Fence laws in Spokane, Washington
What the Spokane 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 sets no rule of its own, the Washington rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Spokane, Washington, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Spokane measures its fence setbacks from the street rather than from the property line, and gives two figures, and the answer turns on the type of street and whether there is a sidewalk. The figure is 12 feet, for clearance from the curb of an arterial.
- How tall
- Spokane allows forty two inches in a required front lot line setback and six feet in a required side or rear lot line setback, and the answer turns on which setback the fence stands in and what the lot behind it faces. The figure is 42 inches, for fence in a required front lot line setback.
- Permits
- Spokane requires a building permit from the Development Services Department for every fence, with no height threshold, and names replacement of an existing fence in the same sentence so a like for like swap is permit work.
- Pool barriers
- Spokane requires an approved barrier around any swimming pool, hot tub or other impoundment of water more than eighteen inches deep on private property, built to the adopted International Swimming Pool and Spa Code. The figure is 54 inches, for minimum height of a pool enclosure fence.
- 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
- Spokane draws a lopsided triangle rather than an even one, and the answer turns on the type of streets meeting and the speed limit on the arterial. The figure is 75 feet, for triangle side along an arterial street.
- Retaining walls
- Spokane 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 bans barbed, concertina and razor wire from the R1, R2, RMF and RHD residential zones outright, and allows up to three strands of barbed wire in the RA zone for agricultural, farming or animal uses, and the answer turns on the zone and what the fence contains. The figure is 3 strands, for barbed wire allowed on rural residential land.
- 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?
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Spokane answers this, but the answer changes depending on the type of street and whether there is a sidewalk.
Spokane measures its fence setbacks from the street rather than from the property line, and gives two figures. No fence may come closer than twelve feet to the curb of an arterial street. On a local access street no fence may come closer than the back of the sidewalk, or where there is no sidewalk, closer than seven feet behind the face of the curb. A fence, wall or other structure may not be placed in the public right of way at all without an approved covenant, and any structure allowed there is held to the height requirement for the adjoining setback. Along an alley a fence may not obstruct the clear width the street standards require.
No fence may be closer than twelve feet to the curb of an arterial street.
17C.111.245, Fence Setbacks and Alleys
The answer turns on the type of street and whether there is a sidewalk.
- an arterial street
- Twelve feet from the curb. 12 ft
- a local access street with a sidewalk
- No closer than the back of the sidewalk.
- a local access street with no sidewalk
- Seven feet behind the face of the curb. 7 ft
Also on fences on the property line in Spokane
- 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?
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Spokane answers this, but the answer changes depending on which setback the fence stands in and what the lot behind it faces.
Spokane allows forty two inches in a required front lot line setback and six feet in a required side or rear lot line setback. Where a rear lot line meets the front lot line of another lot the six feet does not simply carry over, and the fence is held either to forty two inches or to a right isosceles triangle with seven foot sides measured along the side yard right of way line and the front property line. A fence that is not in a required building setback at all is not held to these figures and takes the height limit of the zone for detached accessory structures instead. The standards reach more than fences: they apply to walls, fences, trellises, arbors and screens of all types, whether open, solid, wood, metal, wire, masonry or anything else.
Fences up to six feet high are allowed in required sides or rear lot line setbacks.
The answer turns on which setback the fence stands in and what the lot behind it faces.
- a required front lot line setback
- Forty two inches. 42 in
- a required side or rear lot line setback
- Six feet. 6 ft
- a rear lot line meeting the front lot line of another lot
- Forty two inches, or a seven foot right isosceles triangle. 7 ft
- a fence outside any required building setback
- The zone height limit for detached accessory structures.
Also on fence height in Spokane
- 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?
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Spokane answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Spokane requires a building permit from the Development Services Department for every fence, with no height threshold, and names replacement of an existing fence in the same sentence so a like for like swap is permit work. The exception is drawn precisely: a permit is not required to repair an existing fence. So the line the city draws is between repairing what is there and putting up something new, rather than between a tall fence and a short one. The section is titled a reference to other standards, which signals that the permit itself is administered under the building code while the location and height rules stay in the land use title.
Building permits are required by the Development Services Department for all fences including the replacement of existing fences. A permit is not required to repair an existing fence.
17C.111.245, Reference to Other Standards
Also on permits in Spokane
- 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 Spokane
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Spokane answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Spokane requires an approved barrier around any swimming pool, hot tub or other impoundment of water more than eighteen inches deep on private property, built to the adopted International Swimming Pool and Spa Code. Where a fence is chosen as that barrier, four things follow. It has to be at least fifty four inches high, which is above the four foot figure most codes use. A woven wire fence has to be built to discourage climbing. No opening other than a door or gate may exceed four inches in any dimension. And every door or gate, except one that is part of the occupied dwelling, has to be self closing and self locking, with any latch or lock release on the outside set at least fifty four inches above the ground.
No opening, except a door or gate, may exceed four inches in any dimension.
17C.111.245, Enclosures for Pools, Hot Tubs, and Impoundments of Water
54 inminimum height of a pool enclosure fence
Also on pool barriers in Spokane
- set in state lawWashington 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. WAC 51-51-0327Washington · Building code
Spite fence laws in Spokane
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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 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
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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 Spokane 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 Spokane
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Spokane answers this, but the answer changes depending on the type of streets meeting and the speed limit on the arterial.
Spokane draws a lopsided triangle rather than an even one. Where a residential street meets an arterial, the triangle has a fifteen foot side along the residential curb line and a seventy five foot side along the arterial, and where the arterial carries a thirty five mile per hour limit the arterial side grows to a hundred and twenty two feet. At forty miles per hour or more the Street Department works the dimensions out using the AASHTO geometric design policy rather than a figure in the code. At an alley the triangle is a right isosceles one with seven foot sides measured along the alley right of way line and the inside line of the sidewalk, or seven feet inside the curb where there is no sidewalk. Inside any of them a vertical clear view zone between three and eight feet from ground level has to be maintained, subject to the traffic engineer making adjustments in particular cases.
Intersection of local and arterial: A right triangle having a fifteen-foot side measured along the curb line of the residential street and a seventy-five foot side along the curb line of the intersecting arterial street, except that when the arterial street has a speed limit of thirty-five miles per hour, the triangle has a side along such arterial of one hundred twenty-two feet
17A.020.030, Clear View Triangle, with the fence duty at 17C.111.245
The answer turns on the type of streets meeting and the speed limit on the arterial.
- a local street meeting an arterial
- Fifteen feet on one side, seventy five on the other. 75 ft
- an arterial posted at thirty five miles per hour
- A hundred and twenty two feet along the arterial. 122 ft
- an alley
- A right isosceles triangle with seven foot sides. 7 ft
- anything inside the triangle
- Clear between three and eight feet from ground level.
Also on corner visibility in Spokane
- 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
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Spokane 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 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
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Spokane answers this, but the answer changes depending on the zone and what the fence contains.
Spokane bans barbed, concertina and razor wire from the R1, R2, RMF and RHD residential zones outright, and allows up to three strands of barbed wire in the RA zone for agricultural, farming or animal uses. Electrically charged fencing follows the same shape: prohibited in those four residential zones, and permitted in the RA zone for the containment of livestock only. Beyond those two prohibitions the section names no material at all, and says so from the other direction in its scope: the standards apply to walls, fences, trellises, arbors and screens of all types, whether open, solid, wood, metal, wire, masonry or other material.
No person may erect or maintain a fence or barrier consisting of or containing barbed, concertina, or razor wire in the R1, R2, RMF, or RHD zones.
17C.111.245, Prohibited Fences
The answer turns on the zone and what the fence contains.
- barbed, concertina or razor wire in the residential zones
- Prohibited.
- barbed wire in the RA zone
- Up to three strands, for agricultural, farming or animal uses. 3 strands
- an electrically charged fence
- Prohibited except in the RA zone for livestock.
Also on materials in Spokane
- 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
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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 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
- 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 Spokane 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 SpokaneSpokane Municipal Code, Title 17C, Land Use Standards, Chapter 17C.111, Residential Zones, Section 17C.111.245, Fences
- 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
- City of SpokaneSpokane Municipal Code, Section 17A.020.030, definitions, Clear View Triangle
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 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