FENCE RULES – HIGHLAND (TOWN), INDIANA
OVERVIEW
This page applies to single-family residential fence projects within the municipal limits of the Town of Highland in Lake County, Indiana. Highland maintains its own zoning ordinance and local fence-permit process. Lake County and Indiana agencies become relevant only for supported countywide or statewide functions, such as regulated drains, floodway review, and underground-utility excavation.
Highland has a direct local residential fence system. The zoning ordinance bars fences and walls from the required front yard, limits fences, landscaped screens, hedges, and walls to 6 feet in side and rear yards, adds a specific street-side rule for corner and reverse-corner lots, prohibits several hazardous or makeshift materials, and requires Building Commissioner approval before a fence permit is issued. A separate design-standard branch for new residential uses or major reconstruction expressly recognizes wood, vinyl, ornamental metal, and masonry while prohibiting chain-link and concrete block. Site-specific overlays, PUD standards, floodplain rules, easements, drainage corridors, and regulated drains can change the ordinary answer.
| Quick question | Highland answer |
|---|---|
| Permit or approval | Highland requires Building Commissioner approval of a fence or wall before the fence permit/building permit is issued. The Town uses a dedicated Remodeling/Fence Permit Application, and a plat of survey must be submitted for fence installation. |
| Typical fence height | Ordinary residential rule: no fence or wall in the required front yard; maximum 6 ft. in side and rear yards. For new residential uses or major reconstruction, separate design standards state 6 ft. in back/side yards and 3 ft. in the front-yard area, while the required-front-yard prohibition remains applicable. |
| Placement & property lines | Highland does not publish one general numeric fence-to-property-line setback. Corner and reverse-corner lots use the adjoining front-yard setback on the street side, and fences may not extend beyond that point. Surveys, recorded easements, drainage facilities, regulated drains, floodplain conditions, and line-of-sight rules can further affect placement. |
| Common fence materials | Wood: expressly recognized for new residential uses or major reconstruction; the general existing-lot fence rule does not separately classify it. Vinyl/PVC: expressly recognized in that same design-standard branch; otherwise not separately classified. Chain-link: expressly prohibited for new residential uses or major reconstruction; the general existing-lot rule does not separately classify chain-link. |
| Important local conditions | Fence rules may be further affected by corner or reverse-corner lots, new residential construction or major reconstruction, Downtown or Indianapolis Boulevard overlay standards, Planned Unit Development conditions, floodplain or floodway status, Town drainage-maintenance easements, Lake County regulated drains, recorded utility easements, pool-barrier use, active-railroad easements, Indiana 811 excavation requirements, and private covenants. |
| Official local resource | Town of Highland Remodeling/Fence Permit Application |
The table above is for quick reference. Additional fence-rule details appear in the corresponding sections below. Before purchasing materials or beginning construction, read the sections that apply to the property, review the linked official sources, and confirm site-specific questions with the Highland Building Commissioner/Zoning Administrator or the responsible office identified for that issue. Current local and state sources were verified in September 2026.
GOVERNANCE
Highland regulates residential fences principally through its Town zoning ordinance, the Building Commissioner/Zoning Administrator, and the Town’s Building and Inspection/Planning function. Fence requirements are distributed across zoning, residential design standards, floodplain regulations, subdivision/easement standards, storm-drainage provisions, and special mapped development controls rather than collected in one fence-only chapter.
• Building Commissioner/Zoning Administrator: Highland creates a combined local office in which the chief inspector also serves as Building Commissioner and Zoning Administrator. Title 18 separately designates the Building Commissioner as the administrator with principal responsibility for enforcing the zoning ordinance. The ordinary fence provision assigns this office the approval of fence design, location, and construction.
• Plan Commission and zoning bodies: The Plan Commission participates in administration of the zoning title, including Planned Unit Development and overlay/development-plan functions. Parcel-specific PUD standards and mapped overlay requirements can supplement or replace ordinary yard or design standards.
• Local building-code administration: Highland Chapter 15.10 adopts state building rules for buildings and structures but expressly excludes fences from that chapter’s general scope. Fence permitting is stated separately in the zoning ordinance and the Town’s fence application.
• Floodplain administration: Highland designates the Building Commissioner as floodplain administrator. The flood-hazard regulations expressly classify erection of walls and fences as development, creating a separate approval branch for property in an area of special flood hazard.
• Drainage and regulated drains: Highland Public Works/stormwater provisions govern qualifying Town drainage facilities and maintenance easements. Lake County government remains relevant where a parcel is affected by a county-regulated drain and its statutory easement.
• Indiana statewide functions: Indiana building-code rules, Indiana 811 excavation law, private residential pool-barrier provisions, regulated-drain statutes, and other applicable state laws operate independently of Highland’s local zoning rules when their factual conditions are present.
PERMIT AND APPROVAL REQUIREMENTS
Highland publishes an affirmative local fence-permit process. The zoning ordinance states that the design, location, and construction of a fence or wall must be approved by the Building Commissioner before issuance of a building permit. The Town also publishes a dedicated Remodeling/Fence Permit Application for fence projects.
• Fence application and survey: Highland’s fence application states that a plat of survey must be submitted for installation of a fence. The form asks for the proposed fence type, height, location, and material, along with the property address and project/contract cost.
• Contractor-based applications: The form asks for contractor information and states that applications must be signed by both the contractor and property owner, or a copy of the signed contract must be submitted. Indiana’s Home Improvement Contracts Act separately applies to qualifying paid residential home-improvement work and generally requires a written contract when a covered contract exceeds $150.
• Improvement Location Permit: Highland Title 18 contains a general improvement-location-permit system, but Highland does not publish a separate fence-specific Improvement Location Permit requirement for standard residential fences. Highland’s published fence process uses Building Commissioner review and the fence/building permit described in the fence provision and application.
• Indiana building-code context: Highland’s local Building Code chapter expressly excludes fences from its general scope. Separately, Indiana deleted model IRC Section R105 from the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, so the model IRC seven-foot fence work-exempt-from-permit provision is not an Indiana statewide exemption. Highland’s own local fence-permit rule controls the ordinary Town process.
• Floodplain property: Under Highland’s flood-hazard regulations, erection of a fence or wall is “development.” A floodplain development permit is required before development begins in an area of special flood hazard. For identified floodway conditions and other cases specified by the ordinance, Indiana Department of Natural Resources authorization must be obtained before the local floodplain approval is issued.
• Downtown and Indianapolis Boulevard overlays: The zoning overlay code states that improvements including fencing must match the Town’s approved standards. A fence on property in either mapped overlay therefore carries an additional design-review condition beyond the ordinary residential fence rule.
• Planned Unit Development property: An adopted PUD may contain development standards that replace or supplant the underlying zoning district’s lot, yard, and other zoning standards. The approved PUD ordinance and development plan control where they establish a different fence-related condition.
• Private residential pools: Highland separately permits swimming-pool installations, and a fence used as a required pool barrier must also satisfy the applicable Indiana residential pool-barrier requirements. Pool-barrier review is a special-use layer and is separate from the ordinary yard-fence permit.
FENCE PLACEMENT RULES
• Required front yard: In residential districts, no fence or wall may be located in the required front yard. In the R-1A and R-1 districts, and through the corresponding front-yard provisions used in R-2, the required front yard is generally at least 30 feet and can be increased by the established-front-yard averaging rule. The fence restriction follows the actual required front yard for the parcel.
• Property line and survey: Highland does not publish one general numeric fence setback from a private property line. The Town instead requires a plat of survey with the fence application and reviews the proposed fence location. The legal property boundary is distinct from a building setback line, recorded easement, drainage corridor, or public right-of-way.
• Corner and reverse-corner lots: On a corner or reverse-corner lot, the street-side yard setback must be the same as the front-yard setback on the adjoining lots, and a fence may not be installed beyond that point. This can move the usable fence line substantially farther into a street-side yard than on an interior lot.
• Street and intersection visibility: No fence, screen, hedge, or wall may interfere with line-of-sight requirements for local streets or intersections. Highland does not publish a separate general numeric fence sight-triangle dimension in the ordinary fence provision, so the street/intersection condition must be resolved from the applicable site and Town review.
• Side-yard privacy screens: In R-1A/R-1 residential yard standards, and in R-2 where those privacy-screen rules are carried forward, a privacy screen in the required side yard may be no more than 6 feet above the average level of the adjoining ground. It must begin no nearer than 5 feet from the front of the house and may extend no more than 5 feet beyond the rear of the house.
• Recreational vehicle and boat screening: In R-1A/R-1, and in R-2 where the same outdoor-storage rules apply, a qualifying recreational vehicle, motor home, camper, trailer, boat, or similar item stored in the rear yard must be screened from neighboring property by an opaque fence and/or landscaping to 6 feet above the average grade on which the item rests.
• Recorded utility, sewer, and storm-drain easements: Highland’s subdivision standards generally provide 15-foot utility/sewer/storm-drain easements along rear or side lot lines, commonly 7.5 feet on each side of a lot line, and require plats to state that utility easements remain free of permanent structures. The actual recorded plat and easement language govern the affected lot; the subdivision dimension is not a universal fence-to-property-line setback.
• Town storm-drainage channels: Access to qualifying flood-control or storm-drainage ditches and channels must be provided through maintenance easements at least 20 feet wide measured horizontally from the top of bank, exclusive of the ditch/channel width, on each side. Those maintenance easements must be kept free of obstructions.
• Lake County regulated drains: Where a Highland parcel is affected by a Lake County-regulated drain, the Lake County Drainage Board application expressly treats fences as structures that can require Board permission within the regulated-drain easement. Indiana’s regulated-drain framework can extend a statutory right-of-way up to 75 feet from the centerline of a tiled drain or the top of bank of an open drain, subject to statutory reductions and local determinations. That maximum is not a universal Highland fence setback.
• Active-railroad condition: In the R-1A/R-1 standards, lots that were undeveloped or unimproved when the zoning ordinance was adopted and that adjoin an active railroad right-of-way have a minimum 50-foot easement on yards abutting the railroad. The ordinance states this as an easement condition rather than a general fence setback for every railroad-adjacent lot.
• Floodplain and floodway property: Because Highland defines erection of fences and walls as floodplain development, a fence within an area of special flood hazard must satisfy the local floodplain-development process. Floodway conditions can add Indiana DNR review and restrictions on development that would adversely affect floodway capacity.
• Indiana 811 before digging: Before covered excavation for fence-post holes, the homeowner or excavator must submit a locate notice through Indiana 811 at least two full working days and not more than 10 calendar days before excavation begins. A locate ticket is valid for 20 calendar days. Indiana recognizes a narrow exception for an owner or tenant using only hand tools on the person’s own property at a depth of 12 inches or less; that exception does not extend to powered digging, deeper work, contractor excavation, or work in an easement without separate support.
FENCE HEIGHT AND VISIBILITY RULES
• Ordinary residential side and rear yards: A fence, landscaped screen, hedge, or wall may not exceed 6 feet in a side or rear yard.
• Required front yard: A fence or wall is not permitted in the required front yard. A landscaped screen or hedge in the front yard may not exceed 3 feet 6 inches.
• New residential uses or major reconstruction: Highland’s residential design standards apply to new residential uses or major reconstruction of an existing residential use. Their fence provision states a maximum of 6 feet in back and side yards and 3 feet in the front-yard area. Within the required front yard, the separate general zoning rule still bars a fence or wall; Highland’s zoning title states that the more restrictive applicable requirement governs.
• Corner and reverse-corner visibility: The street-side fence line on a corner or reverse-corner lot is limited by the adjoining front-yard setback, and no fence, screen, hedge, or wall may interfere with line of sight for local streets or intersections.
• Privacy screens: The residential side-yard privacy-screen rule uses a 6-foot maximum measured above the average level of the adjoining ground and the specific 5-foot-from-front / 5-foot-beyond-rear placement limits described above.
• Recreational vehicle or boat screening: Required opaque screening is 6 feet above the average grade of the ground on which the stored item rests.
• General fence-height measurement: The ordinary Highland fence provision publishes the 6-foot residential side/rear maximum but does not state a separate general fence-height measurement method for ordinary fences. The code does provide specific measurement language for the privacy-screen and recreational-storage conditions above.
• Overlay and PUD conditions: A mapped Downtown or Indianapolis Boulevard overlay, or an adopted PUD, can add or replace ordinary design, yard, or fence standards for the affected property. The parcel-specific adopted standard controls that special branch.
• Private residential pool barriers: Indiana residential pool rules include an accepted fence/wall barrier method at least 4 feet high with qualifying access controls. That dimension applies to the pool-barrier function and is not an ordinary Highland residential fence maximum.
MATERIAL AND CONSTRUCTION LIMITS
Highland’s material rules differ by project type. The general fence provision prohibits a defined group of materials for residential fences, while new residential uses or major reconstruction are subject to an additional, more specific material list.
• General prohibited materials: No fence, screen, hedge, or wall may be constructed of rubble, cardboard, chicken wire, trees and brush, corrugated tin, utility poles, railroad ties, barbed wire, broken glass, or electrified material.
• Wood: Wood is expressly recognized for fences subject to the new-residential-use/major-reconstruction design standards. The general existing-lot fence provision does not separately list wood as an allowed or prohibited ordinary material.
• Vinyl/PVC: Vinyl is expressly recognized under the new-residential-use/major-reconstruction design standards. The general existing-lot fence provision does not separately classify vinyl/PVC.
• Ornamental metal and masonry: Ornamental metal and masonry are expressly recognized, alone or in combination with wood or vinyl, for fences under the new-residential-use/major-reconstruction design standards.
• Chain-link: Chain-link is expressly prohibited for fences under the new-residential-use/major-reconstruction design standards. For other existing-lot residential fence projects, the general fence provision does not separately classify chain-link.
• Concrete block: Concrete block fences are expressly prohibited under the new-residential-use/major-reconstruction design standards.
• Barbed and electrified fencing: Highland’s general residentially applicable prohibited-material list expressly bars barbed wire and electrified material. These are local prohibitions in addition to any separate statewide security-device or agricultural-fence context.
• Opaque screening: Highland does not publish a general opacity requirement for ordinary residential fences. A special 6-foot opaque fence and/or landscaping requirement applies when screening qualifying rear-yard recreational vehicles, boats, trailers, or similar property.
• Finished-side/orientation rule: The general residential fence provision does not publish an ordinary finished-side or structural-member-orientation requirement. Overlay/PUD standards or private covenants may impose design conditions on particular property.
• Downtown and Indianapolis Boulevard overlays: For property in these mapped overlays, the zoning code requires fencing improvements to match the Town’s approved standards. This is a special-district design condition in addition to the ordinary zoning material rules.
• Pool-barrier construction: When a fence is used as a required private residential pool barrier, Indiana’s separate pool-access barrier and gate/door-control standards apply in addition to Highland’s ordinary fence rules.
PRIVATE RESTRICTIONS
Highland’s zoning ordinance expressly states that the zoning title does not abrogate an easement, covenant, or other private agreement. Where the Town’s zoning requirement is more restrictive than the private instrument, the Town requirement governs.
Homeowners association covenants, architectural-review restrictions, private subdivision covenants, deed restrictions, recorded private easements, private boundary agreements, recorded agricultural or partition-fence agreements, conservation easements, and similar private controls can operate independently and may be more restrictive than Highland’s public fence rules.
Private restrictions are separate from public utility easements, Town drainage-maintenance easements, Lake County regulated-drain rights-of-way, floodplain requirements, and public road/right-of-way controls. A plat of survey or recorded document may show more than one type of restriction, with each governed by the instrument or public authority that created or administers it.
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-permit review: The Building Commissioner reviews the proposed fence design, location, and construction. Highland’s application requires a plat of survey and asks for the fence type, height, location, and material.
• Required-front-yard and corner-lot placement: Review can address the prohibition on fences in the required front yard, the corner/reverse-corner street-side setback rule, and whether a fence extends beyond the permitted street-side point.
• Height and visibility: Side/rear fence, screen, hedge, and wall height is limited to 6 feet under the ordinary residential rule, and line-of-sight requirements remain applicable at streets and intersections.
• Material compliance: Review can address Highland’s general prohibited-material list and, when the project is a new residential use or major reconstruction, the separate material list recognizing wood, vinyl, ornamental metal, and masonry while prohibiting chain-link and concrete block.
• Special zoning districts: Downtown and Indianapolis Boulevard overlay property carries the additional requirement that fencing match Town-approved standards. A PUD can contain adopted standards that replace or supplement the underlying yard or design rules.
• Floodplain/floodway review: A fence or wall in an area of special flood hazard is treated as development for Highland floodplain purposes and requires the applicable local floodplain-development process; identified floodway conditions can add Indiana DNR authorization.
• Drainage and easement conflicts: A fence may be affected by recorded utility easements, 20-foot Town drainage-maintenance easements that must remain free of obstructions, or a Lake County regulated-drain easement where Board permission can be required for fencing.
• Pool-barrier review: A fence serving as a required private residential pool barrier is reviewed under the separate pool-safety requirements in addition to ordinary fence zoning.
• Indiana 811: Fence-post digging is an excavation activity for Indiana underground-utility law. Covered work requires a current locate notice before excavation begins.
• Private covenants and agreements: HOA, deed, boundary, easement, and similar private restrictions are independent of the Town permit. Highland’s zoning code also preserves private agreements while requiring compliance with any more restrictive Town zoning standard.
USING THIS INFORMATION
This page provides general orientation on how residential fence rules are structured and applied within the Town of Highland, Indiana. Updated September 2026.
In addition to local fence rules, certain Indiana laws apply statewide. See Statewide Fence Laws in Indiana.
It is not legal advice and does not replace official ordinances, permits, certificates, improvement-location approvals, development approvals, applicable building-code requirements, surveys, or professional guidance. Rules and interpretations may change, and application may vary based on zoning district, plan-commission jurisdiction, site conditions, subdivision/land-development status, easements, rights-of-way, floodplain or floodway status, stream conditions, stormwater or drainage requirements, regulated-drain conditions, road or highway conditions, INDOT jurisdiction, overlay or Planned Unit Development status, rural or agricultural context, livestock, lawful-fence or agricultural partition-fence context, live-fence or spite-fence conditions, local permit administration, pool-barrier use, Indiana 811 utility-excavation requirements, and private restrictions such as HOA covenants, deed restrictions, private agreements, recorded partition-fence agreements, or conservation easements. Before purchasing materials or beginning construction, confirm current requirements and site-specific limitations with the Highland Building Commissioner/Zoning Administrator and any other responsible Highland, Lake County, or state office identified for the issue, together with any applicable private agreements. If this page conflicts with official ordinances, published guidance, adopted district standards, or direction from the Highland Building Commissioner/Zoning Administrator or the responsible public office, the official sources control. For legal advice or legal interpretation, consult a licensed attorney.