Durham fence rules and permits

One ordinance, Durham's Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), covers fences in both the City and unincorporated Durham County (Durham UDO 1.4). Here is what it says, in plain words, with links to each section.

The online UDO says it is not the official version, and the City's own fence page disagrees with it in two places (noted below). Before you build anything close to a limit, confirm with Durham Planning.

Do I need a permit?

No permit is needed for an ordinary fence in the City or the County (City of Durham). You do need an approval in these cases:

• The fence is a pool barrier on a single-family lot. That needs a building permit (City of Durham).
• The lot is in a FEMA floodplain. Fences there need a floodplain development permit (Durham floodplain rules).
• The property is in a local historic district. A fence needs a Certificate of Appropriateness whether or not any other permit is needed (Durham COA).
• You are building a retaining wall. Retaining walls need a permit even though fences do not (City of Durham).
• Anything goes in the right-of-way of a state-maintained road. That needs a written NCDOT permit (G.S. 136-93).

How tall can a fence be?

The limits depend on where the fence sits and on the lot's Development Tier (Durham UDO 9.9):

Posts, columns and post caps can rise above the limit, as long as the fence between the posts stays under it (Durham UDO 9.9). The Rural Tier is mostly outside the suburban area and in watershed critical areas (Durham UDO 4.1). To check your lot, open DurhamMaps and turn on the layer named Tiers.

The fence section of the UDO does not say how height is measured on a slope, or whether a fence on top of a retaining wall counts the wall's height. Ask Planning if either applies to you.

Taller than the limit

A fence taller than the limit, such as a 6-foot privacy fence in a front yard outside the Rural Tier, needs a variance from the Board of Adjustment (City of Durham). For a one- or two-family lot the fee is $831 plus a processing fee (Durham fee menu). The hardship has to come from the property itself: personal circumstances, or conditions common to the whole neighborhood, do not count (Durham UDO 3.14).

Corners and driveways: sight triangles

Drivers need to see past your fence. Inside these triangles nothing may stand between 2.5 and 8 feet high, measured from the grade of the street or driveway (Durham UDO 12.3):

• At a street corner, the triangle runs 25 feet along each pavement edge from the point where the edges, or their extended lines, meet.
• At every driveway, it runs 10 feet back from the curb and extends 70 feet from each side of the driveway.

A low fence under 2.5 feet, or a fence set back outside the triangle, is fine.

Which side faces out

The finished side of every fence must face away from your property. If the posts show on only one side, that side counts as the unfinished side (Durham UDO 9.9). Plan for the posts and rails to face your yard.

Wire and electric fences

• Barbed wire, razor wire and concertina wire are not allowed in residential districts or next to homes, except in the Rural Tier (Durham UDO 9.9).
• Buried electric pet fences are exempt from the fence rules. Above-ground electric fences are limited to government, utility and industrial uses, or where state or federal law requires one (Durham UDO 9.9).

Setbacks, easements and streams

• Fences may sit inside the required yards, the setbacks a house must keep, but easements and other legal restrictions can still limit them (Durham UDO 6.12).
• Durham Water can remove fences from City sanitary sewer easements, and existing fences there are not grandfathered (Durham Water). Check your plat or survey for easements before you set posts.
• If your yard backs onto a stream, talk to Planning before you build. The UDO's stream buffer table appears to prohibit fences in the buffer on single-family lots (Durham UDO 8.5).

Historic districts

Durham has eight local historic districts: Cleveland Street, Downtown Durham, Fayetteville Street, Golden Belt, Holloway Street, Morehead Hill, Trinity Heights and Watts-Hillandale (Durham historic districts). A new fence in one needs a Certificate of Appropriateness (COA), even if it cannot be seen from the street (Durham COA).

• Fences are usually a minor COA, reviewed by Planning staff (Durham COA work list) within 10 business days (Durham COA). The fee is $45 plus a processing fee (Durham fee menu).
• Staff can still send an application to the Historic Preservation Commission, which meets monthly, with application deadlines about two months before each meeting (Durham COA).
• The district guidelines say chain link, wire and vinyl fencing are generally not appropriate (Durham historic review criteria).
• Small repairs that match the existing fence in materials and style do not need a COA (Durham COA work list).
• Building without a required COA can bring a fine of $500 a day after a notice of violation (Durham COA).

To check whether a property is in a local district, use DurhamMaps with the historic layers turned on.

Pools

A fence that serves as a pool barrier needs a permit (City of Durham) and has to meet the North Carolina Residential Code (NC Fire Marshal):

• at least 48 inches tall, measured on the side away from the pool;
• no more than 2 inches of gap at the bottom, or 4 inches over concrete;
• no opening a 4-inch ball could pass through;
• chain link mesh no larger than 2-1/4 inches;
• walk-through gates that open outward, away from the pool, and close and latch on their own.

Removable mesh pool fences do not count as a code barrier (NC Fire Marshal). Durham's permit checklist asks for a description of how the barrier meets the code and the name of the contractor (Durham pool checklist).

HOAs

In a homeowners association, the community's recorded declaration controls what you may build, and the association's powers apply unless the declaration says otherwise (G.S. 47F). An HOA can fine you only after notice and a chance to be heard. Unless the declaration sets its own process, the fine is capped at $100, and it can then be charged for each day the violation continues more than five days after the decision (G.S. 47F). Get written approval before you sign with a contractor.

Before anyone digs: NC 811

• Whoever is responsible for the digging must notify NC 811 at least three full working days before starting. Weekends and state holidays do not count (G.S. 87, Art. 8A).
• Augering post holes and driving posts both count as digging under the law (G.S. 87, Art. 8A).
• It is free. Dial 811, or file a ticket online at nc811.org (NC811).
• A homeowner digging on their own single-family lot is exempt, but a contractor you hire is not (G.S. 87, Art. 8A).
• 811 does not mark private lines, such as buried pet fences, sprinkler lines, power to a shed or lamppost, or the water and sewer lines between the meter and the house (NC811).
• Dig by hand within 24 inches of any mark (NC811). The notice expires 28 calendar days after the work start date (G.S. 87, Art. 8A).