How tall can a fence be in Fort Collins, and do you need a permit?

How tall can a fence be in Fort Collins?

The City of Fort Collins sets fence heights by which yard the fence is in. Its Rules for Common Projects page lists them like this:

In practice, that means most back yard privacy fences in the city top out at 6 feet, and a fence that wraps around the side of the house has to step down to 4 feet where it reaches the front yard. If you want a privacy fence across the front of the house, 4 feet is the limit, which is closer to a picket or decorative fence than a privacy screen.

These numbers are the city's zoning rules, and they apply whether or not your project needs a permit. The rules themselves are in the city's Land Use Code, Article 4, Section 4.3.5(C). If your lot is an odd shape, faces two streets, or backs onto an alley, it's worth a call to City Zoning at 970-416-2745 before you order materials, because those are the lots where people most often guess wrong about which yard is which.

Do you need a permit for a fence in Fort Collins?

Usually not. The city's rules page says no building permit is needed for a fence up to 6 feet tall, and a fence taller than 6 feet needs one. Since 6 feet is also the tallest fence allowed in a back yard, most homeowners replacing or building an ordinary privacy fence won't pull a permit at all.

No permit doesn't mean no rules. Everything in this post still applies: the height limits, the corner lot rule, the distance from the sidewalk and alley, and the ban on fences in easements.

If you do plan something taller than 6 feet, such as a tall screen wall, call Building Services at 970-416-2740 first. The city lists their phone hours as Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. Ask whether the height is allowed where you want it before asking about the permit itself.

These are City of Fort Collins rules. If the house is in Loveland, Windsor, Timnath, Wellington or unincorporated Larimer County, that city, town or county sets its own fence rules, so check with them instead. An address with a Fort Collins mailing address can still sit outside city limits, so check which one you're in first.

Fence rules outside Fort Collins city limits

Plenty of houses with a Fort Collins mailing address sit in unincorporated Larimer County, where the county's rules apply instead of the city's. Larimer County's building permit guide (revised March 4, 2022) says a building permit isn't required for a fence 7 feet high or less, and is required for anything taller. That's a foot more than the city allows before a permit.

The same guide adds the line that matters most: land use code requirements, including lot coverage, setbacks and floodplain rules, still apply to structures that don't need a permit. So a county lot can still have limits on where a fence goes, especially near roads, ditches and floodplains. The county's Building Division answers at 970-498-7700.

Loveland, Windsor, Timnath and Wellington each have their own codes too. Whichever applies, the order is the same as in the city: find out which yard rules apply to your lot, check your HOA, call 811, then build.

The corner lot rule: the visibility triangle

Corner lots have one extra rule. Near the intersection there's a visibility triangle, the area drivers need to see across, and the city limits fences inside it to 42 inches.

The rule goes further than height. The city's page says that above 32 inches, a fence inside the triangle has to be split rail, with at least 12 inches between the horizontal rails. So you can't run a 42 inch solid wood or vinyl panel through the triangle. From the ground up to 32 inches the fence can be solid, and the part between 32 and 42 inches has to be open rails.

The page doesn't give the size of the triangle in feet, and it depends on the street and the lot. Before you lay out a fence on a corner lot, call City Zoning at 970-416-2745 or email zoning@fortcollins.gov and ask where the triangle falls on your lot. It's a short question for them and it can save a section of fence that would otherwise have to be cut down.

For example, a corner lot could have a 6 foot privacy fence around the back yard that steps down to 4 feet along the side street, then stops short of the triangle or switches to split rail inside it.

How close to the sidewalk, alley and easements a fence can go

The city's rules page sets three distances and one ban:

• Sidewalks. A fence has to be on private property and at least 2 feet from a public sidewalk.
• Alleys, garage set back 20 feet or more. The fence has to be at least 3 feet from the lot line.
• Alleys, garage set back less than 20 feet. The fence has to be at least 8 feet from the lot line.
• Easements. Fences and walls aren't allowed in access or drainage easements.

The sidewalk rule catches a lot of people. In many Fort Collins neighborhoods, the strip of grass between the sidewalk and the curb (the parkway) belongs to the city. The city's page says the city owns the parkway and the homeowner next to it maintains it. A fence can't go in that strip, and it has to sit back 2 feet from the sidewalk on your side.

Easements are the other common surprise. Drainage easements can run along back or side lot lines, and you can't build a fence in one. Your plat, the recorded map of your subdivision, shows them. If you're not sure, ask City Zoning before you dig.

HOA rules and the fences the city bans

Many Northern Colorado neighborhoods have covenants, and the city's page points out that subdivision covenants can limit a fence's size, type, style and location. An HOA can be stricter than the city. It can require a certain material or color, a certain style along common areas, or approval of your plans before work starts.

If you have an HOA, get its fence rules and send in its approval form before you order materials. Ask for the approval in writing. City rules and HOA rules are separate, so you need to meet both, and the HOA's yes doesn't override the city's height limit.

The city also bans two kinds of fence outright on house lots:

• Electric fences are banned in every zoning district.
• Barbed wire is banned in every district except Employment (E) and Industrial (I), and limited there.

Anything else, such as wood, vinyl, composite, chain link or metal, is allowed by the city as long as it meets the height and placement rules. Your HOA may narrow that list.

Call 811 before the post holes are dug

Every fence post is a hole in the ground, and Colorado requires a utility locate before any digging. Colorado 811's homeowner page lists digging holes for fences and decks as covered work and says the request has to go in at least two full business days before digging. You can call 811 or file the request online at any hour.

Here is what that locate does and doesn't cover:

• It's free. There's no charge to have the public lines on your property marked.
• Hand dig near the marks. Colorado 811 says to use hand tools within 18 inches of a mark or flag.
• Private lines aren't marked. Sprinkler lines, lines to a shed or detached garage, and other lines you own aren't marked by 811. Colorado 811 says having those marked is the owner's job, and lists private locates at about $100 to $350.

Sprinkler lines matter most for fences. Sprinkler pipe can run along a property line right where posts go, and a post hole through a line means a repair before the fence is even finished. If you know where your zones run, flag them before the fence goes in.

What a new fence costs in Fort Collins

Fence prices depend on the material, the height, the length, the number of gates and how hard the ground is to dig. HomeGuide's 2026 fence cost guide (February 3, 2026) publishes these national ranges for an installed fence:

HomeGuide puts a typical 200 foot wood or vinyl fence at $4,000 to $12,000. For Fort Collins itself, HomeBlue's Fort Collins fence cost page lists $10 to $34 per linear foot for a 4 foot fence, with a wood privacy fence at $18 to $25 and vinyl at $27 to $34. That page is dated June 2022, so treat it as a floor rather than today's price.

Three costs often get left out of the first number. HomeGuide lists removing and hauling away an old fence at $10 to $20 per linear foot and a land survey at $200 to $1,200. Colorado 811 puts private line locates at about $100 to $350. When you compare quotes, check whether each one includes removal of the old fence, gates and hardware, and haul away.

If you'd like a written quote to compare against these ranges, NoCo Services does fence installation across Fort Collins and nearby cities like Loveland. Ask for the quote to list the material, height, length, gates and removal of the old fence on separate lines, so it lines up with the others you get.