Your mailing address isn’t your township: who issues your fence permit

Why your mailing address and your township don’t match

Post office names follow old villages, crossroads and train stations. Municipal lines follow a different history. Gwynedd was founded by Welsh Quakers in 1698 and split into Lower and Upper Gwynedd in 1891. Jenkintown was carved out of Abington in 1874. Bryn Athyn was formed from Moreland Township in 1916, the same year Upper Moreland was created. The mail kept its own names through all of it.

So many of the places on our map are villages, not governments. Blue Bell is Whitpain Township’s largest community. Upper Dublin Township covers all or part of Dresher, Fort Washington, Jarrettown, Maple Glen and the Ambler area outside the borough. Flourtown, Oreland, Wyndmoor and Erdenheim are villages of Springfield Township. Abington Township alone includes Roslyn, Glenside, Willow Grove, Rydal, Meadowbrook, Ardsley, Crestmont, McKinley, Noble and part of Huntingdon Valley, and several of those names spill into the next municipality over.

None of that matters to your mail carrier. It matters a lot to a fence, because the permit, the height limits, the setbacks and the inspector all come from the municipality.

Which municipalities does each mailing address cover?

This is our working map for the ZIP codes we serve. The first column of municipalities covers most of each ZIP. The second lists places the ZIP only clips, sometimes for just a few streets.

Our service-area map, built from Census ZIP-boundary overlays. All municipalities are in Montgomery County unless noted.

The addresses that trip people up

North Wales and Lansdale addresses in Upper Gwynedd

Upper Gwynedd Township wraps around North Wales Borough, and many homes with North Wales or Lansdale addresses are actually in the township. The difference shows up at the front of the house. Upper Gwynedd allows fences up to 6 ft 6 in in every required yard outside its industrial districts. North Wales Borough caps fences forward of the house front at 4 ft, and Lansdale Borough allows only open fences of 2 to 3 ft there. Same mailing name, three very different front yards.

Ambler: a small borough inside a big ZIP

Ambler Borough covers 0.85 square miles. The 19002 ZIP spreads well beyond it into Upper Dublin, Lower Gwynedd and Whitpain, plus slices of four other townships. Maple Glen alone is split between Upper Dublin and Horsham. In Upper Dublin you apply online for a $50 fence permit (2021 price list) and need a 36 in gate on each street frontage of a front-yard fence. In Lower Gwynedd you file plans at a scale of 1 in = 20 ft or larger that show trees 6 in or more in diameter within 50 ft of the work. Those are not small differences.

Blue Bell: mostly Whitpain, but not all

Most Blue Bell addresses are in Whitpain Township, with edges in Lower Gwynedd and Whitemarsh. Our research on Whitpain’s fence code isn’t complete, so we confirm every Whitpain job with the township before quoting. Whitemarsh’s rules we have read: 4 ft in the front yard, or taller fences if they’re set back far enough from the property line, curb or edge of paving.

Glenside and Elkins Park: Cheltenham or Abington?

Elkins Park and Glenside are both split between Cheltenham and Abington, and the two codes approach fences differently. Cheltenham allows only open fences, up to 4 ft, in the required front yard, treats corner lots as having two front yards, and sends fence changes in the La Mott and Wyncote historical districts to its Board of Historical Architectural Review before a permit. Abington’s building code requires a permit, plus evidence of a boundary survey, for any fence on or within 5 ft of a property line.

Jenkintown, Rockledge and Huntingdon Valley

The 19046 ZIP takes in Jenkintown Borough, Rockledge Borough and part of Abington. Rockledge is only 0.34 square miles and is surrounded by Abington and Philadelphia. Huntingdon Valley is the most complicated address we serve: four Montgomery County municipalities plus slivers of two Bucks County townships, so a Huntingdon Valley address can even put you in a different county. We haven’t yet verified the fence codes for Jenkintown, Rockledge, Bryn Athyn or the Bucks townships, so we confirm those directly with the municipality.

How to confirm your municipality

1. Read your deed or real-estate tax bill. Both name the municipality. This is the answer that counts.
2. Use the school district as a cross-check. North Penn serves Lansdale, North Wales, Towamencin, Hatfield and Montgomery Township. Wissahickon serves Ambler, Lower Gwynedd and Whitpain. Worcester is in Methacton, Horsham in Hatboro-Horsham and Whitemarsh in Colonial. A district can span several municipalities, so this narrows the list rather than settling it.
3. Call the zoning or code office with your street address. They’ll tell you whether you’re theirs.
4. Or ask us. We look up the municipality before the estimate.

Who issues the fence permit, municipality by municipality

Checked October 2026 against the township codes and permit pages listed under Sources. Fees and forms change.

When we install the fence, we file the permit for you, so the main thing you need to know is which office it goes to. Give us your street address when you ask for an estimate and we’ll look up the municipality and its fence code before we visit.

Common questions