Most homeowners find out what their township ordinance says about fencing the same way — a neighbor calls the zoning officer, a letter shows up, and now there’s a fine sitting on the kitchen counter. By then it’s too late to have the easy conversation. So let’s have it now.
Here’s the thing nobody tells you: your township draws a hard line between a permanent fence and a temporary fence, and that line is not what you think it is. It’s not about how nice it looks. It’s not about whether it’s wood or vinyl. It’s about how it’s anchored, how long it’s up, and what it’s there for.
Get that wrong and you’re pulling posts out of the ground on a Saturday.
The Actual Definition Your Township Is Using
Most township codes around here — and I’m talking Delco, Montco, Bucks, plenty of others — define a permanent fence by two things:
- Attachment to the ground. Posts set in concrete footings, sleeves, or driven below frost line. If it’s meant to survive a winter, they call it permanent.
- Duration of installation. Anything staying up longer than a defined window (usually 30, 60, or 180 days depending on the township) is treated as permanent, regardless of how it’s built.
A temporary fence, in ordinance language, is usually something you can pull up without leaving a footing behind. Chain link on stakes. Orange safety fence zip-tied to T-posts. Panels sitting in weighted feet. If you can knock it down in an afternoon and there’s nothing left in the dirt, most townships will call it temporary.
That distinction matters because permanent fences almost always need a zoning permit, a setback review, and sometimes a grading review. Temporary fences, in most cases, don’t — as long as they fall inside a permit-exempt category.
The Permit-Exempt Categories Most Homeowners Miss
This is where people leave money on the table or get themselves in trouble. Every township ordinance I’ve dealt with carves out exceptions for temporary fencing in specific situations. You just have to know they exist.
1. Active construction. If your house is under an open building permit — a real permit, with a job number — you’re generally allowed to throw up temporary fencing around the work zone without a separate permit. Safety fence around a foundation dig, plywood hoarding around a porch tear-off, chain link around a driveway pour. That’s covered under the parent permit. When the CO gets signed off, the fence has to come down. Not “eventually.” Promptly.
2. Special events. Block parties, graduation tents, backyard weddings, church festivals — most townships give you a window (often 72 hours before, 48 after) to erect temporary fencing or crowd control barriers without pulling paper. Some townships want a courtesy notification. Some don’t. The one thing they all care about is that it doesn’t block a sidewalk or a fire lane. Read that part twice.
3. Pool barriers during construction. This is the one that trips people up. If you’re building a pool, the finished pool needs a permanent, code-compliant barrier — usually 48 inches minimum, self-closing gate, the whole nine yards. But during construction, before the permanent fence goes in, most townships require you to install a temporary barrier around the open excavation. That temporary fence doesn’t need its own permit — it’s mandatory under the pool permit itself. Skip it and you’re not just violating code, you’re looking at real liability if a kid wanders in.
4. Agricultural and garden fencing. Deer fencing around a vegetable patch, chicken wire around raised beds — most townships either exempt these or set a much higher trigger height before a permit kicks in. Usually you’re fine under 4 feet in a rear yard. Check your specific setback rules for corner lots, they’re different.
5. Emergency and hazard fencing. Tree came down and now there’s a hole in your yard the size of a Buick. You can fence it off temporarily without paperwork. That’s an emergency exemption. Same goes for a sinkhole, a collapsed retaining wall, or a section of sidewalk the township hasn’t fixed yet.
Where People Get Burned
The most common mistake I see is homeowners treating construction fencing like it’s their new permanent yard. The permit says “temporary.” That means the day the job wraps, the fence comes with it. I had a homeowner in Havertown who left construction fencing up for eight months after his addition was done because “it was easier than putting in a real fence.” He ended up with a violation notice, a daily fine, and a very unhappy neighbor who kicked the whole thing off. Would’ve cost him half as much to just put in a proper split rail.
The other one is height. Most townships cap front-yard fences at 3 or 4 feet and rear-yard fences at 6. Corner lots have their own rules because of sight-line requirements at the intersection. A 6-foot privacy fence on a corner lot within the sight triangle will get you a letter faster than anything else.
What To Do Before You Buy a Single Post
Three things, in order:
- Pull your township’s zoning ordinance and search “fence.” It’s almost always online. Read the actual section — not what a Facebook group told you it says.
- Call the zoning office. They’d rather answer a question up front than write a violation later. Most zoning officers are decent people. Treat them like it.
- Check your deed for easements. Utility easements, drainage easements, HOA restrictions. Your township might approve a fence that your deed doesn’t allow.
Do those three things and you’ll avoid almost every fence problem before it starts. Skip them and you’re on the hook for whatever comes next.