Six feet is the maximum in residential districts, and six feet in commercial districts. Industrial districts allow eight. A decorative top may add up to one foot but must have a solid top rail and a minimum fifty percent clear open view, and the overall height still cannot exceed six feet. So a five-foot fence with a one-foot decorative top is a six-foot fence.

You need the signature of every adjacent property owner agreeing to both the location and the style of the proposed fence. If a neighbor cannot be reached or refuses, the ordinance sets out a path: certified mail with return receipt requesting a response within fifteen days, then an official notice from the city allowing another fifteen days. If no valid reason to withhold is given, the permit issues. Unresolved cases go to the Building Board of Appeals.

The city's fence permit is billed in three parts: a thirty-five dollar application fee, a forty dollar plan review fee and a fifty dollar permit fee, for one hundred twenty-five dollars total. That is the permit only and is separate from the cost of the fence itself. An application to the Building Board of Appeals, if a fence dispute reaches that point, carries its own three hundred dollar fee.

Yes. Semi-private and full privacy styles in wood or vinyl are permitted, up to the same six-foot residential maximum, and the application requires a photo of the style you intend to build. The side with the more finished appearance has to face outward. What you cannot do is run any fence into your own front yard.

Chain-link and cyclone in metal, picket in wood, vinyl or wrought iron, and semi-private or full privacy in wood or vinyl. Masonry fences and vinyl slats woven into chain link are not permitted, and neither are razor wire, barbed wire on residential property or any fence carrying electric current. Picket tops need blunt or ball finials, a top rail, or an angle of at least ninety degrees.