Fence laws in Spokane Valley, Washington
What the Spokane Valley municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Spokane Valley sets no rule of its own, the Washington rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Spokane Valley, Washington, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- A lot with street on two sides gets to decide which of them is really the back.
- How tall
- Spokane Valley sets its front yard figure by what a person can see through rather than by what the fence is made of, and the answer turns on the zone, the yard, and whether the fence blocks the view. The figure is 36 inches, for solid fence in a residential front yard.
- Permits
- Washington has no fence permit rule of its own.
- 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
- The whole Spokane Valley measuring rule is eleven words.
- Corner lots
- The Spokane Valley clearview triangle protects two overlapping bands rather than one, and the answer turns on the kind of intersection and the speed limit on the through street. The figure is 7 feet, for top of the protected band above the street.
- Retaining walls
- Spokane Valley 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
- Spokane Valley writes the electric fence rule against a named engineering standard, which almost no city does, and the answer turns on the zone and what the fence is for. The figure is 10 feet, for electric fence around outdoor storage.
- 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 Spokane Valley?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Spokane Valley answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A lot with street on two sides gets to decide which of them is really the back. Spokane Valley lets a double street frontage lot put a fence on the property line along the frontage that is not used as the main point of access, and calls that side the apparent rear yard, so the eight foot allowance follows where the house actually faces instead of where the plat says the front is. Two other sentences in the same section keep a fence inside its own boundary from the other direction. Barbed wire may not project outside the property line or into the public right of way, which stops an owner from buying extra security out of the neighbor air, and fences together with all sight obstructions including vegetation have to sit outside the clearview triangle and may not block the view of fire protection equipment.
Lots with double street frontage may have a fence on the property line not used as the main point of access (the apparent rear yard).
Also on fences on the property line in Spokane Valley
- 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 Spokane Valley?
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Spokane Valley answers this, but the answer changes depending on the zone, the yard, and whether the fence blocks the view.
Spokane Valley sets its front yard figure by what a person can see through rather than by what the fence is made of. A sight obstructing fence in a residential front yard stops at thirty six inches. One that is not sight obstructing, with chain link given as the example, gets forty eight. Behind the minimum required front yard setback line the number jumps to eight feet on a flanking, side or rear yard, which is a foot or two more than most cities allow. A nonresidential zone also takes eight feet, and going higher there needs a conditional use permit rather than a variance, except for the electric fences the same section separately allows to reach ten.
In residential zoning districts, the height of a fence within the front yard shall be:1. Thirty-six inches or less for sight-obstructing fences; or2. Forty-eight inches or less for non-sight-obstructing fences, such as chain link fences.
The answer turns on the zone, the yard, and whether the fence blocks the view.
- a sight obstructing fence in a front yard
- Thirty six inches. 36 in
- a see through fence in a front yard
- Forty eight inches. 48 in
- behind the front yard setback line
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- a nonresidential zone above eight feet
- A conditional use permit.
Also on fence height in Spokane Valley
- 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 Spokane Valley?
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Washington answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Washington 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.
This one is Washington law, not Spokane Valley law. All Washington findings
The 2021 edition of the International Residential Code as published by the International Code Council is hereby adopted by reference
Pool fence requirements in Spokane Valley
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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 Spokane Valley 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 Spokane Valley
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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 Spokane Valley 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 Spokane Valley
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Spokane Valley answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
The whole Spokane Valley measuring rule is eleven words. Height is taken from the base of the fence, and the code says nothing else about it. There is no instruction for a sloping boundary, no choice between the high side and the low side, no allowance for averaging along a grade and no rule about a berm or a retaining wall underneath, all of which other cities spend paragraphs on. What it does settle is the common argument, because the base of the fence is the ground the fence actually stands on rather than a finished grade someone might raise later. The clearview triangle is measured from a different datum entirely, being read from the street surface and from the sidewalk, so the two rules in this chapter do not share a starting point.
The height of a fence shall be measured from the base of the fence.
Also on how height is measured in Spokane Valley
- 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 Spokane Valley
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Spokane Valley answers this, but the answer changes depending on the kind of intersection and the speed limit on the through street.
The Spokane Valley clearview triangle protects two overlapping bands rather than one. Measured from the street the space between three and a half feet and seven feet has to stay clear, and measured from the sidewalk it is three feet to six and a half, so the rule keeps a line of sight for a driver and a slightly lower one for somebody on foot. The size of the triangle is not a single number either. For a commercial approach, an alley approach or a stop sign controlled intersection it comes off a table keyed to the through street speed limit, giving two hundred and eighty feet of required sight distance at twenty five miles an hour, three hundred and thirty five at thirty and three hundred and ninety at thirty five, with the near point set fifteen feet in. A signal, a yield or an all way stop is sent to the AASHTO Green Book instead. Trees are exempt if they are not planted as a hedge and are trimmed to seven feet, and so is ground that naturally rises into the triangle.
Within the clearview triangle, the space between three and one-half feet and seven feet above the street, or three feet and six and one-half feet above the sidewalk, shall be unobstructed from vegetation, structures, signs, and other view obstructions
The answer turns on the kind of intersection and the speed limit on the through street.
- measured from the street
- Clear between three and a half feet and seven. 7 ft
- measured from the sidewalk
- Clear between three feet and six and a half. 3 ft
- a stop sign controlled intersection at twenty five miles an hour
- Two hundred and eighty feet of sight distance. 280 ft
- a signal, yield or all way stop
- The AASHTO Green Book decides.
Also on corner visibility in Spokane Valley
- 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 Spokane Valley
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Spokane Valley 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 Spokane Valley 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 Spokane Valley
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Spokane Valley answers this, but the answer changes depending on the zone and what the fence is for.
Spokane Valley writes the electric fence rule against a named engineering standard, which almost no city does. An electric fence may only enclose outdoor storage in a nonresidential zone or confine animals in a residential one, and nothing else. It stops at ten feet for storage and eight for animals, carries warning signs of at least twenty four square inches every sixty feet, has to be surrounded by a non-electrical fence within twelve inches of it, runs off a commercial storage battery of no more than twelve volts direct current, and may not produce a charge on contact beyond the energizer characteristics in paragraph 22.108 and Figure 102 of International Electrotechnical Commission Standard 60335-2-76. Barbed wire is limited to the upper quarter of a nonresidential fence, is barred from the stretch facing a residential zone, and may be used in a residential zone only to confine animals on a parcel that qualifies for animal keeping.
Electric fences shall only be allowed to enclose outdoor storage areas in nonresidential zoning districts or to confine animals in residential zoning districts. Electric fences shall not be allowed for any other purpose.
The answer turns on the zone and what the fence is for.
- an electric fence around outdoor storage
- Ten feet, with signs every sixty feet. 10 ft
- an electric fence confining animals
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- barbed wire in a nonresidential zone
- The upper quarter of the fence only, and never facing housing.
Also on materials in Spokane Valley
- 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 Spokane Valley
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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 Spokane Valley 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 Spokane Valley
- 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 Spokane Valley 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 Spokane ValleySpokane Valley Municipal Code, Title 22, Chapter 22.70, Fencing, Landscaping and Screening
- 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 Spokane Valley 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