Fence laws in Yakima, Washington
What the Yakima municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Yakima sets no rule of its own, the Washington rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Yakima, Washington, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Yakima settles the boundary question by repetition. The figure is 3 feet, for setback for a pool or pump house from a property line.
- How tall
- Yakima runs three numbers through its residential yards, and the answer turns on the yard, the district, and what the rear yard backs onto. The figure is 4 feet, for fence inside the front yard setback.
- Permits
- Yakima answers the permit question in two titles that set two different numbers, and both are correct once the difference between them is clear, and the answer turns on whether it is a fence or a retaining wall and how tall it is. The figure is 6 feet, for height above which the building code applies.
- 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
- The Yakima vision clearance triangle is not the small even triangle most cities draw, and the answer turns on whether it is a street intersection or a driveway. The figure is 120 feet, for long leg of the vision clearance triangle.
- Retaining walls
- Yakima gives a wall and the fence on top of it a single combined ceiling of ten feet, and then says where to read it from, which is the part that decides real cases: the lower elevation, and the answer turns on whether the retaining wall predates the title. The figure is 10 feet, for combined fence and retaining wall height.
- Materials
- Yakima leaves fence materials to the administrative official, who sets the height and materials of a recreational screen case by case.
- 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 Yakima?
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Yakima answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Yakima settles the boundary question by repetition. The front yard rule, the side and street side yard rule and the rear yard rule each open with the same words, that fences and walls may be placed on or behind the property line, so there is no setback to argue about and no difference between the three sides of a lot. What the code does not do is say who owns a fence sitting on the line or who maintains it, which is left to the two owners. A pool is treated differently and gets real distances: the pool and pump house stand at least three feet from the property line while the apron may run right up to it, and none of the three may encroach on an easement.
In the side yard and street side yard: fences and walls may be placed on or behind the property line.
15.05.020, Fences and Walls, Standard Height, and Swimming Pools
3 ftsetback for a pool or pump house from a property line
Also on fences on the property line in Yakima
- 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 Yakima?
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Yakima answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard, the district, and what the rear yard backs onto.
Yakima runs three numbers through its residential yards. Four feet inside the required front yard setback, six feet in the front yard behind that setback line, and six in the side and rear yards. The exception is a rear yard that abuts a designated arterial, which takes eight feet, so the road behind the house buys two more feet of fence than the neighbor behind the house would. A street side yard keeps six feet with a shape rule attached, because a six foot street side fence may not run past the front corner of the dwelling into the front yard. Commercial and industrial districts take eight feet in every yard. The code also draws a figure, Typical Residential Fence Location, so the shape rule is illustrated rather than only described.
In the front yard: fences and walls may be placed on or behind the property line. However, no fence or wall shall exceed four feet in height within the required front yard setback area. In residential districts, six feet shall be the maximum height in the front yard behind the required setback.
15.05.020, Fences and Walls, Standard Height
The answer turns on the yard, the district, and what the rear yard backs onto.
- inside the required front yard setback
- Four feet. 4 ft
- a residential side or rear yard
- Six feet. 6 ft
- a rear yard abutting a designated arterial
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- a commercial or industrial district
- Eight feet.
Also on fence height in Yakima
- 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 Yakima?
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Yakima answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether it is a fence or a retaining wall and how tall it is.
Yakima answers the permit question in two titles that set two different numbers, and both are correct once the difference between them is clear. The zoning code says every fence over six feet has to meet the provisions of the International Building Code, which is a construction standard rather than a permit trigger. The building title then amends the state building code to exempt fences not over seven feet from a building permit, along with retaining walls not over four feet measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the retained material, unless the wall supports a surcharge or impounds Class I, II or IIIA liquids. So a Yakima fence between six and seven feet has to be built to the model code but needs no permit for it, and above seven the permit applies.
Fences not over 7 feet high.
11.04.105, amending Subsection 105.2 of the Washington State Building Code
The answer turns on whether it is a fence or a retaining wall and how tall it is.
- a fence over six feet
- Built to the International Building Code. 6 ft
- a fence up to seven feet
- No building permit. 7 ft
- a retaining wall over four feet from the footing
- A building permit. 4 ft
Also on permits in Yakima
- 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 Yakima
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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 Yakima 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 Yakima
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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 Yakima 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 Yakima
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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 Yakima 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 Yakima
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Yakima answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether it is a street intersection or a driveway.
The Yakima vision clearance triangle is not the small even triangle most cities draw. At an unsignalized street intersection or a railroad it measures fifteen feet by one hundred and twenty along the perpendicular lengths, built from a point where the extended curb lines or pavement edges meet, a point a hundred and twenty feet down the cross street, and a point fifteen feet down the other. That gives a long thin wedge running out along the through street rather than a wedge across the corner of the lot. Inside it nothing may be erected, placed, planted or allowed to grow so as materially to impede vision between two and a half and ten feet above the centerline grades, and where the six year road improvement program plans an improvement the future intersection centerline is used instead of the present one. At a driveway, curb cut or alley the triangle is fifteen feet by fifteen. The fence section adds its own version, capping any fence, hedge or wall in a clear view triangle at two and a half feet.
The vision clearance triangle shall measure fifteen feet by one hundred twenty feet along the perpendicular lengths formed by three points including:
The answer turns on whether it is a street intersection or a driveway.
- an unsignalized street intersection or railroad
- Fifteen feet by a hundred and twenty. 120 ft
- a driveway, curb cut or alley
- Fifteen feet by fifteen. 15 ft
- a fence, hedge or wall inside the triangle
- Two and a half feet. 30 in
Also on corner visibility in Yakima
- 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 Yakima
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Yakima answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the retaining wall predates the title.
Yakima gives a wall and the fence on top of it a single combined ceiling of ten feet, and then says where to read it from, which is the part that decides real cases: the lower elevation. On a lot cut into a slope that means the whole exposed face of the wall counts against the fence, not just the part visible from the yard above. An owner with a six foot wall therefore has four feet of fence left. The one relief is for walls that already existed when the title passed, which are allowed a three and one half foot fence above them regardless of how tall the wall is, so an old wall does not turn a property into one that can never have a fence. This combined rule runs alongside the plain yard numbers, and the stricter of the two is what an owner actually gets.
Fence height in combination with a retaining wall: no combination of a fence and retaining wall shall exceed a height of ten feet, measured from the lower elevation, except existing retaining walls at the time of the passage of this title will be allowed a three-and-one-half-foot fence above the retaining wall.
15.05.020, Fence height in combination with a retaining wall
The answer turns on whether the retaining wall predates the title.
- a new wall with a fence on top
- Ten feet for the two together, read from the low side. 10 ft
- a wall that existed when the title passed
- Three and a half feet of fence above it. 42 in
Also on retaining walls in Yakima
- 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 Yakima
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Yakima does not set this. It leaves it to the administrative official, who sets the height and materials of a recreational screen case by case.
The one place Yakima talks about what a barrier is made of, it hands the decision to a person rather than setting a standard. A recreational screen, meaning the protective device that keeps balls and equipment inside or outside an area at a school, park, golf course, pool, ballfield or playground, is expressly taken out of the height table, and both its height and its materials are evaluated by the administrative official based on the need, the safety requirements and its relationship to residential and commercial properties and streets. That is three tests and no numbers, so two identical backstops at two different parks can lawfully come out differently. For an ordinary yard fence the code names no material at all, and the swimming pool fence is the only other barrier given a figure, at not less than four feet or another prescriptive measure allowed by the Washington State Residential Code.
The height and materials for screens will be evaluated by the administrative official based on the need, safety requirements, and relationship to residential and commercial properties and streets.
15.05.020, Recreational Screen
The code hands this to the administrative official, who sets the height and materials of a recreational screen case by case, which is not published in the code itself.
Also on materials in Yakima
- 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 Yakima
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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 Yakima 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 Yakima
- 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
9 documents, of which 3 were published by Yakima 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 YakimaYakima Municipal Code, Title 15, Section 15.05.020, Site design requirements and 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
- City of YakimaYakima Municipal Code, Title 11, Section 11.04.105, Work exempt from permit
- 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 YakimaYakima Municipal Code, Title 15, Section 15.05.040, Vision clearance
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 Yakima 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