Fence laws in Sammamish, Washington
What the Sammamish municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Sammamish sets no rule of its own, the Washington rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Sammamish, Washington, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- The eight foot allowance in Sammamish only exists along a side or rear yard line shared with a property under separate ownership, and the answer turns on who owns the land on the other side of the line. The figure is 26 feet, for straight line length required at an alley access.
- How tall
- Sammamish allows six feet in the rear and side yard setbacks and four in the front, and then adds a rare middle step, and the answer turns on the yard, the length of the tall segment, and which frontage gives access. The figure is 6 feet, for fence in a rear or side yard setback.
- Permits
- Getting above six feet in Sammamish is a paperwork exercise rather than a hearing, and the answer turns on whether the adjoining owner signs and the agreement is recorded. The figure is 8 feet, for highest a fence may reach under any agreement.
- 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
- Sammamish draws a small triangle and protects a tall band inside it, and the answer turns on whether it is a street intersection or a driveway. The figure is 15 feet, for each leg of the sight distance triangle.
- Retaining walls
- Sammamish gives an owner a way to stop a wall eating the fence, and it costs two feet of yard, and the answer turns on how far the fence stands from the wall and whether the agreement is in place. The figure is 10 feet, for combined wall and fence height in a setback.
- Materials
- The Sammamish barbed wire rule is written around need rather than around zone boundaries, and the answer turns on the zone and whether the use is residential. The figure is 50 feet, for spacing of electric fence warning signs.
- 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 Sammamish?
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Sammamish answers this, but the answer changes depending on who owns the land on the other side of the line.
The eight foot allowance in Sammamish only exists along a side or rear yard line shared with a property under separate ownership. That single phrase rules out a street frontage, a line facing a tract the same owner holds and a boundary with open space, because the extra height is justified by the neighbor consenting to it and where there is no separate neighbor there is nobody to consent. Two other boundary rules sit in the dimensions section. A structure may be built right up to a property line that abuts an alley, except that a garage, carport or fenced parking area has to be set back far enough to leave at least twenty six feet of straight line from the access point to the far edge of the alley. And a structure has to keep five feet from a property or easement line marking a regional utility corridor unless the utility agrees otherwise.
Structures may be built to a property line abutting an alley, except as provided in subsection 2. of this section.
21.04.030.R and Q, with 21.06.020.E.1
The answer turns on who owns the land on the other side of the line.
- a line shared with a separately owned property
- The eight foot allowance is available.
- a line abutting an alley
- Build to it, but leave twenty six feet in front of a garage. 26 ft
- a regional utility corridor boundary
- Five feet clear. 5 ft
Also on fences on the property line in Sammamish
- 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 Sammamish?
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Sammamish answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard, the length of the tall segment, and which frontage gives access.
Sammamish allows six feet in the rear and side yard setbacks and four in the front, and then adds a rare middle step. A stretch of fence may reach eight feet so long as the segment above six is no longer than thirty two linear feet, which is enough to screen a patio or a window and not enough to wall the yard. A corner or oddly shaped lot with more than one front yard gets relief in the other direction: a fence of six feet or less may stand in the front setback along the frontage that does not give access to the property, provided it sits outside the vision clearance triangle. Every front yard fence has to stay consistent with the sight distance requirements in the dimensions section, so the four foot figure is a ceiling and not a guarantee.
Fences with a height of six feet or less may be located in the rear and side yard setbacks except that fences up to eight feet in height and not exceeding 32 linear feet in length for the segment exceeding six feet along any side or rear yard line may be located in the rear and side yard setbacks.
The answer turns on the yard, the length of the tall segment, and which frontage gives access.
- a rear or side yard setback
- Six feet. 6 ft
- a segment no longer than thirty two feet
- Eight feet, with the neighbor agreement. 32 ft
- a front yard setback
- Four feet. 4 ft
- the second frontage of a corner lot
- Six feet, outside the vision triangle.
Also on fence height in Sammamish
- 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 Sammamish?
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Sammamish answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the adjoining owner signs and the agreement is recorded.
Getting above six feet in Sammamish is a paperwork exercise rather than a hearing. The owner has to reach an agreement with the adjoining owner that includes an approved site plan and a maintenance agreement, both consenting to a fence of up to eight feet, and that agreement has to be executed and recorded with King County Records before the building permit is issued. It has to reference the parcel number and legal description of every affected property and follow a format the director specifies. Requests are considered when bundled and submitted with a Type I construction permit application, so the fence rides along with an ordinary permit rather than needing its own process. Two limits sit on top of it: nothing may exceed eight feet whatever the neighbors agree, and the added height may not put the property in breach of an easement or of the adopted construction codes.
Fences exceeding six feet within the rear or side yard setback shall only be allowed when located along a side or rear yard line shared with a property under separate ownership and when an agreement with the adjoining property owner(s) has been reached resulting in an executed agreement including an approved site plan and maintenance agreement consenting to a fence of up to eight feet recorded with King County Records prior to building permit issuance.
The answer turns on whether the adjoining owner signs and the agreement is recorded.
- a fence of six feet or less
- No agreement needed.
- a fence above six feet
- A recorded agreement with the adjoining owner, before the permit. 8 ft
- an easement or construction code in the way
- The added height is not available.
Also on permits in Sammamish
- 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 Sammamish
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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 Sammamish 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 Sammamish
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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 Sammamish 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 Sammamish
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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 Sammamish 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 Sammamish
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Sammamish answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether it is a street intersection or a driveway.
Sammamish draws a small triangle and protects a tall band inside it. At a street intersection the legs are fifteen feet measured along both street property lines from the point where they meet, with the third side joining the ends. At a site access point the legs are fifteen feet along the street lines and fifteen along the edges of the driveway. Inside either, the space between forty two inches and eight feet above the existing street grade has to contain no fence, berm, vegetation, on-site vehicle parking area, sign or other physical obstruction, with utility poles and traffic control signs the only things excepted. Because the floor of the band is forty two inches rather than thirty, a low fence at a Sammamish corner is untouched, and because the ceiling is eight feet the rule reaches higher than a driver eye line into the canopy of a shrub or a small tree.
A sight distance triangle area as determined by paragraph 2. below shall contain no fence, berm, vegetation, on-site vehicle parking area, signs or other physical obstruction between 42 inches and 8 feet above the existing street grade.
The answer turns on whether it is a street intersection or a driveway.
- a street intersection
- Fifteen feet along both street property lines. 15 ft
- a site access point
- Fifteen feet along the street and along the driveway edges.
- anything below forty two inches
- Outside the protected band. 42 in
Also on corner visibility in Sammamish
- 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 Sammamish
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Sammamish answers this, but the answer changes depending on how far the fence stands from the wall and whether the agreement is in place.
Sammamish gives an owner a way to stop a wall eating the fence, and it costs two feet of yard. In the R-1 through R-18 zones a fence on a rockery, retaining wall or berm inside a required setback is capped two ways at once: ten feet for the whole thing read from the top of the fence to the ground on the low side, and six feet for the fence alone read from the top of the wall. Both rise by two feet where the neighbor agreement is in place. But if the fence is set back at least two feet from the back of the wall, with that setback maintained, the wall and the fence are measured independently and neither figure applies to the pair. Above eight feet of combined height the fence has to be open work rather than solid, unless the agreement raises the solid allowance to ten. Outside a required setback a fence on a wall is simply held to the building height for the zone.
For a rockery, retaining wall, or berm and fence combinations to be measured independently, the fence must be placed such that there shall be a minimum of two feet of maintained setback from the back of the rockery, retaining wall, or berm.
The answer turns on how far the fence stands from the wall and whether the agreement is in place.
- a fence on the wall itself
- Ten feet for the pair, six for the fence. 10 ft
- a fence two feet back from the wall
- Each measured on its own. 2 ft
- anything above eight feet combined
- Open work, not solid. 8 ft
Also on retaining walls in Sammamish
- 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 Sammamish
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Sammamish answers this, but the answer changes depending on the zone and whether the use is residential.
The Sammamish barbed wire rule is written around need rather than around zone boundaries. No barbed or razor wire fence may stand in any R-4 through R-18 zone except as specifically required for the necessary security related to a nonresidential use, so a school, a substation or a utility yard sitting inside a housing zone can have it and a house cannot. Electric fences run the other way and are permitted in every zone, with the qualification that in R-4 through R-18 additional fencing or another barrier has to be built to prevent inadvertent contact from the abutting property. Where one is installed in those zones it carries permanent signs of at least thirty six square inches at fifty foot intervals, and a unit sold complete and assembled may be owner installed if its controlling elements are certified by an A.N.S.I. approved testing agency. The charge itself is limited by circuit type, at two thousand volts and seventeen milliamps for an interrupted current fence and fifteen hundred volts and seven milliamps for a continuous one.
Except as specifically required for the necessary security related to a nonresidential use, no barbed or razor-wire fence shall be located in any R-4 through R-18 zone.
The answer turns on the zone and whether the use is residential.
- barbed or razor wire on a house lot
- Not allowed.
- a nonresidential use that needs it for security
- Allowed in the housing zones.
- an electric fence in R-4 through R-18
- A second barrier, and signs every fifty feet. 50 ft
Also on materials in Sammamish
- 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 Sammamish
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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 Sammamish 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 Sammamish
- 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 Sammamish 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 SammamishSammamish Development Code, Section 21.04.030, District Standards, Density and Dimensions
- 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 SammamishSammamish Development Code, Section 21.06.020, Design Standards, Landscaping and Irrigation, subsection E, 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 Sammamish 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