Why can't I have a six-foot fence everywhere on my residential lot?

The City's fence regulations require that residential fences within a home's front and side setbacks be a maximum of 3.5 feet tall (see Subsection 16.08.110 of the Municipal Code). These regulations have been in place for over a decade and are intended to accomplish a number of goals:

• Prevent a "fortress effect" where entire street frontages are dominated by sidewalk-adjacent full-height fences. Where applied excessively, the fortress effect is thought to make the neighborhood less friendly and less attractive by literally walling off the private realm from the public realm.
• Improve visibility for vehicles backing up out of driveways, both at the front and sides of residential lots. When driveways are adjacent to full-height fences, it is harder for drivers to see pedestrians on the sidewalk or other vehicles in the street while backing up, creating a safety hazard.
• Create more "eyes on the street." This is a urban planning principle that asserts that streets are safer and more secure when more people in homes or other buildings can see outward toward the street. For example, if a small child runs into the street and full-height fences block views from a home's front windows, parents may not see that their child is in danger.
• Lastly, streets with continuous walls or fences along the sidewalk are often observed to experience increased speeding by motorists, who don't feel the accountability that comes with high visibility from surrounding land uses.

The Planning Department understands that, for a number of reasons, some homeowners prefer to have taller fences. Staff encourage homeowners to talk to the department before building new fences so that they may maximize their yards' utility while also staying compliant with the City's Municipal Code.