Jacksonville fence height and permit rules

City of Jacksonville height limits

The height rules sit in Section 656.402 of the zoning code. As amended by Ordinance 2013-802-E:

• The City of Jacksonville's zoning code caps fences and walls in residential districts at 8 feet.
• In a required front yard in a residential district, the limit is 4 feet.
• On some corner lots the code allows a 6 foot fence in one front yard along a collector or larger road, as long as it does not sit forward of the front plane of the house.
• Height is measured from the existing grade to the top of the fence, not counting pilasters or other architectural features.

Those limits come from Ordinance 2013-802-E, which amended Section 656.402 of the zoning code in January 2014. Zoning codes change, so confirm the current text with the city before you build. The Building Inspection Division handles building permits for the city; call them with your address before you build, and ask whether your fence needs one.

Jacksonville Beach

Jacksonville Beach publishes a one-page fence guide, and it is stricter than the city next door.

• Jacksonville Beach's permitting guide says its city code requires a permit to install or replace a fence on private property, and the application asks for a survey showing where the fence goes.
• In Jacksonville Beach residential districts, a front yard fence can be up to 4 feet. A rear yard fence can be up to 8 feet, but any part above 6 feet must stay 25% open.
• On a Jacksonville Beach corner lot, a fence can be no higher than 30 inches within the first 20 feet on either side of the corner.
• A rear yard fence on an oceanfront lot in the RS-1 district may not exceed 3 and a half feet.
• The guide also notes that HOA or architectural review board approval may be required and that a fence cannot block access to utility meters.

That oceanfront limit is lower than the 4 foot minimum Florida sets for a pool barrier. If you have an oceanfront lot and a pool, that conflict is one to settle with the city before you pay for a design.

Everywhere else

Atlantic Beach and Neptune Beach are separate cities with their own codes. Orange Park and St. Augustine are towns with their own offices. Fleming Island, Oakleaf Plantation, Fruit Cove, Nocatee and Yulee are unincorporated, so their county sets the rules. We have not summarized each of those codes here; ask the office that covers your address, and ask the fence company which permits it pulls there regularly.

Pools

State law sits on top of all of this. Florida's residential pool barrier law (section 515.29) requires the barrier to be at least 4 feet high on the outside. Gates must open outward, away from the pool, close on their own and latch with a self-latching device, with the release on the pool side out of a young child's reach. Pool fences.

HOAs

Covenants can be stricter than the city and often are. Under section 720.3035 of the Florida Statutes, an HOA's architectural review power reaches only as far as the community's recorded documents state or reasonably imply. In practice that means reading your declaration and design guidelines and getting approval in writing first. Before the first post goes in.