Fence laws in Appleton, Wisconsin
What the Appleton municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Appleton sets no rule of its own, the Wisconsin rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Appleton, Wisconsin, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- The only setback in the Appleton fence section is measured from an alley, and the answer turns on whether the line faces a neighbor, a street or an alley. The figure is 5 feet, for setback from the right-of-way line of an improved public alley.
- How tall
- Appleton sets a boundary fence at six feet in residential districts and twelve in commercial and industrial ones, and lets a hedge grow to its natural height with no limit at all, and the answer turns on the district, the yard and what the lot abuts. The figure is 6 feet, for boundary fence or wall in a residential district.
- Permits
- The fences and walls section sets heights, materials, a setback, a measurement rule and a maintenance duty, and never mentions an application, a fee or a threshold at which review begins, and the answer turns on who owns the land and how open the fence is. The figure is 7 feet, for lowest height for barbed wire on an exempt security fence.
- Pool barriers
- Appleton sets no statewide pool barrier rule. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Spite fences
- Wisconsin has a spite fence law and it covers hedges as well as fences. The figure is 6 feet, for height above which a maliciously built fence or hedge is a private nuisance.
- Measured from what
- Appleton names its datum as grade and then makes two small, practical adjustments that almost no other code in this project bothers with. The figure is 4 inches, for projection allowed for posts and post caps above the required height.
- Corner lots
- Appleton sizes its vision corner by the setback the zoning district requires, which is a rule tied to how far houses already sit from the street, and the answer turns on the setback the zoning district requires and whether the object is a fence or a planting. The figure is 25 feet, for leg of the vision corner where the district setback is twenty feet.
- Retaining walls
- Appleton sets no rule for a wall that holds back earth. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Materials
- Appleton writes a permitted list and then narrows it again at the front of the lot, and the answer turns on the district and whether the fence is in the front yard.
- Livestock
- Wisconsin lists the fences that count as legal and says nothing else does. The figure is 50 inches, for minimum height of a legal fence, measured at the posts.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Appleton?
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Appleton answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the line faces a neighbor, a street or an alley.
The only setback in the Appleton fence section is measured from an alley. No fence may extend closer than five feet from the right-of-way line of an improved public alley, which is a distance most codes do not set at all, and it exists so a vehicle can turn out of a garage into the alley and see what is coming. Nothing in the section states a distance from a shared side or rear line, and the heading of the main height rule is boundary fence, which grants the line rather than holding a fence back from it. Two other position rules apply. A sound barrier may be erected along the access-restricted lot line abutting an arterial or collector street, which is a line a lot is otherwise barred from using. And the maintenance duty runs onto both sides: the fence and the property surrounding both sides of it have to be properly maintained at all times.
No fence shall extend closer than five (5) feet from the right-o f-way line of an improved public alley.
The answer turns on whether the line faces a neighbor, a street or an alley.
- an improved public alley
- Five feet back. 5 ft
- a shared side or rear line
- No distance stated. 0 ft
- an access-restricted line on an arterial
- A sound barrier is allowed there.
- the ground on both sides
- Both are maintained.
Also on fences on the property line in Appleton
- set in state lawWisconsin splits a fence on the property line in equal shares, but only where farming or grazing is involved. The duty runs between the people using two neighboring farm or grazing properties, and between the owners when one side is used that way. The fence stays in good repair all year unless both sides agree otherwise, and the two sides may agree to use markers instead of a fence. Wis. Stat. § 90.03Wisconsin · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Appleton?
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Appleton answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district, the yard and what the lot abuts.
Appleton sets a boundary fence at six feet in residential districts and twelve in commercial and industrial ones, and lets a hedge grow to its natural height with no limit at all. Between the front yard setback line and the abutting lot lines nothing may exceed three feet, and that includes a hedge or row planting, so the exemption a hedge enjoys behind the house disappears at the front. Two sound barrier rules then go much higher. Along an access-restricted lot line facing an arterial or collector street, a sound barrier may reach eight feet on a double frontage lot and six on a corner lot. Along a yard abutting a freeway, a sound barrier fence, wall, or combination of fence and berm may reach twenty feet, which is the tallest allowance in this project, and anything above eight feet there may need plans from a state certified engineer or architect. Posts and post caps may project four inches above whatever the limit is.
A boundary fence or wall shall not be more than six (6) feet in height in residential districts and not more than twelve (12) feet in commercial and industrial districts, except that hedges may be permitted to grow to their natural height.
The answer turns on the district, the yard and what the lot abuts.
- a residential boundary
- Six feet. 6 ft
- in front of the setback line
- Three feet, hedges included. 3 ft
- a commercial or industrial boundary
- Twelve feet. 12 ft
- a sound barrier beside a freeway
- Twenty feet. 20 ft
Also on fence height in Appleton
- no rule, documents checkedWisconsin sets no limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. The six feet in the spite fence law is what starts a nuisance claim and not a cap, and that same law says a city or village may ban a fence under six feet. Chapter 90 describes legal fences for farm and grazing land without limiting height, and the Uniform Dwelling Code does not reach fences at all. Wis. Stat. § 844.10Wisconsin · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Appleton?
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Appleton answers this, but the answer changes depending on who owns the land and how open the fence is.
The fences and walls section sets heights, materials, a setback, a measurement rule and a maintenance duty, and never mentions an application, a fee or a threshold at which review begins. Two approvals appear inside it and neither is a general permit. The Community Development Director may approve a material that is not on the list, and the Inspections Supervisor or a designee decides whether the two inch drainage gap may be left out of the measurement. What the section does carry, in place of a permit, is an exemption with conditions attached. Protective security and boundary fences on industrial sites, publicly owned land, and semi-private land such as places of worship, schools and utility substations are excluded from the whole section, provided any barbed wire on them sits at least seven feet above the ground, the fence is at least two thirds open to vision spread evenly along its length, and it keeps the allowable height inside a vision corner.
where such fences incorporate the use of barbed wire, such barbed wire shall not be less than seven (7) feet above the ground level, and except such fe nces shall be a minimum of two-thirds (2/3) open to vision equally distributed throughout the fence length
The answer turns on who owns the land and how open the fence is.
- an ordinary fence
- No permit named in the zoning chapter.
- a security fence on public or industrial land
- Exempt if two thirds open.
- barbed wire on one
- Seven feet up. 7 ft
- an unlisted material
- The Community Development Director approves it.
Also on permits in Appleton
- set in state lawWisconsin does not use the International Residential Code. It writes its own Uniform Dwelling Code in chapters SPS 320 to 325, which sets one set of building standards and inspections for one and two family homes and modular homes across the state. That code covers homes and their attached garages, porches, decks and stairways, and the word fence is nowhere in it. So a fence permit in Wisconsin is purely a local zoning question. Wis. Admin. Code § SPS 320.01Wisconsin · Building code
Pool fence requirements in Appleton
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Appleton law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Wisconsin sets no statewide fence rule for a pool at a house. The state pool chapter, SPS 390, says on its face that it covers public pools and water attractions only. The Uniform Dwelling Code, which governs one and two family homes, has no pool, barrier, fence or enclosure section in any of its six chapters. A pool fence at a home is a local matter.
This one is Wisconsin law, not Appleton law. All Wisconsin findings
Documents read before writing that:
- Wis. Admin. Code § SPS 390.02Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services
- Wis. Admin. Code § SPS 320.01Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services
Spite fence laws in Appleton
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Wisconsin answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Wisconsin has a spite fence law and it covers hedges as well as fences. Any fence, hedge or structure like a fence that goes over six feet with no need to, and was put up or kept up out of spite to annoy a neighbor, is a private nuisance, which means the neighbor can sue over it. The same section says it does not stop a city or village from banning a fence under six feet, so local rules still bite below that line.
This one is Wisconsin law, not Appleton law. All Wisconsin findings
Any fence, hedge or other structure in the nature of a fence unnecessarily exceeding 6 feet in height, maliciously erected or maintained for the purpose of annoying the owners or occupants of adjoining property, shall be deemed a private nuisance.
6 ftheight above which a maliciously built fence or hedge is a private nuisance
How fence height is measured in Appleton
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Appleton answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Appleton names its datum as grade and then makes two small, practical adjustments that almost no other code in this project bothers with. Height may be measured two inches above grade, to let water run under the boards and keep the wood from rotting, when the Inspections Supervisor or a designee thinks that appropriate, so the gap at the bottom of a fence is not counted against the owner. Berms may not be used to increase grade directly under a fence, which closes the loophole of mounding the ground first. Posts and post caps may project four inches above the required height, so a decorative cap is not what makes a fence illegal. One case changes the datum altogether: a sound barrier along a freeway is measured from the grade of the adjacent freeway rather than from the lot, which matters because a freeway usually sits in a cut or on an embankment.
The height of fences and walls shall be measured at grade , except as follows. Height may be measured two (2) inches above grade to allow for proper drainage and prevent rot of materials, when deemed appropriate by the Inspections Supervisor or designee. Berms may not be used t o increase grade directly under a fence, unless otherwise stated in this chapter.
4 inprojection allowed for posts and post caps above the required height
Also on how height is measured in Appleton
- left to the townWisconsin does not set this. The city does. The fence law in chapter 90 covers fences on a property line and what a fence viewer does, and it has no measuring rule in it anywhere. Section 62.23(7)(am) lets a city council set rules for the height, number of stories and size of buildings and other structures, and tells courts to read that power broadly in the city's favor. So the city ordinance sets the fence height and decides on its own what the height is taken from. Wis. Stat. 62.23(7)(am)Wisconsin · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Appleton
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Appleton answers this, but the answer changes depending on the setback the zoning district requires and whether the object is a fence or a planting.
Appleton sizes its vision corner by the setback the zoning district requires, which is a rule tied to how far houses already sit from the street. Where the district requires a minimum twenty foot setback from street property lines, the triangle runs twenty five feet along each street right-of-way line. Where it requires ten feet, the triangle shrinks to twenty. A private driveway gets its own triangle of ten feet from where the street right-of-way meets the driveway. Inside any of them a fence, wall, sign or structure may not exceed three feet. Plantings are treated differently and get a protected band instead: they have to be kept so vision is unobstructed from three feet above the adjacent property line elevation to ten feet above it, so a tree may stand there if it is limbed up and a shrub may not. The whole subsection is written to follow the city traffic code.
The vision corner is described as the triangular area enclosed by a straight line connecting a point on each street right-of-way line, which point i s twenty-five (25) feet from the intersection of the right-of-way lines. Fences, walls, signs or struc tures erected in such vision corners shall not exceed three (3) feet in height.
The answer turns on the setback the zoning district requires and whether the object is a fence or a planting.
- a district with a twenty foot setback
- Twenty five feet each way. 25 ft
- a district with a ten foot setback
- Twenty feet. 20 ft
- a private driveway
- Ten feet. 10 ft
- a fence inside one
- Three feet. 3 ft
Also on corner visibility in Appleton
- set in state lawWisconsin draws a triangle at every highway crossing outside a city or village, running 1,000 feet out along each center line, and bans danger causing advertising inside it. Section 86.191 then goes past signs. The road authority has to ask the owner of land inside that triangle to cut back whatever blocks the view across it, as far as that can be done, and to work out an arrangement that makes travel on both roads as safe as it reasonably can be. It is a duty to work it out with the owner rather than a fixed height, and it stops at the city line. Wis. Stat. 86.191(4)Wisconsin · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in Appleton
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Appleton law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Wisconsin has no rule at all for a wall that holds back earth. It does not use the International Residential Code, so the model code line about a four foot wall never reaches this state. It writes its own Uniform Dwelling Code for one and two family homes, and both halves of that code were read end to end. Chapter SPS 320 is the paperwork half, covering the building permit, who issues it, inspections and exemptions, and the word retaining is nowhere in it. Chapter SPS 321 is the building half, covering digging, footings, frost protection, foundations, masonry walls and decks, and the word retaining is nowhere in it either. The code does have sections on digging next to a neighbor's land and on erosion control, and neither one sets a rule for a wall built to hold back earth. A permit for that kind of wall in Wisconsin is a local question.
This one is Wisconsin law, not Appleton law. All Wisconsin findings
Documents read before writing that:
- Wis. Admin. Code ch. SPS 320Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services
- Wis. Admin. Code ch. SPS 321Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services
Fence materials allowed in Appleton
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Appleton answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district and whether the fence is in the front yard.
Appleton writes a permitted list and then narrows it again at the front of the lot. Outside the agricultural district a fence has to be naturally resistant or treated wood board, vinyl, galvanized or vinyl coated chain link, wrought iron, brick, natural stone, masonry, or something else the Community Development Director approves. In a front yard the list shortens to wood, brick, vinyl, wrought iron or stone, and galvanized chain link is named and prohibited there, so the coated version is what gets a chain link fence to the street. Barbed wire, electric fences and single, double and triple strand fences are prohibited except in the agricultural and the two industrial districts. The finished side faces the adjoining property and the studs and posts face the owner. A fence screening a non-residential use is judged against Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design standards held by the police department rather than printed in the code.
Barbed wire fences, electrical fences, and single , double and triple strand fences are prohibited except in the AG agricultural, M-1 and M-2 industrial districts.
The answer turns on the district and whether the fence is in the front yard.
- most of the city
- Wood, vinyl, chain link, iron, brick, stone.
- a front yard
- No galvanized chain link.
- barbed, electric or strand wire
- Farm and industry only.
- a screen for a business
- Judged against police design standards.
Also on materials in Appleton
- set in state lawWisconsin prints a closed list of legal fences and says the builds on it and no others count. Barbed wire and high tensile wire run through most of the list, always above a woven wire or board base, and one build is four or more barbed or high tensile wires at least 48 inches high on steel or wood posts. An electric fence is on the list too, with two extra strings attached. It takes two strands of tightly stretched wire fed by a standard approved electric or battery charger, with the top wire 34 to 36 inches up on insulated posts no more than two rods apart, which is 33 feet. And it counts as a legal fence only where the owners on both sides put their agreement in writing. Wis. Stat. 90.02(1m)(i)Wisconsin · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Appleton
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Wisconsin answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Wisconsin lists the fences that count as legal and says nothing else does. The list runs from woven wire of different widths with barbed or high tensile wire above it, to board fences on posts no more than eight feet apart, to a 48 inch fence of four or more barbed or high tensile wires. Whatever the build, the fence stands at least 50 inches high and its bottom sits no more than four inches off the ground, both measured at the posts.
This one is Wisconsin law, not Appleton law. All Wisconsin findings
Fences shall not be less than 50 inches high, and the bottom of the fence shall be not more than 4 inches from the ground, measurements to be made at the posts.
50 inminimum height of a legal fence, measured at the posts
Also on agricultural fencing in Appleton
- set in state lawIn Wisconsin the fence on the line is the price of a damages claim. An owner who does not keep that fence in repair cannot collect for damage done by a neighbor's animals. Building it does not settle the other side either, because the owner of pigs, horses, sheep or goats still answers for damage those animals do inside the enclosure. Wis. Stat. 90.04Wisconsin · Statute
Documents behind this page
12 documents, of which 1 was published by Appleton itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Wisconsin LegislatureWisconsin Statutes, Chapter 90, Fences, Section 90.03, Partition fences; when required
- City of AppletonAppleton Code, Chapter 23, Zoning, Supplement #100
- Wisconsin LegislatureWisconsin Statutes, Chapter 844, Section 844.10, Private nuisance; fence
- Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional ServicesWisconsin Administrative Code, Chapter SPS 320, Section 320.01 Purpose
- Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional ServicesWisconsin Administrative Code, Chapter SPS 390, Public Swimming Pools and Water Attractions, Section 390.02 Applicability
- Wisconsin State LegislatureWisconsin Statutes, Chapter 62, Cities, Section 62.23, City planning
- Wisconsin LegislatureWisconsin Statutes, Chapter 86, Miscellaneous Highway Provisions
- Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional ServicesWisconsin Administrative Code, Chapter SPS 320, Uniform Dwelling Code Administration and Enforcement
- Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional ServicesWisconsin Administrative Code, Chapter SPS 321, Construction Standards
- Wisconsin LegislatureWisconsin Statutes, Chapter 90, Fences
- Wisconsin State LegislatureWisconsin Statutes, Chapter 90, Fences
- Wisconsin State LegislatureWisconsin Statutes, Chapter 90, 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 Appleton publishes, plus the Wisconsin rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Wisconsin 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