Fence laws in Racine, Wisconsin
What the Racine municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Racine sets no rule of its own, the Wisconsin rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Racine, Wisconsin, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Racine grants the boundary in the same sentence that sets the height, and the answer turns on whether the line faces a neighbor or a street. The figure is 0 feet, for setback from a residential lot line.
- How tall
- Racine allows six feet above ground level along a lot line of residentially zoned property or adjacent to it, and then cuts that to forty eight inches wherever the fence sits in a required front or corner side yard, and the answer turns on the zoning, the yard and how opaque the fence is. The figure is 6 feet, for fence along a residential lot line.
- Permits
- The fences and walls division attaches no permit, no fee and no application to an ordinary fence, and the answer turns on whether the fence stands inside the vision clearance triangle.
- Pool barriers
- Racine 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
- Racine leaves the measuring rule to the council of a city, by ordinance.
- Corner lots
- The fence division states the duty three times and keeps none of the geometry, and the answer turns on the vision clearance triangle as defined at section 114-254 and the district. The figure is 48 inches, for fence height in a required corner side yard.
- Retaining walls
- Racine 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
- Racine sets a quality standard rather than a permitted list, and the answer turns on the district and whether the wire is guarded from the sidewalk. The figure is 2 feet, for distance from a street or alley line within which barbed wire is barred.
- 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 Racine?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Racine answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the line faces a neighbor or a street.
Racine grants the boundary in the same sentence that sets the height. A fence or wall may be erected, placed or maintained along a lot line of residentially zoned property or adjacent to it, so the line is open and no setback figure appears for a neighbor line anywhere in the division. The limits that exist are about the street. A fence in a corner side yard may not extend past the front of the residential building, which is a position rule rather than a distance. Barbed wire outside a residence district may not go on the line of a public street or alley, or within two feet of it, unless guarded on the sidewalk side. And the chapter carries a cross reference to the streets chapter, which prohibits encroachments on streets by fences and structures, so the public line is governed there rather than here.
No fence or wall shall be erected, placed or maintained along a lot line or any nonresidentially zoned property, adjacent to residentially zoned property, to a height exceeding six feet.
The answer turns on whether the line faces a neighbor or a street.
- a residential lot line
- On the line, six feet. 0 ft
- a business lot facing houses
- Six feet, not ten. 6 ft
- a corner side yard
- Not past the front of the house.
- the public right-of-way
- Governed by the streets chapter.
Also on fences on the property line in Racine
- 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 Racine?
Compare fence height across all 50 states
Racine answers this, but the answer changes depending on the zoning, the yard and how opaque the fence is.
Racine allows six feet above ground level along a lot line of residentially zoned property or adjacent to it, and then cuts that to forty eight inches wherever the fence sits in a required front or corner side yard. The front yard sentence is written in an unusual way: forty eight inches is allowed if the fence has twenty five percent opacity or less, which states the permission and the transparency together and leaves no stated height for a solid fence in a front yard at all. In a corner side yard the forty eight inches applies without an opacity test, and the fence may not extend past the front of the residential building. A fence on a non-residential lot that sits along a line with residentially zoned property is also held to six feet. Business and industrial lots away from houses get ten feet.
A fence or wall may be erected, placed or maintained along a lot line or residentially zoned property or adjacent thereto to a height not exceeding six feet above the ground level, except that no such fence or wall which is located in a required front or corner side yard shall: (1) In a front yard exceed a height of 48 inches if the fence or wall has 25 percent opacity or less.
The answer turns on the zoning, the yard and how opaque the fence is.
- a residential lot line
- Six feet. 6 ft
- a front yard
- Forty eight inches at a quarter opacity. 48 in
- a corner side yard
- Forty eight inches, not past the house.
- business or industrial land
- Ten feet. 10 ft
Also on fence height in Racine
- 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 Racine?
Compare permits across all 50 states
Racine answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence stands inside the vision clearance triangle.
The fences and walls division attaches no permit, no fee and no application to an ordinary fence. One approval exists and it is triggered by position rather than by height or cost: all fences or walls to be erected within the vision clearance triangle require the approval of the zoning administrator before installation. That is a short sentence doing a lot of work, because it means a corner lot owner in Racine has to go to the city before building while the same fence a hundred feet down the block needs nothing. Nothing in the division states who enforces the rest of it or what happens on a violation, and the chapter points instead at the buildings and building regulations chapter and at the streets chapter for encroachments. Whether an ordinary Racine fence needs a building permit is a question for that buildings chapter, which was not read for this page.
All fences or walls to be erected within the vision clearance triangle shall require approval of the zoning administrator prior to installation.
The answer turns on whether the fence stands inside the vision clearance triangle.
- a fence away from a corner
- No permit named.
- a fence in the triangle
- The zoning administrator approves it first.
- a fee
- None stated.
- the building code
- A separate chapter, not read here.
Also on permits in Racine
- 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 Racine
Compare pool barriers across all 50 states
Racine 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 Racine 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 Racine
Compare spite fences across all 50 states
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 Racine 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 Racine
Compare how height is measured across all 50 states
Racine does not set this. It leaves it to the council of a city, by ordinance.
Wisconsin 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.
This one is Wisconsin law, not Racine law. All Wisconsin findings
the council may regulate and restrict by ordinance, subject to par. (hm) , the height, number of stories and size of buildings and other structures, the percentage of lot that may be occupied, the size of yards, courts and other open spaces
The code hands this to the council of a city, by ordinance, which is not published in the code itself.
Also on how height is measured in Racine
- no rule, documents checkedThe only measuring words in the division are above the ground level, used twice, once for the six foot residential figure and once for the ten foot business one. Nothing says which ground. A fence sitting on a slope between two lots has no stated answer, because the code does not choose the high side, the low side or an average, and the two largest cities in the state both settle that question by averaging the grades. A berm is not addressed. A fence built on top of a retaining wall is not addressed. Fill placed to gain height is not addressed. The forty eight inch front yard figure and the corner side figure carry no datum at all, not even the phrase ground level. What the division does measure carefully is horizontal: barbed wire outside a residence district is barred within two feet of a street or alley line. Sections 114-756 and 114-759Racine · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Racine
Compare corner visibility across all 50 states
Racine answers this, but the answer changes depending on the vision clearance triangle as defined at section 114-254 and the district.
The fence division states the duty three times and keeps none of the geometry. A residential fence may not disrupt vision clearance as provided in section 114-254 of the zoning chapter, a section not read for this page. A business or industrial fence may not disrupt the vision clearance requirements for each district, which implies the triangle changes by district without saying how. And any fence inside the vision clearance triangle needs the zoning administrator to approve it before installation, which turns the corner into a permit question rather than a pure height question. What the division itself supplies near a corner is a ceiling: a fence in a corner side yard is held to forty eight inches and may not extend past the front of the residential building, so the tall part of a corner fence starts level with the front wall of the house.
In a corner side yard, and not to extend past the front of the residential building, exceed a height of 48 inches. (3) Disrupt vision clearance as provided in section 114-254.
The answer turns on the vision clearance triangle as defined at section 114-254 and the district.
- a corner side yard fence
- Forty eight inches. 48 in
- the size of the triangle
- Set at section 114-254, not read here.
- a business or industrial lot
- The district requirement applies.
- a fence inside the triangle
- The zoning administrator approves it.
Also on corner visibility in Racine
- 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 Racine
Compare retaining walls across all 50 states
Racine 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 Racine 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 Racine
Compare materials across all 50 states
Racine answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district and whether the wire is guarded from the sidewalk.
Racine sets a quality standard rather than a permitted list. All fences and walls have to be designed and constructed in a professional manner with new or like new materials, and the code then names what does not count: lumber remnants, old doors, broken concrete, wire pieces, old pipe and other scrap. The finished side, meaning the side without visible supporting members, has to face away from the lot the fence belongs to. Barbed wire is out of every residence district. In other districts it may not go on the line of a public street or alley, or on land within two feet of that line, and then comes the oldest sentence in the division: the restriction does not apply to a person who puts up proper guards, by placing smooth wires or otherwise, on the side toward the sidewalk, to protect the person and clothing of travelers from injury by the barbed wire.
In all zoning districts other than residential, no barbed wire fence shall be erected, constructed, or maintained upon the line of any public street or alley within the city, or upon any land adjacent and within two feet of any such line. This does not apply to any person who erects and maintains proper guards by placing of smooth wires or otherwise on the side toward the sidewalk so as to protect the person and clothing of travelers on any sidewalk from injury by such barbed wire.
The answer turns on the district and whether the wire is guarded from the sidewalk.
- any fence
- New or like new materials.
- scrap and old doors
- Not allowed.
- barbed wire in a residence district
- Prohibited.
- barbed wire near a sidewalk
- Two feet back, or guarded. 2 ft
Also on materials in Racine
- 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 Racine
Compare agricultural fencing across all 50 states
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 Racine 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 Racine
- 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 Racine itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Wisconsin LegislatureWisconsin Statutes, Chapter 90, Fences, Section 90.03, Partition fences; when required
- City of RacineRacine Code of Ordinances, Chapter 114, Zoning, Article VII, Supplementary District Regulations, Division 7, Fences and Walls
- 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 Racine 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