade.
The answer turns on the type of intersection and the speed of the street.
- an intersection involving an arterial
- Twenty feet by a hundred. 100 ft
- a local access street or most driveways
- Twenty feet by sixty five. 65 ft
- an uncontrolled or yield local access street
- Seventy feet by seventy. 70 ft
- a garage access in a center
- A ten by ten pedestrian triangle may replace it.
Also on corner visibility in Redmond
- 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 Redmond
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Redmond answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence sits on the wall or near it.
Redmond does not give a wall and fence combination its own ceiling. It sends both back to the ordinary fence table, which is stricter than it sounds. A fence on top of a wall or rockery may not exceed the table figure at all, so on a residential lot the wall and the fence together have six feet to share and a four foot wall leaves two feet of fence. A fence standing near a wall rather than on it is caught by distance: within five feet of each other the two are added and the same table figure applies. The relief is the building code footnote, which allows the extra height a required guard rail needs and no more. Chapter 21.25 governs retaining walls on their own, and its section on terraced retaining walls was added by the 2026 ordinance and currently reads Reserved, so there is no terracing standard to read yet.
A fence and a rockery or retaining wall within five feet of each other, the combined height of the fence and rockery or retaining wall shall not exceed fence heights in Table 21.24.030.A.
The answer turns on whether the fence sits on the wall or near it.
- a fence on top of a wall
- The pair may not exceed the ordinary fence height.
- a fence within five feet of a wall
- Added together and held to the same figure. 5 ft
- a guard rail the building code requires
- Extra height, limited to the minimum required.
Also on retaining walls in Redmond
- left to the townWashington 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. WAC 51-51-003Washington · Building code
Fence materials allowed in Redmond
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Redmond answers this, but the answer changes depending on the zone, the material, and what the fence faces.
Electric fences are confined to the UR and RA-5 zones, with a further use in the zones from NR through NMF when they go with the keeping of large domestic animals. Where allowed, permanent signs stating the fence is electrified go up every fifty feet, the equipment has to be listed or labeled by a qualified testing agency and installed to the manufacturer specifications, and outside the UR zone the fence stands at least two feet back from any property line facing a public right of way or a housing zone, with a second and more substantial fence on the line whose mesh is small enough to prevent a child reaching through. Barbed and razor wire live in the same two zones and are barred from any property line next to other residential and commercial zones, parks, open space, trails and gardens. Commercial storage, utility and public uses may put barbed wire on top of a six foot fence, extending no more than eighteen inches. Both are prohibited where they front a shoreline public access area, and every outdoor swimming pool in every zone needs a fence of at least five feet.
Except in the UR zone, all electric fences must be set back at least two feet from property lines adjacent to public rights-of-way and NR through NMF zones, and a second and more substantial fence with a mesh size small enough to prevent a child from reaching through, shall be located along the property line.
The answer turns on the zone, the material, and what the fence faces.
- an electric fence near a street or housing
- Two feet back, behind a child proof second fence. 2 ft
- barbed wire on a commercial, utility or public use
- Eighteen inches above a six foot fence. 18 in
- an outdoor swimming pool in any zone
- A fence of at least five feet. 5 ft
- fronting a shoreline public access area
- No electric, barbed or razor wire fence.
Also on materials in Redmond
- 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 Redmond
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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 Redmond 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 Redmond
- 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
10 documents, of which 4 were published by Redmond 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
- 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 RedmondRedmond Zoning Code, Chapter 21.24, Fences, Section 21.24.030, Height
- City of RedmondRedmond Zoning Code, Chapter 21.24, Fences, Section 21.24.040, Prohibited Locations
- 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
- City of RedmondRedmond Zoning Code, Section 21.52.040, Sight Clearance at Intersections
- City of RedmondRedmond Zoning Code, Chapter 21.24, Fences, Section 21.24.050, Electric, Barbed Wire, and Swimming Pool 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 Redmond 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