FENCE RULES – SMITH (COUNTY), TENNESSEE

OVERVIEW

Residential fences are permitted on private property within Smith County, subject to local regulations.

This page applies to properties in the unincorporated areas of Smith County; incorporated municipalities such as Carthage, Gordonsville, and South Carthage may regulate fences under their own ordinances.

Fence rules for Smith County appear primarily in the Official Zoning Ordinance of Smith County, Tennessee, the Subdivision Regulations for Smith County Planning Region, the County Flood Damage Prevention Resolution and Regulations, the FEMA Development Permit, Smith County Planning Office materials, the county residential building-permit application, Tennessee residential jurisdiction status materials, and the state-adopted residential code. Smith County does not publish a single consolidated residential fence code for standard single-family fences.

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 the Smith County Planning Office, Official Zoning Ordinance of Smith County, Tennessee, Subdivision Regulations for Smith County Planning Region, County Flood Damage Prevention Resolution and Regulations, FEMA Development Permit, Smith County Residential Building Permit Application, Tennessee State Fire Marshal Residential Jurisdictions and Inspectors, Tennessee State Fire Marshal Residential Permit FAQs, Tennessee State Fire Marshal Residential Permits, Tennessee State Fire Marshal Currently Adopted Codes, 2018 International Residential Code R105.2, and Tennessee 811 materials as of July 2026.

GOVERNANCE

Smith County regulates land use in the unincorporated county through the Official Zoning Ordinance of Smith County, Tennessee. The Smith County Planning Office administers local planning and development functions for areas outside the city limits of Carthage, Gordonsville, and South Carthage.

The zoning ordinance assigns administration and enforcement to the Smith County Land Use Regulations Administrator. The Smith County Regional Planning Commission and Smith County Board of Zoning Appeals have review roles where the zoning ordinance, subdivision regulations, or floodplain regulations assign those functions.

The Subdivision Regulations for Smith County Planning Region govern subdivision plats outside the jurisdiction of the Carthage, Gordonsville, and South Carthage Municipal Planning Commissions. Those regulations are relevant to recorded plat restrictions, road rights-of-way, drainage easements, utility easements, driveway entrances, and subdivision visibility conditions.

Smith County is listed under the State Residential Building Permit framework for Tennessee residential building-code enforcement. The state-adopted 2018 International Residential Code supplies the residential building-code permit-exemption context used for this page, while local zoning, subdivision, floodplain, drainage, right-of-way, utility, and private restrictions remain separate.

PERMIT AND APPROVAL REQUIREMENTS

• State Residential Building-Code Context: Smith County is listed under the State Residential Building Permit framework. The state-adopted 2018 International Residential Code includes a building-permit exemption for fences not over 7 feet high. Smith County does not publish a separate local fence permit requirement for standard residential fences.

• Published Building-Permit Application: The Smith County Residential Building Permit Application provides residential, commercial, and industrial permit categories and includes zoning and floodplain fields, but the referenced published materials do not identify a separate standard residential fence permit category.

• General Zoning Compliance Context: Smith County publishes a zoning-compliance / building-permit process for construction of buildings and structures for residential, commercial, and industrial use, but the referenced published materials do not explicitly state that standard residential fences require that permit. Building-code permit exemptions, Tennessee residential building-code status, and State Residential Building Permit status are separate from zoning, setback, subdivision, floodplain, stormwater, drainage, historic, right-of-way, easement, utility, and plat requirements.

• Zoning Compliance: Building-code permit exemptions, Tennessee residential building-code status, and State Residential Building Permit status are separate from zoning, setback, subdivision, floodplain, stormwater, drainage, historic, right-of-way, easement, utility, and plat requirements. Confirm any applicable zoning conditions, setbacks, plat requirements, and site-specific limitations with the Smith County Planning Office and the Smith County Land Use Regulations Administrator before construction.

• Floodplain Development Context: The County Flood Damage Prevention Resolution and Regulations require a development permit before development activities in the floodplain framework. Development is defined broadly to include man-made changes such as buildings or other structures, filling, grading, paving, excavating, drilling operations, and storage of equipment or materials. Fence-related work in a flood hazard area may require floodplain review where it involves those development activities.

• Road, Drainage, and Easement Context: The subdivision regulations require recorded plats to show rights-of-way, utility easements, drainage easements, and restrictions for those areas. Fence-related work must account for recorded plat restrictions, drainage easements, utility easements, driveway entrances, county-road ditches, and road-department approvals where those conditions apply.

FENCE PLACEMENT RULES

• Property-Line Placement: 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.

• Recorded Easements and Drainage Areas: The subdivision regulations require final plats to show utility easements, drainage easements, rights-of-way, and the limitations or dimensions of those easements. They also require plat restrictions stating that no permanent structure such as a deck, patio, garage, carport, or other building may be erected within drainage or utility easements, and that excavation, filling, landscaping, or other construction may not alter or diminish water flow through a drainage easement.

• Road Rights-of-Way and Ditches: The subdivision regulations require driveway entrances, curb cuts, and other ingress or egress points on lots shown on a plat to comply with Smith County Road Department rules. They also prohibit placing pipe within, or otherwise filling, ditches within rights-of-way shown on the plat without approval from the Smith County Highway Department.

• Flood Hazard Areas and Watercourses: The County Flood Damage Prevention Resolution and Regulations require floodplain development review for development activities. In regulatory floodways, encroachments are prohibited unless the required engineering showing is made. In certain A Zones and along unmapped streams, the floodplain regulations include stream-bank and encroachment controls that may affect fence-related excavation, fill, construction, or other development.

• Subdivision Intersection Visibility: In subdivision-road design, the subdivision regulations require the corner-lot area at intersections to be cleared of brush, except isolated trees, and obstructions above the level 3 feet higher than the road centerline where needed for traffic visibility.

• Utility Safety: Tennessee law requires notice through Tennessee 811 before excavation where the Tennessee 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. Tennessee 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

• Standard Residential Fence Height: The Official Zoning Ordinance of Smith County, Tennessee does not specify a maximum height for standard residential fences.

• Building-Code Exemption Threshold: The state-adopted 2018 International Residential Code includes a building-permit exemption for fences not over 7 feet high. That exemption is a building-code permit threshold and is not published as a local maximum fence height.

• Yard-Based Height Limits: The code does not specify separate front-yard, side-yard, or rear-yard maximum heights for standard residential fences.

• Subdivision Visibility Context: The subdivision regulations address traffic visibility at subdivision intersections by requiring certain corner-lot areas to be cleared of brush and obstructions above 3 feet higher than the road centerline where needed. The code does not publish a separate fence-specific driveway-visibility or residential sight-triangle height standard for standard single-family fences.

MATERIAL AND CONSTRUCTION LIMITS

• Standard Residential Fence Materials: The code does not specify permitted or prohibited materials for standard residential fences.

• Finished Side and Orientation: The code does not specify a finished-side, good-side-out, or fence-orientation rule for standard residential fences.

• Chain Link, Barbed Wire, Razor Wire, Electric Fences, and Security Fences: The code does not publish a separate material standard for standard residential use of chain-link, barbed-wire, razor-wire, electric, or security fencing.

• Special-Use Screening and Enclosure Rules: The zoning ordinance includes fence, wall, and screening provisions in special contexts such as manufactured home parks, recreational vehicle parks, automobile wrecking, junk and salvage yards, transmission and communication towers, dog and cat kennels, and site-plan screening. Those provisions are not stated as standard single-family residential fence material rules.

• Floodplain and Drainage Construction: Where a fence project involves excavation, drilling, grading, filling, construction, or other development in a flood hazard area, drainage easement, road ditch, or right-of-way, the floodplain, drainage, subdivision, and road-department rules may control the work even though the zoning ordinance does not publish a general residential fence material standard.

PRIVATE RESTRICTIONS

Private restrictions operate independently from Smith County zoning, building-code status, subdivision, and floodplain rules.

HOA covenants, subdivision restrictions, deed restrictions, private easements, agricultural agreements, architectural-review covenants, boundary agreements, recorded plats, drainage easements, utility easements, and conservation easements may impose fence limits that are more restrictive than county-published rules. The referenced published materials do not state that Smith County enforces private fence covenants as part of its ordinary zoning or building-code process.

REVIEW AND ENFORCEMENT CONTEXT

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

• State Residential Building-Code Status: Smith County is listed under the State Residential Building Permit framework. The state-adopted 2018 International Residential Code includes a building-permit exemption for fences not over 7 feet high, and Smith County does not publish an affirmative local building-permit trigger for fences above that height.

• Zoning Administration: The Smith County Land Use Regulations Administrator administers and enforces the zoning ordinance. Zoning compliance, district standards, setback conditions, and site-specific limits remain separate from the state residential building-code permit exemption.

• Floodplain Review: The County Flood Damage Prevention Resolution and Regulations require development permits before development activities in the floodplain framework. Fence-related excavation, drilling, grading, fill, construction, storage of materials, or other development in a flood hazard area may require review under those floodplain provisions.

• Easement, Drainage, and Right-of-Way Conflicts: Recorded subdivision plats, drainage easements, utility easements, road rights-of-way, driveway entrances, road ditches, and county-road drainage approvals may affect where fence-related construction or excavation can occur.

• Intersection Visibility: Subdivision intersection-visibility rules may affect obstructions on corner lots within subdivision-road design where the obstruction is above 3 feet higher than the road centerline and affects traffic visibility.

• Utility Safety: Tennessee 811 notice and positive-response requirements apply separately from local zoning, floodplain, subdivision, drainage, right-of-way, and private-restriction issues when fence work involves excavation or other covered earth movement.

USING THIS INFORMATION

This page provides general orientation on how residential fence rules are structured and applied within Smith County, based on the referenced published materials as of July 2026.

In addition to local fence rules, certain Tennessee laws apply statewide. See Statewide fence laws in Tennessee.

It is not legal advice and does not replace official ordinances, permits, zoning approvals, zoning certifications, development approvals, State Residential Building Permits, 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 enclosed-land context, residential building-code status, adopted-code status, opt-out status, pool-barrier use, Tennessee 811 utility safety requirements, overhead utility-line safety, 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 Smith County Planning Office and the Smith County Land Use Regulations Administrator and any applicable private agreements. If this page conflicts with official ordinances, published guidance, or direction from Smith County staff, the official sources control. For legal advice or legal interpretation, consult a licensed attorney.