FENCE RULES – DAVIESS (COUNTY), KENTUCKY
OVERVIEW
Residential fences are permitted on private property within Daviess County, subject to local regulations. This page applies to properties in the unincorporated areas of Daviess County; incorporated municipalities such as Owensboro and Whitesville may regulate fences under their own ordinances.
Local fence rules appear primarily in the Daviess County Code of Ordinances, the Owensboro Metropolitan Zoning Ordinance, OMPC fence guidance, OMPC permit forms, and Daviess County stormwater and public-works provisions. Daviess County does not publish a separate standalone residential fence code; fence requirements are spread across zoning, easement, right-of-way, floodplain, stormwater, and enforcement rules.
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 Daviess County Code of Ordinances, the Owensboro Metropolitan Zoning Ordinance, OMPC Services fence guidance, OMPC permit forms, Daviess County Chapter 51 Stormwater provisions, and Daviess County Public Works stormwater materials as of June 2026.
GOVERNANCE
Daviess County adopts the Owensboro Metropolitan Zoning Ordinance into the county code. The ordinance applies within the planning area that includes Daviess County, Owensboro, and Whitesville, but this county page is scoped to unincorporated Daviess County.
The Owensboro Metropolitan Planning Commission (OMPC) is the joint planning agency established by the City of Owensboro, the City of Whitesville, and Daviess County. OMPC administers zoning, building and electrical permitting in its service area, zoning administration, zoning maps, development-plan review, floodplain information, and related forms.
The Zoning Administrator enforces the zoning ordinance and issues building permits, certificates of occupancy, and encroachment permits where those approvals are required. The Owensboro Metropolitan Board of Adjustment handles variances, conditional use permits, and administrative appeals. The Daviess County Engineer and Daviess County Engineering Department administer county engineering, excavation, cut/fill, drainage, and stormwater matters where those rules apply.
PERMIT AND APPROVAL REQUIREMENTS
• Fence Permits: OMPC states that permits are not required for fences. That local administrative statement controls the ordinary residential fence-permit question for this page.
• Height and Placement Compliance: The lack of a fence permit does not remove the zoning limits for fence location, fence height, sight triangles, rights-of-way, easements, floodplain status, stormwater flow, pool-barrier use, or private restrictions.
• Encroachment Permits: A fence or other encroachment in, under, on, or over a public right-of-way, public utility easement, or drainage easement requires the Article 5 encroachment-permit process through the Zoning Administrator. The application must identify the proposed location, dimensions, and nature of the encroachment, include a site plan showing the relationship to the easement, right-of-way, and utility facilities, and include affected utility or agency waivers where required. The encroachment permit must be recorded in the Daviess County Clerk’s Office within 30 days after issuance and before beginning the work.
• Floodplain and Development Permits: Development within areas of special flood hazard or areas subject to potential flooding requires the Article 18 development-permit process. Fence work that includes grading, fill, excavation, a wall, or an obstruction in those areas is reviewed separately from the ordinary fence-permit statement.
• Excavation, Cut, Fill, and Stormwater: In unincorporated Daviess County, excavation, cut, or fill of earth or debris requires a permit from the local government engineer unless an ordinance exception applies. Chapter 51 also allows the Daviess County Engineer to require excavation, cut/fill, NOI, SWPPP, erosion-control, or related stormwater compliance when land-disturbance activity is part of the project.
• Pool-Barrier Context: Fences and walls around swimming pools and sports courts must conform to the zoning ordinance and the Kentucky Building Code. Pool review is separate from an ordinary residential yard fence.
FENCE PLACEMENT RULES
• Property Lines: The ordinance does not state a setback requirement for standard residential fences from property lines; however, fences must be located entirely on the owner’s property and must not encroach into rights-of-way or easements.
• Street Rights-of-Way: OMPC guidance states that fences must not be located on public right-of-way. Inside most subdivisions, the street right-of-way line is about 6 inches behind the back of the sidewalk, but the location can vary by plat and property.
• Utility and Public Facility Easements: Fences must not be located in a utility easement or public facility easement unless permission has been obtained from all agencies that maintain facilities within the easement.
• Drainage Easements and Encroachments: A fence placed in a public right-of-way, public utility easement, or drainage easement is treated as an encroachment and requires the Article 5 encroachment-permit process when the fence is allowed to proceed.
• Sight Triangles: Fences and other accessory features must not be located in a sight triangle at a street intersection or driveway intersection. Sight-distance triangles are reviewed under the current AASHTO policy and approved by the City or County Engineer; for unincorporated Daviess County, the county engineering office is the relevant local engineering authority.
• Surface Stormwater Flow: Walls and fences must not obstruct the natural flow of surface stormwater through yards, even where no formal stormwater easement exists. Chapter 51 also prohibits placing materials or obstructions in county-maintained ditches, stormwater inlets, catch basins, manholes, or other drainage facilities.
• Floodplain and Land-Disturbance Areas: Fence work in an area of special flood hazard, potential flooding, stream impact, grading, fill, excavation, or drainage alteration is subject to the separate floodplain, cut/fill, and stormwater rules when those site conditions apply.
• 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
• Residential Zones – Front Yards: In residential zones, a wall or fence may be up to 3 feet high in a front yard.
• Residential Zones – Interior Side Yards: In residential zones, a wall or fence may be up to 6 feet high in an interior side yard.
• Residential Zones – Interior Rear Yards and Rear Yards Along Alleys: In residential zones, a wall or fence may be up to 8 feet high in an interior rear yard or in a rear yard adjoining an alley.
• Residential Zones – Rear or Side Yards Along Streets: In residential zones, a wall or fence may be up to 6 feet high in a rear yard or side yard adjoining an arterial, collector, or local street, unless a variance is granted by the Owensboro Metropolitan Board of Adjustment.
• Multiple Street Frontages: On lots with more than one street frontage, the front yard is determined by the street designated by the property address.
• Corner Residential Lots – Rear Yards Abut: Where corner residential lots are back-to-back and oriented so that rear yards abut, fences and walls within street side yards may be up to 6 feet high, and fences and walls within street rear yards may be up to 8 feet high, subject to sight-triangle review.
• Corner Residential Lots – Rear and Side Yards Abut: Where corner residential lots are back-to-back and oriented so that rear and side yards abut, the 6-foot maximum fence height applies in street side yards and street rear yards, subject to sight-triangle review.
• Agricultural and Other Nonindustrial, Nonresidential Zones: In agricultural zones and other zones outside the industrial and residential categories, a wall or fence may be up to 6 feet high in a front yard, up to 6 feet high in a rear or side yard adjoining an arterial, collector, or local street, up to 8 feet high in any other rear yard, and up to 6 feet high in any non-street side yard, subject to sight-triangle limits.
• Principal-Building Setback Condition: Where walls and fences are located in conformance with setback requirements for principal buildings, they conform to the principal-building height limit for the zoning district.
• Support Posts: Fence support posts may exceed the fence height by a maximum of 1 foot, including terminating ornamentation or finials.
• Grade Measurement: In yards where the grade is higher than the adjoining street grade, fence or wall height may be measured from the main grade of the yard.
• Sight-Triangle Visibility: Fence height is still subject to the applicable sight-distance triangle at street and driveway intersections. The code does not publish a fixed local sight-triangle dimension for standard residential fences; it uses the current AASHTO sight-distance standard and engineering approval.
• Article 17 Landscape-Buffer Condition: When a wall or fence is used as part of a required landscape or land-use buffer, Article 17 can add buffer requirements. Required perimeter landscaping must provide at least 50% winter opacity between 1 foot above finished grade and the top of the required planting, hedge, fence, wall, or earth mound within 4 years after installation.
• Downtown Overlay Context: The zoning ordinance’s Downtown Overlay cross-reference concerns Downtown Owensboro overlay properties. Those downtown overlay standards are outside the unincorporated Daviess County scope of this page.
MATERIAL AND CONSTRUCTION LIMITS
• Barbed Wire: Barbed wire on walls and fences is prohibited in residential and MHP zones. Barbed wire is permitted in other zones, and barbed wire along a boundary adjoining a residential or MHP zone must be at least 6 feet above ground level. The ordinance also allows barbed wire on walls or fences accessory to legally nonconforming commercial or industrial uses.
• Electric Fences: Electric fences are prohibited in residential and MHP zones.
• Required Landscape Buffers: If a fence or wall is used to satisfy an Article 17 perimeter landscaping or land-use buffer, Article 17 may require a planting, hedge, fence, wall, or earth mound to meet the required buffer and opacity standard. That buffer rule is not a universal opacity standard for ordinary residential yard fences.
• Drainage and Easement Construction: Fences and walls must not obstruct surface stormwater flow and must not occupy public rights-of-way, public utility easements, or drainage easements unless the required permission and encroachment approval are in place.
• Finished Side and Standard Materials: The code does not specify a finished-side orientation, a universal list of approved fence materials, a chain-link prohibition, or a universal opacity requirement for standard residential fences that are not being used as required Article 17 buffers.
PRIVATE RESTRICTIONS
Private restrictions operate independently from Daviess County fence rules. HOAs, subdivision covenants, deed restrictions, recorded plats, private easements, private boundary agreements, agricultural agreements, and other private restrictions may be more restrictive than the public zoning rules.
Where subdivision plats or development plans approved by OMPC contain setback or other site features that exceed the minimum zoning ordinance requirements, those approved plan features control and are enforced by the Zoning Administrator. Private deed restrictions or private covenants that have not been approved by OMPC and made part of an approved subdivision plan are not enforced by the Zoning Administrator.
REVIEW AND ENFORCEMENT CONTEXT
Fence issues are typically reviewed during permit or approval review when required, and through complaint-based code enforcement. Examples include:
• Fence Location: A fence located outside the owner’s property, in public right-of-way, in a public utility easement, in a drainage easement, or on an adjoining lot.
• Height Limits: A fence exceeding the 3-foot, 6-foot, or 8-foot yard-based limits that apply to the property’s zoning district and yard location.
• Corner-Lot and Street-Yard Conditions: A fence on a corner lot, street side yard, or street rear yard that triggers the corner-lot height rules or sight-triangle review.
• Sight Triangles: A fence that blocks the required sight-distance triangle at a street intersection or driveway intersection.
• Encroachments: A fence requiring Article 5 encroachment approval because it is in, under, on, or over a public right-of-way, public utility easement, or drainage easement.
• Floodplain and Cut/Fill Review: Fence work involving excavation, cut, fill, grading, floodplain development, stream impact, or construction in an area subject to potential flooding.
• Stormwater and Drainage: A fence or wall that obstructs the natural flow of surface stormwater through a yard or places materials or obstructions in county-maintained drainage facilities.
• Pool-Barrier Use: A fence used as part of a swimming pool or sports-court enclosure, which must meet the zoning ordinance and Kentucky Building Code context for that feature.
• Material Restrictions: Barbed wire in a residential or MHP zone, electric fencing in a residential or MHP zone, or barbed wire placed along a residential or MHP boundary below the required 6-foot height.
USING THIS INFORMATION
This page provides general orientation on how residential fence rules are structured and applied within Daviess County, 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 Owensboro Metropolitan Planning Commission (OMPC), the Zoning Administrator, and the Daviess County Engineering Department where engineering, drainage, or right-of-way issues apply, and any applicable private agreements. If this page conflicts with official ordinances, published guidance, or direction from Daviess County staff or OMPC staff, the official sources control. For legal advice or legal interpretation, consult a licensed attorney.