Fence permit requirements across 16 Seattle-area cities
Side-by-side: which of Seattle, Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Sammamish, Issaquah, Renton, Kent, Federal Way, Mercer Island, Shoreline, Tacoma, Lakewood, Puyallup, Everett, Lynnwood require a permit for a fence, and what triggers one — each row quoted from the city's own code or permit page, with the source linked. Fees and review times appear where the city publishes them.
15 of 16 cities have authoritative rules on file · 0 always require a permit · 16 depend on the scope · 0 do not.
King County
| Jurisdiction | Permit? | Threshold | Fee | Review days | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
city | Depends on scope | A light-frame fence up to 8 ft needs no building permit; taller, or masonry or concrete, does. A permit is not required for a fence unless it is over 8 feet tall. Fences over 4 feet 6 inches often cannot be located in front-yard setbacks — confirm placement with Bellevue Land Use before building. A fence may not violate the sight-obstruction restriction at street intersections (LUC 20.20.400.A.1, which applies BCC 14.60.240 and the Transportation Department Design Manual §21). | — | — | Cite verified 2026-08-04 |
city | Depends on scope | A fence up to 7 ft needs no building permit outside a critical area; in a required yard a fence may not exceed 6 ft. A taller fence, or any fence in a critical area or flood hazard area, needs a permit. A building permit is not required for a fence not over 6 feet high; a fence over 6 feet requires a permit. The exemption list notes that other code requirements may still apply, and zoning height limits in FWRC Title 19 apply regardless. | — | — | Cite verified 2026-05-29 |
city | Depends on scope | A fence up to 7 ft located in accordance with the land use and street standards needs no building permit unless the lot is in a flood hazard or critical area; taller, placed against those standards, or in such an area, it does. Residential fences do not require a building permit unless the fence is more than 6 feet in height or is in a critical area. Separately from the permit trigger, the maximum height in the front setback is 4 feet in the Single-Family/Duplex (SF-D) zone per IMC 18.700.160; other land-use restrictions may apply (IMC 18.600.090), and HOA approval may be required. | — | — | Cite verified 2026-05-29 |
city | Depends on scope | No permit for a fence 7 ft or under. Fences 7 feet or under are exempt from a building permit; fences over 7 feet require a permit. Corner/driveway-adjacent fences must show the sight-distance triangle. | — | — | Cite verified 2026-05-29 |
city | Depends on scope | No permit for a fence 6 ft or under, except in a flood hazard area, a critical area or its buffer, or a wildland-urban interface (WUI) location. A building permit is required for any fence over 6 feet in height; fences 6 feet and under are exempt. Height is also limited in front-yard setbacks and sight-distance triangles per KZC 115.40. KMC 21.06.215(1)(B) exempts "Fences not over six feet high." None of this is exempt in a flood hazard area, a critical area or its buffer, or where the International Wildland-Urban Interface Code applies. KMC 21.06.215: "Permit exemptions shall not apply to areas of flood hazard or city land use critical areas and their required buffers, or locations subject to the construction requirements of the International Wildland-Urban Interface Code." | — | — | Cite verified 2026-09-06 |
city | Depends on scope | A fence up to 6 ft located in accordance with the City's land use regulations and street standards needs no building permit unless the lot is in a flood hazard or critical area; taller, placed against those standards (zoning does not allow an electric or barbed-wire fence at all), or in such an area, it does. Fences not over 6 feet (1,829 mm) high are exempt. Maximum fence height per Mercer Island Permit FAQ: 6 feet. | — | — | Cite verified 2026-04-29 |
city | Depends on scope | A fence 7 ft or under needs no building permit; a taller one does. Zoning limits fence height and bars fences in critical areas and their buffers. A permit is required for a fence over 7 feet in height; fences 7 feet and under are exempt (the Work Exempt handout confirms "Fences not over 7 feet (2,134 mm) high"). Property lines and sight-distance must be observed. | — | — | Cite verified 2026-05-29 |
city | Depends on scope | A fence 6 ft or under needs no building permit, except in a flood hazard area or a critical area; a taller fence needs one. In a residential zone, a fence over 48 in within the front-yard setback, or within the setback along a side or rear street unless it meets the D.2.e criteria (decorative material set back 8 ft behind landscaping), needs a special administrative fence permit, and so does an electric or barbed-wire fence. A fence taller than 6 feet requires a building permit (or a written exemption from the Building Official); fences 6 feet and under are exempt. Front-yard setback fences are limited to 48 inches and clear-vision areas to 42 inches (RMC 4-4-040). | — | — | Cite verified 2026-05-29 |
city | Depends on scope | A fence up to 6 ft needs no building permit unless it is in a critical area or a shoreline setback; a taller fence does. A building permit is not required for a fence 7 feet or less in height (adopted 2021 WA IRC R105.2(2), adopted by SMC 16.05.080); taller fences require a permit. Zoning height/setback limits still apply. | — | — | Cite verified 2026-05-29 |
city | Depends on scope | No permit for a fence 8 ft or under with no masonry or concrete over 6 ft, outside a flood hazard area and off an environmentally critical area parcel. Any one of those needs a permit or approval. No permit required if ALL of: ≤8ft tall, no masonry/concrete >6ft, not in a flood zone, not in/near an ECA. NR zones: 6ft standard, up to +2ft architectural features. Sloping sites: max 8ft if avg height between posts is 6ft. | — | — | Cite verified 2026-04-26 |
city | Depends on scope | No permit for a fence 6 ft or under. Shoreline's Construction Permit FAQ states a construction permit is not needed for "fences six feet high or lower." SMC 20.50.190 caps side/rear-yard fence height at 6 feet; front-yard fences are limited to 3 feet 6 inches and no more than 60 percent opaque. Chain-link/barbed/razor/electric fences are prohibited. Critical-area overlays (Chapter 20.80) trigger additional review. | — | — | Cite verified 2026-05-29 |
Pierce County
| Jurisdiction | Permit? | Threshold | Fee | Review days | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
city | Depends on scope | No permit for a fence up to 6 ft in a required setback or on a property line (4 ft in the front yard; 6 ft in the back half of a corner lot's front setback enclosing the rear, or on a lot fronting a principal arterial), or up to 7 ft elsewhere on the lot. A fence over 6 ft in a setback or on a property line needs a variance and a building permit. A fence in a critical area or its buffer, other than an aquifer recharge area, needs critical areas approval, and one in shoreline jurisdiction a shoreline exemption approval. In a flood hazard area every fence needs a building permit and zoning certification. Permit NOT required for: front yard fences ≤4ft (unless along a principal arterial); rear yard fences ≤6ft. Permit required if exceeding these heights, or if located near or within a critical area, critical-area buffer, or Ordinary High-Water Mark. | — | — | Cite verified 2026-04-29 |
city | Depends on scope | A fence taller than 7 ft needs a building permit. Puyallup's zoning caps a fence in an RS zone at 3.5 ft within 20 ft of the front lot line (5 ft for open-wire, welded-wire, chain-link or split-rail), and at 6 ft in the rear and interior side yards (PMC 20.20.040(6)). 2021 IRC R105.2(1)(d) exempts fences ≤7ft high. Cities frequently extend (Seattle: 8ft) or require permits for fences in critical areas, flood zones, or with masonry components. | — | — | Cite verified 2026-09-07 |
city | Depends on scope | No permit for a fence 7 ft or under with no masonry wall over 4 ft. Fences ≤7ft high are exempt. Any fence over 7ft, OR any masonry wall over 4ft, requires a building permit. Fences in critical areas/buffers may also require a critical-areas permit (TMC 13.11). Fences over 3ft within sight-triangle areas are prohibited. | — | — | Cite verified 2026-04-29 |
Snohomish County
| Jurisdiction | Permit? | Threshold | Fee | Review days | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
city | Depends on scope | An ordinary fence 7 ft or under needs no permit; a taller fence does. An electric or barbed-wire fence needs a building and/or electrical permit from the City before it goes up or is put back up. 2021 IRC R105.2(1)(d) exempts fences ≤7ft high. Cities frequently extend (Seattle: 8ft) or require permits for fences in critical areas, flood zones, or with masonry components. | — | — | Cite verified 2026-09-06 |
city | Depends on scope | A fence taller than 7 ft needs a building permit. Lynnwood's zoning caps a fence at 6 ft in residential zones (8 ft with an attached adornment such as an arbor or trellis) and at 8 ft in commercial and industrial zones, and keeps a fence over 4 ft out of the first 15 ft from a street lot line and out of sight distance triangles on a residential lot (LMC 8.40.0320, 8.40.0330). 2021 IRC R105.2 (Building, item 2), adopted in Washington without amendment by WAC 51-51-003, exempts fences not over 7 ft high. Cities often set their own height (several in King County: 6 ft) or require permits for fences in critical areas, flood zones, or with masonry. | — | — | Cite verified 2026-04-26 |
How this table is built
Each row reflects the most-recently-verified authoritative rule on file for that jurisdiction and project type. “Pending verification” means we have the jurisdiction in our database but haven't yet personally checked the city page for fence rules — those rows fall back to county or WA-state baselines until verified. Sources link directly to the city or county page we read on the verified-on date. See our data-quality leaderboard for how we keep these current.