Short answer
In Lansdale Borough a fence needs a permit and may only run from the front wall of the house back to the rear lot line. Keep it at least 2 ft from sidewalks and alleys and 10 ft from the curb, set at natural grade with the finished side out. Side and rear fences can be 6 ft, or 8 ft if the part above 6 ft is see-through. In front of the house, only open fences 2 to 3 ft high are allowed.
Why Lansdale’s rules feel tighter than the township next door
Lansdale was incorporated in 1872 as a North Pennsylvania Railroad town, and today about 18,800 people live on its 2.96 square miles. That density is written into the fence code. Lots are narrow, many back onto alleys, sidewalks line most streets, and the borough’s fence article (Zoning Chapter 405, Article XVIII) is built around exactly that kind of block.
Before any of this applies, make sure you’re actually in the borough. A Lansdale 19446 mailing address can sit in Lansdale Borough, Upper Gwynedd, Towamencin or Hatfield, or in small parts of Montgomery and Worcester townships, and each one has its own fence rules. Our mailing-address guide walks through how to tell.
Where can a fence go on a Lansdale lot?
The borough allows fences only between the front wall of the house and the rear lot line. Picture a line drawn straight across the lot along the front of the house. Behind that line you can fence to the normal side and rear limits. In front of it, you’re limited to the small open fences covered further down.
- Side and rear yards: up to 6 ft. You can reach 8 ft in total only if everything above 6 ft is non-opaque, such as an open lattice or a see-through topper (§ 405-1801A).
- Along railroad property: a fully opaque fence up to 8 ft is allowed on that line. That matters on lots that back onto SEPTA’s Lansdale/Doylestown Line, which has three stops in the borough: Lansdale, Pennbrook and 9th Street.
- Lots with no house: no fence at all in the front-yard setback.
- Floodplain district: no fences, not even by special exception (§ 405-2604A).
How far from the curb, sidewalk and alley does a Lansdale fence have to be?
Two separate distances apply, and on most borough streets both come into play. The zoning code requires fences to be at least 2 ft from sidewalks and alleys (§ 405-1801G). The same section adds a second test, repeated in the permit packet: at least 10 ft from a street curb, with the sidewalk between the fence and the street.
Which one controls depends on how your street is built:
- Sidewalk right against the curb: the 10 ft curb distance usually lands well behind the 2 ft sidewalk distance, so the 10 ft line governs.
- Grass strip between curb and sidewalk: measure both and use whichever puts the fence farther back.
- Alleys: there’s no curb to measure from, but the 2 ft setback still applies. On lots with a garage or parking pad off the alley, we plan gates to swing into the yard so nothing crowds that strip.
Measure from the face of the curb and the inside edge of the sidewalk, not from where the grass looks like it ends. Old fences on some blocks were built before today’s rules, so the neighbor’s fence line isn’t a safe guide.
What front-yard fence can I build in Lansdale?
In front of the house the code allows only what it calls architectural fences, and it boxes them in tightly (§ 405-1802D, amended 2010):
| Front-yard requirement | What the code says |
|---|---|
| Height | At least 2 ft and no more than 3 ft above existing grade |
| Openness | Openings equal to 75% or more of the fence’s area |
| Length | Along no more than 25% of the lot’s frontage |
| Picket spacing (anywhere in the borough) | Uprights no more than 4 in apart |
| Which side faces out | The finished side faces the street and neighbors |
Lansdale Zoning § 405-1802D and § 405-1801. Checked October 2026.
The 25% limit is what surprises people. On a lot with 50 ft of frontage, for example, that works out to 12.5 ft of front fence: enough to frame a walk or a garden bed, not enough to close off the yard. A 3 ft aluminum section or a widely spaced picket run fits; a continuous front fence does not.
One conflict to know about: the borough’s fence permit packet still says architectural fences may be up to 4 ft, but the current code says 3 ft. We design to the 3 ft code figure and confirm with Code Enforcement before ordering. Don’t plan on the 4 ft number.
Corner lots and the 75-ft sight triangle
Lansdale’s small blocks produce a lot of corner lots. The permit packet requires a clear sight triangle of 75 ft from the point of intersection, kept under the borough’s Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance, so drivers can see around the corner. We didn’t find a separate corner-lot height rule in the borough code. On a corner, the sight triangle, the 10 ft curb distance and the front-wall line together usually decide the layout, and we confirm it with Code Enforcement before we dig. Our corner-lot guide compares how neighboring townships handle the same problem.
Grade and slopes: no berms, no leaning
Lansdale requires fences to sit at natural grade, "not on berms or artificial mounds", and to be kept straight without sagging or leaning. You can’t gain height or privacy by building up a planting bed and setting the fence on top. On a sloped yard the fence follows the ground: we step privacy panels down the slope, or rack aluminum and picket sections to the grade, and the height is measured from the ground under each section.
Much of the borough sits on red shale, where bedrock can be 20 to 40 in down. That’s why a straight, plumb fence here starts with properly set posts, not with the panels. Our shale digging guide covers what happens below grade.
Materials Lansdale doesn’t allow
- All-wire fences. Fencing made exclusively of wire is prohibited (§ 405-1801H). That rules out a plain welded-wire or wire-mesh dog run or garden fence on its own. Wire attached to a wood or split-rail frame isn’t exclusively wire, but ask Code Enforcement before counting on that.
- Unnatural-looking materials. The borough asks for fences of natural-looking materials.
- Fences facing the wrong way. The finished side has to face neighboring properties and streets (§ 405-1801B), so the posts and rails go on your side.
Pulling the Lansdale fence permit
Fences are on the borough’s list of work that needs a permit. The application packet asks for more than most townships do:
- Complete every section of the Fence Permit Application.
- Draw a dimensioned site plan on the packet’s graph page, or attach one. Show the fence line, gates, the house’s front wall, and the distances to the curb, sidewalk and any alley.
- Attach a copy of the contractor’s written proposal or contract.
- Disclose any easements and deed restrictions. The packet says failing to disclose them voids the approval.
- File with Code Enforcement at One Vine Street, Lansdale (215-368-1691). The packet doesn’t say whether it can be filed online, and we didn’t find the fee.
Before any post hole, Pennsylvania law requires a PA One Call (811) request at least 3 business days ahead. When we do the work, the ticket is in our name. Most of the borough gets its power from borough-owned Lansdale Electric rather than PECO, so the lines on your alley poles may not belong to the utility you’d expect.
Pools, both in-ground and above-ground, also need a borough permit. We didn’t find a borough-specific pool-barrier standard, so we build pool fences to the barrier rules the inspector enforces under the state construction code. See our pool fence page for those basics.
If you’re in the borough, send us your address and a rough sketch. At the free estimate we measure the curb, sidewalk and alley distances first, before anything gets drawn up.
Common questions
Does the 10 ft curb distance apply on both streets of a corner lot?
The code (§ 405-1801G) states it for the curb of a street, not just the front. On a corner lot we plan for both streets and confirm the layout with Lansdale Code Enforcement before filing.
Can I put a new fence in the same holes as an old one that sits closer than 2 ft to the sidewalk?
We didn’t find a replacement exemption in the borough code. Treat a replacement like a new fence and check the setbacks; older fences on many blocks predate the current rules.
Can I build an 8 ft fence in Lansdale?
Only in side and rear yards, and only if the part above 6 ft is not opaque. The exception is a line along railroad property, where a fully opaque fence up to 8 ft is allowed.