FENCE RULES – LAMAR (COUNTY), MISSISSIPPI
OVERVIEW
Residential fences are permitted on private property within Lamar County, subject to local regulations.
This page applies to properties in the unincorporated areas of Lamar County; incorporated municipalities such as Hattiesburg may regulate fences under their own ordinances.
Fence-related requirements for Lamar County appear primarily in the Lamar County Planning Department materials, the Lamar County Zoning Ordinance, the Lamar County Subdivision Regulations, the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance, the Stormwater Runoff, Illicit Discharges, and Illegal Connections Ordinance, and Ordinance 1600 – Residential Construction Permitting. Lamar County does not publish a consolidated residential fence code or a separate standard residential fence-permit page in the referenced published materials.
This page focuses on typical single-family residential fencing. If the jurisdiction’s adopted code or ordinance materials do not state a specific limit or requirement, this page notes that the code does not specify one. If no local code or ordinance is available in the approved source packet, this page notes that the jurisdiction does not publish the relevant standard in the referenced published materials.
Compiled From Lamar County Planning Department, Lamar County Zoning Ordinance amended through October 20, 2022, Lamar County Subdivision Regulations, Lamar County Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance, Lamar County Stormwater Runoff, Illicit Discharges, and Illegal Connections Ordinance, Lamar County Site Plan Review Ordinance, Ordinance 1600 – Residential Construction Permitting, effective February 1, 2025, Lamar County Inspections & Enforcement materials, and Mississippi Damage Prevention Law / Mississippi 811 as of July 2026.
GOVERNANCE
The Lamar County Board of Supervisors governs county matters in unincorporated Lamar County. The Lamar County Planning Department administers the county Zoning, Subdivision, Site Plan Review, Storm Water Management, Flood Plain, and residential-construction-permitting materials identified for this page.
The Lamar County Zoning Ordinance governs the zoned portions of unincorporated Lamar County. In unzoned portions, the Site Plan Review Ordinance and Development Permit process apply to specified commercial, retail, multi-family, industrial, institutional, campground, mobile-home-park, and related development rather than ordinary single-family fence work.
Lamar County's Inspections & Enforcement materials state that the county has not adopted structural building codes and does not perform structural or single-family residential inspections in unincorporated areas. Ordinance 1600 separately administers the state-mandated permit process for residential construction that falls within the ordinance and state-law definition. The ordinance does not expressly identify a standard residential fence as work requiring that permit.
The Lamar County Board of Supervisors appoints the Floodplain Administrator or another delegated, designated, or qualified official to administer the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance. The Stormwater Ordinance is administered by the Board of Supervisors or its designee.
PERMIT AND APPROVAL REQUIREMENTS
• Land Use Permit – Zoned Areas: Section 400.01 of the Lamar County Zoning Ordinance expressly exempts fences from the county Land Use Permit in zoned portions of unincorporated Lamar County. This exemption does not remove the ordinance's visibility rules or applicable subdivision, easement, floodplain, stormwater, drainage, utility, and private restrictions.
• Unzoned-Area Development Permit: The county Development Permit and Site Plan Review process in unzoned areas applies to specified commercial, retail, multi-family, industrial, institutional, campground, mobile-home-park, and related development. The Site Plan Review Ordinance excludes a boundary wall or fence from its definition of structure and does not establish an ordinary single-family fence permit.
• Residential Construction Permit Context: Ordinance 1600 requires a Lamar County Planning Department permit for residential construction that falls within the ordinance and state-law definition in unincorporated Lamar County. Lamar County does not administer structural building codes or structural inspections, and the ordinance does not expressly state that a standard residential fence requires this permit.
• Floodplain Development Permit: A floodplain development permit is required before development activities begin in identified Special Flood Hazard Areas and Community Flood Hazard Areas within county jurisdiction. Development includes buildings or other structures, filling, grading, paving, excavating, and drilling. Fence work involving those activities in an identified flood-hazard area is subject to review by the Lamar County Floodplain Administrator.
• Stormwater – 0 to 0.9 Acre Disturbed: No Lamar County stormwater permit or Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan is required when the total disturbed area is 0 to 0.9 acre. The ordinance states that the property owner or contractor remains responsible for erosion, runoff, and drainage problems arising from the activity.
• Stormwater – 1 to 5 Acres Disturbed: Land disturbance of 1 to 5 acres requires a permit from the Lamar County Planning Department, together with a Lamar County Construction Notice of Intent and a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan.
• Stormwater – More Than 5 Acres Disturbed: Land disturbance of more than 5 acres requires the applicable permit from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, and the required permit documents must also be provided to the Lamar County Planning Department before work begins.
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.
• Subdivision Easements: The Lamar County Subdivision Regulations state that no fences, buildings, paving, or plotting are permitted in easements. Easement corners must also allow equipment access as determined by the County Engineer.
• Corner Lots in Zoned Areas: On a corner lot in any zoning district, a fence or other object may not be erected, placed, planted, or allowed to grow in a manner that materially impedes driver visibility within the county's 25-foot intersection visibility triangle.
• Subdivision Street Intersections: Within a subdivision sight triangle, no fence, wall, sign, earthwork, hedge, shrub, or other structure or planting may be placed or maintained between 3 and 7 feet above the adjacent roadway grade. The triangle extends 30 feet along the intersecting curb or edge-of-pavement lines as specified in the Subdivision Regulations.
• Principal-Arterial Landscaped Easements: Residential subdivisions along a roadway designated as a Principal Arterial must provide the required landscaped easement. A fence may not be erected in a manner that blocks access to that easement.
• Flood-Hazard Areas and Watercourses: The Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance defines an obstruction to include a fence in, along, across, or projecting into a watercourse where it may alter, impede, retard, or change water flow, collect debris, or be carried downstream. Fence work in an identified flood-hazard area is subject to the ordinance's development-permit and flood-flow requirements when those conditions apply.
• Regulatory Floodways: Encroachments, including fill, new construction, substantial improvements, and other development, are prohibited in a regulatory floodway unless certification with supporting technical data from a Mississippi-registered professional engineer demonstrates that the encroachment will cause no increase in flood levels during the base-flood discharge.
• Streams Without Base-Flood Elevations or Floodways: An encroachment may not be placed within a distance from the stream bank equal to five times the stream width at the top of the bank or 20 feet from each side of the top of the bank, whichever is greater, unless a registered professional engineer certifies that the encroachment will not increase flood levels during the base-flood discharge.
• Drainage and Watercourses: Property owners must prevent erosion, runoff, or drainage conditions that harm adjoining property, public streets, drainage channels, or stormwater systems. A property owner through whose property a watercourse passes must keep the watercourse free of trash, debris, excessive vegetation, and other obstacles that significantly retard water flow, and must maintain private structures within or adjacent to the watercourse so they do not become hazards to its use or physical integrity.
• Utility Safety: Mississippi law requires notice through Mississippi 811 before excavation where the Mississippi Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act applies. For fence projects that involve digging, including digging, drilling, augering, boring, grading, or other movement of earth, notice generally must be given at least three full working days before excavation begins. Mississippi 811 is a notification center and does not mark lines itself; member utilities or their locators mark covered facilities, and the excavator must check the positive-response status before beginning work where required. This statewide utility-notice framework is separate from local fence permitting, zoning, development approval, easement limits, right-of-way approvals, floodplain review, stormwater review, drainage review, historic or design review, HOA restrictions, and other applicable requirements.
FENCE HEIGHT AND VISIBILITY RULES
• Maximum Height: The Lamar County Zoning Ordinance and Subdivision Regulations do not specify a general maximum height for standard residential fences.
• Yard-Based Height: The code does not specify separate maximum heights for standard front-yard, side-yard, rear-yard, rural residential, agricultural residential, or large-lot fences.
• Zoned Corner-Lot Visibility: Within the 25-foot triangular area measured from intersecting right-of-way lines, nothing may materially impede driver vision between 2.5 and 10 feet above the centerline grades of the intersecting streets.
• Subdivision Sight-Triangle Visibility: At subdivision street intersections, the required 30-foot sight triangle must remain unobstructed between 3 and 7 feet above the adjacent roadway grade. Fences are expressly included among the prohibited obstructions within that height band.
• Floodplain Context: The floodplain ordinance's treatment of a fence as a possible watercourse obstruction concerns floodwater flow and encroachment review. It is not a countywide maximum-height rule for residential fences.
MATERIAL AND CONSTRUCTION LIMITS
• Standard Residential Materials: The Lamar County Zoning Ordinance and Subdivision Regulations do not specify a countywide material, opacity, finished-side, or construction standard for ordinary single-family residential fences.
• Barbed Wire, Razor Wire, and Electric Fencing: The code does not publish a countywide prohibition or construction standard for barbed-wire, razor-wire, or electric fencing on standard single-family residential property. Fence rules written for industrial screening, wireless communications facilities, and other nonresidential uses do not establish ordinary residential material standards.
• Floodplain and Drainage Conditions: A fence located in or near a watercourse, floodway, drainage easement, or stormwater facility must not create a prohibited obstruction or interfere with required access, drainage, or flood conveyance. These are site-condition limits rather than general residential fence-material standards.
PRIVATE RESTRICTIONS
Private restrictions operate independently from Lamar County fence rules. These may include HOA covenants, subdivision restrictions, deed restrictions, private easements, architectural-review covenants, utility or drainage easements, agricultural agreements, conservation easements, and private boundary agreements.
A private restriction may impose a lower height, different material, additional setback, design-review requirement, or other limitation even when a fence complies with county requirements. The Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance also preserves existing easements, covenants, and deed restrictions and applies the more restrictive requirement where its provisions overlap.
REVIEW AND ENFORCEMENT CONTEXT
Fence issues are typically reviewed during permit or approval review when required, and through complaint-based code enforcement. Examples include:
• Land Use Permit Exemption: Whether the work is a fence in a zoned unincorporated area and therefore qualifies for the Zoning Ordinance's express Land Use Permit exemption.
• Residential Construction Context: Whether the project includes residential construction that falls within Ordinance 1600, even though the ordinance does not expressly state that an ordinary standard residential fence requires that permit.
• Visibility: Whether a fence materially impedes visibility within the 25-foot zoning intersection triangle or occupies the prohibited 3-to-7-foot height band within a subdivision's 30-foot sight triangle.
• Easement and Arterial Access: Whether a fence is placed in a subdivision easement or blocks access to a required Principal-Arterial landscaped easement.
• Floodplain and Watercourse Review: Whether the project lies in an identified flood-hazard area, creates a fence obstruction in or near a watercourse, encroaches into a regulatory floodway, or falls within the protected stream-bank distance for an area without established floodway data.
• Stormwater and Drainage: Whether fence-related grading, excavation, filling, or other land disturbance reaches a stormwater permit threshold or creates erosion, runoff, drainage, watercourse, or maintenance conflicts.
• Private Restrictions: Whether HOA covenants, subdivision controls, deed restrictions, easements, or other private agreements impose additional limits.
• Utility Safety: Whether the project involves digging, drilling, augering, boring, grading, or other excavation requiring Mississippi 811 notice and positive-response review.
USING THIS INFORMATION
This page provides general orientation on how residential fence rules are structured and applied within Lamar County, based on the referenced published materials as of July 2026.
In addition to local fence rules, certain Mississippi laws apply statewide. See Statewide fence laws in Mississippi.
It is not legal advice and does not replace official ordinances, permits, zoning approvals, zoning certifications, development approvals, locally adopted building codes, 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 requirements, drainage conditions, historic district status, design-review status, rural or agricultural context, livestock or party-fence context, local building-code administration, adopted-code status, opt-out status, pool-barrier use, Mississippi 811 utility-safety requirements, coastal wetlands conditions, and private restrictions such as HOA covenants, deed restrictions, private agreements, or conservation easements. Before purchasing materials or beginning construction, confirm current requirements and any site-specific limitations with the Lamar County Planning Department and any applicable private agreements. If this page conflicts with official ordinances, published guidance, or direction from Lamar County staff, the official sources control. For legal advice or legal interpretation, consult a licensed attorney.