FENCE RULES – CAMPBELLSVILLE (CITY), KENTUCKY

OVERVIEW

Residential fences are permitted on private property within City of Campbellsville, subject to local regulations. For properties located outside City of Campbellsville municipal limits, Taylor County regulates fences in unincorporated areas.

Local fence rules are not collected in a single standalone residential fence chapter. They appear through the City of Campbellsville Code of Ordinances, including the Zoning Code, Building and Construction Standards, Flood Damage Prevention, Historic Preservation, Stormwater Quality Management Plan, and Subdivision Regulations, together with city stormwater permit materials and the official zoning map.

This page focuses on typical single-family residential fencing. If the jurisdiction’s adopted materials do not state a specific limit or requirement, this page notes that the code does not specify one.

Compiled From the City of Campbellsville Code of Ordinances, Zoning Ordinance of the City of Campbellsville, Kentucky, Kentucky Building Code and Kentucky Residential Code adoption provisions, Flood Damage Prevention chapter, Historic Preservation chapter, Stormwater Quality Management Plan, Subdivision Regulations for City of Campbellsville, Level 1-2 Site Development Permit Application for Construction Activities, City of Campbellsville Zoning Map, Livestock and Fowl Ordinance, Code Enforcement materials, and Documents & Forms materials as of June 2026.

GOVERNANCE

The City of Campbellsville regulates residential fencing through its zoning, building, stormwater, floodplain, historic-preservation, subdivision, and code-enforcement framework.

The Planning and Zoning Agency is the city office tied to zoning administration, the Planning and Zoning Commission, the Board of Adjustments, and issuance of building permits.

The Building Inspector is identified in the Zoning Code permit and certificate provisions. The Floodplain Administrator administers floodplain permitting under the Flood Damage Prevention chapter. The Historic Preservation Commission reviews certificate-of-appropriateness matters for landmarks, landmark sites, and properties in historic districts.

The code does not publish a separate consolidated residential fence ordinance. For residential fences, the relevant local rules come from the city’s treatment of fences as structures, residential district yard and corner-lot rules, pool-barrier language, floodplain and stormwater requirements, historic-review provisions, subdivision plats, easements, rights-of-way, and private restrictions.

PERMIT AND APPROVAL REQUIREMENTS

• Local Structure Review: The Zoning Code defines fences as structures. The Zoning Code requires a Building Inspector permit before excavation for or construction of a structure, and before moving or altering a structure. That local zoning-code review is separate from the Kentucky Residential Code building-permit exemption described below.

• Kentucky Residential Code Building-Permit Exemption: Under the Kentucky Residential Code building-permit baseline, fences not over 7 feet high are exempt from a building permit. This 7-foot figure is a building-permit exemption threshold, not a local maximum fence height, and it does not remove separate Campbellsville zoning, floodplain, stormwater, historic, subdivision, easement, right-of-way, or pool-barrier requirements.

• Permit Application Information: When a city permit is required, the Zoning Code requires the application materials to show the lot dimensions and the location, size, and height of existing and proposed buildings or structures on the lot.

• Stormwater and Site-Development Permits: The Stormwater Quality Management Plan requires city site-development permitting for covered land disturbance and construction activity. The city’s Level 1-2 site-development application applies to less-than-one-acre construction activity that is not part of a larger development and distinguishes projects by impervious-area increase, slope, erosion-control measures, and other stormwater information.

• Floodplain Development Permit: A fence project in a special flood hazard area, floodway, stream corridor, watercourse, or similar regulated floodplain setting may require review under the Flood Damage Prevention chapter before development occurs.

• Historic Review: A fence that is part of public-visible exterior work, new construction, demolition, or relocation affecting a landmark, landmark site, or property in a historic district may require a certificate of appropriateness before work proceeds.

• Pool Barrier Review: For a private swimming pool, the Zoning Code requires the pool or the property on which it is located to be adequately fenced to prevent free access by small children. Pool-barrier review is separate from ordinary yard-fence review.

• Subdivision and Plat Conditions: Subdivision plats, recorded easements, rights-of-way, building setback lines, drainage easements, utility easements, and protective covenants may create site-specific limits that affect fence placement.

FENCE PLACEMENT RULES

• Property-Line Placement: The code does not state a simple property-line setback rule for standard residential fences. Because the Zoning Code defines fences as structures, fence placement must be read with the applicable zoning district, yard, corner-lot, right-of-way, easement, plat, and subdivision requirements.

• Yards and Corner Lots: The Zoning Code defines yards as open spaces that are not occupied or obstructed by buildings or structures except where the code allows an exception. On corner lots, buildings and structures must observe the required front-yard requirements on both streets.

• Rights-of-Way and Easements: Fences must not be placed in a way that conflicts with public street rights-of-way, utility easements, drainage easements, stormwater easements, or other rights-of-way or easements shown on a subdivision plat or final plat.

• Drainage and Stormwater Areas: Fences must not interfere with drainage easements, stormwater facilities, drainage ways, swales, ditches, storm sewers, detention or retention areas, or other stormwater controls required by the Stormwater Quality Management Plan or Subdivision Regulations.

• Floodplain and Watercourse Areas: In floodplain, floodway, stream, drainage-channel, and watercourse settings, fences may be reviewed as development or as an obstruction when they affect flood flow, drainage, or stream conditions.

• Historic Properties: For landmarks, landmark sites, and properties in historic districts, public-visible fence work may be reviewed through the city’s certificate-of-appropriateness process.

• Livestock or Fowl Use: A fence used to keep livestock or fowl does not override the city’s livestock and fowl ordinance. That ordinance separately regulates keeping livestock or fowl within city limits and is not a general residential fence design standard.

• Utility Safety: Kentucky law requires notice through Kentucky 811 before excavation where Kentucky’s underground utility damage-prevention law applies. For fence projects that involve digging, including fence post holes, notice must be given not less than two full working days and not more than 10 full working days before excavation begins, unless a different future start date is allowed by law. Kentucky locate requests are valid for 21 calendar days from the initial request. Kentucky law also includes exemptions, including certain agricultural tilling and certain nonmechanized excavation on private property where no operator right-of-way or easement is encroached.

FENCE HEIGHT AND VISIBILITY RULES

• Fence-Specific Height Table: The code does not publish a separate residential fence-height table for front yards, side yards, and rear yards.

• General Structure Height: Because the Zoning Code defines fences as structures, the residential district structure-height rule is relevant where no more specific fence rule controls. In residential districts, no building or structure may exceed two stories or 30 feet unless each side yard is increased by 5 feet for every 5 feet or fraction of 5 feet above 30 feet. In no case may a building or structure exceed 50 feet.

• Kentucky Residential Code Threshold: The 7-foot Kentucky Residential Code figure is a building-permit exemption threshold for fences not over 7 feet high. It is not a Campbellsville fence-height maximum.

• Corner-Lot Visibility Context: The code does not specify a separate residential fence sight-triangle height limit. Corner-lot fences remain subject to the Zoning Code rule requiring structures on corner lots to observe front-yard requirements on both streets, along with any applicable right-of-way, driveway, easement, subdivision, stormwater, or floodplain limitation.

• Pool Fencing: The Zoning Code does not specify a numeric pool-fence height in the residential district language. It requires a private pool or the property on which the pool is located to be adequately fenced to prevent free access by small children.

MATERIAL AND CONSTRUCTION LIMITS

• Standard Residential Materials: The code does not specify approved or prohibited materials for ordinary single-family residential fences.

• Finished Side and Opacity: The code does not publish a finished-side, opacity, or open-versus-solid standard for standard single-family residential fences.

• Barbed Wire, Electric Fence, and Chain Link: The code does not publish a residential barbed-wire, electric-fence, or chain-link rule for ordinary single-family residential fences.

• Historic Properties: For landmarks, landmark sites, and properties in historic districts, public-visible fence work may be reviewed for design, arrangement, texture, materials, color, and visual compatibility through the certificate-of-appropriateness process.

• Floodplain and Watercourse Construction: In floodplain, floodway, stream, or drainage-channel settings, a fence, wire, barrier, or similar obstruction may be reviewed for flood-flow, drainage, or watercourse impacts. That review does not create an ordinary residential fence-material standard outside the regulated setting.

• Pool Barriers: The residential district pool rule requires adequate fencing to prevent free access by small children, but the code does not publish a specific material list for that pool-barrier language.

PRIVATE RESTRICTIONS

Private restrictions operate separately from City of Campbellsville zoning and permit requirements.

Recorded subdivision restrictions, deed restrictions, HOA covenants, private easements, architectural-review covenants, shared-boundary agreements, private drainage agreements, utility easements, and protective covenants shown on or attached to a plat may be more restrictive than the city’s published rules.

The city’s Subdivision Regulations recognize protective covenants as a plat-related item, but private restrictions are not the same as city zoning approval unless the city’s official process separately incorporates them.

REVIEW AND ENFORCEMENT CONTEXT

Fence issues are typically reviewed during permit or approval review when required, and through complaint-based code enforcement. Examples include:

• Structure Review: Fence work may be reviewed because the Zoning Code defines fences as structures and requires permit review before excavation for or construction of structures.

• Kentucky Residential Code Exemption: The fences not over 7 feet building-permit exemption may be relevant to building-code permit review, but it does not remove separate local zoning, stormwater, floodplain, historic, subdivision, right-of-way, easement, pool-barrier, or private-restriction limits.

• Corner Lots and Required Yards: Corner-lot fences may be reviewed because structures on corner lots must observe front-yard requirements on both streets.

• Pool Barriers: Fences used as part of a private swimming pool barrier may be reviewed under the residential district pool-fencing requirement.

• Stormwater and Land Disturbance: Fence projects involving covered land disturbance, grading, impervious-area changes, erosion-control issues, or construction activity may be reviewed under the city’s stormwater and site-development permit framework.

• Floodplain and Watercourses: Fences in special flood hazard areas, floodways, streams, drainage channels, or watercourses may be reviewed as development or obstructions under the Flood Damage Prevention chapter.

• Historic Review: Fence work affecting landmarks, landmark sites, or properties in historic districts may be reviewed through the Historic Preservation Commission’s certificate-of-appropriateness process.

• Subdivision, Easement, and Right-of-Way Conflicts: Fences may be reviewed when they conflict with recorded plats, utility easements, drainage easements, stormwater easements, building setback lines, or public rights-of-way.

• Code Enforcement: Code enforcement may apply when a fence condition overlaps with property-maintenance, unsafe-structure, drainage, right-of-way, nuisance, or complaint-based enforcement issues.

USING THIS INFORMATION

This page provides general orientation on how residential fence rules are structured and applied within City of Campbellsville, based on publicly available source materials reviewed as of June 2026.

In addition to local fence rules, certain Kentucky laws apply statewide. See Statewide Fence Laws in Kentucky.

It is not legal advice and does not replace official ordinances, permits, surveys, or professional guidance. Rules and interpretations may change, and application may vary based on zoning district, site conditions, easements, rights-of-way, floodplain status, stormwater or drainage requirements, road or highway encroachment, historic district status, rural or agricultural context, livestock or farm-boundary context, pool-barrier use, and private restrictions such as HOA covenants, deed restrictions, private agreements, or agricultural conservation easements. Before purchasing materials or beginning construction, confirm current requirements and any site-specific limitations with Planning and Zoning Agency and any applicable private agreements. If this page conflicts with official ordinances, published guidance, or direction from City of Campbellsville staff, the official sources control. For legal advice or legal interpretation, consult a licensed attorney.