FENCE RULES – CLEMMONS (VILLAGE), NORTH CAROLINA
OVERVIEW
Residential fences are permitted on private property within Village of Clemmons, subject to local regulations.
For properties located outside Village of Clemmons municipal limits, Forsyth County regulates fences in unincorporated areas.
Local fence rules appear across the Village of Clemmons Unified Development Ordinances, the Village’s planning, permitting, stormwater, and FAQ materials, and the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Inspections Division permit policies that administer permitting and inspections for the Village.
This page focuses on typical single-family residential fencing. If the jurisdiction’s adopted materials do not state a specific limit or requirement, this page notes that the code does not specify one.
Compiled From Village of Clemmons Unified Development Ordinances, Village of Clemmons Planning Department materials, Village of Clemmons Permitting materials, Village of Clemmons Stormwater Department materials, Village of Clemmons Planning FAQ, Village of Clemmons Planning & Community Development Fee Schedule, and Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Inspections Division permit policies as of June 2026.
GOVERNANCE
The Village of Clemmons governs local zoning and development standards through the Village of Clemmons Unified Development Ordinances, which include definitions, zoning, environmental, and subdivision regulations.
The Village of Clemmons Planning Department directs land-use and development processes for rezonings, subdivisions, commercial development, UDO amendments, and related planning applications. The UDO assigns administration and enforcement of zoning regulations to the Zoning Officer under the general direction of the Planning Director.
The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Inspections Division performs permitting and inspections for the Village of Clemmons and handles questions regarding inspections, permits, and zoning enforcement. The Village separately issues Stormwater Management, Sign, and Driveway permits through its permitting system.
The Village Stormwater Administrator administers stormwater and floodplain-related permit review under the Environmental Ordinance. The Forsyth County Historic Resources Commission administers Certificate of Appropriateness review where local historic landmark, H District, or HO District standards apply.
PERMIT AND APPROVAL REQUIREMENTS
• Building Permit: The North Carolina State Building Code baseline exempts fences not over 7 feet from a building permit, but the current Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Inspections Division policy for residential single-family applications includes fences over 6 feet. For the Village of Clemmons, use the local over 6 feet administrative trigger.
• Application Path: Residential single-family building permit applications, including fences over 6 feet, are submitted through the GeoCivix electronic plan-review system with building plans, site plans, and related documents as required by the permit office.
• Zoning Permit Relationship: The UDO states that a building permit issued in accordance with the State Building Code also serves as a zoning permit. The Village of Clemmons does not publish a separate all-fences zoning-permit requirement for standard residential fences in the referenced published materials.
• Zoning Compliance: Building permit requirements are separate from zoning, setback, subdivision, floodplain, historic, watershed, stream-buffer, right-of-way, easement, drainage, and plat requirements. Confirm any applicable zoning conditions, setbacks, and plat requirements with the Village of Clemmons Planning Department before construction.
• Stormwater Management Permit: The Village permitting materials state that all proposed development and redevelopment sites within Clemmons must apply for a Stormwater Management Permit, including sites that may be eligible for an exemption from post-construction stormwater quality management. Where required, the stormwater management permit is issued before any other permit required under the North Carolina State Building Code.
• Floodplain Development Permit: A floodplain development permit is required before development activities within special flood hazard areas. The floodplain article defines development broadly to include man-made changes such as structures, fill, grading, paving, excavation, or drilling operations.
• Historic Approval: For a Local Historic Landmark or property in an H District or HO District, the UDO requires Certificate of Appropriateness review for specified exterior work involving masonry walls, fences, site elements, landscape features, and similar appurtenant features, whether or not a building permit is otherwise required.
• Driveway Permit: If a fence or gate project includes a new driveway or reconstruction of an existing driveway, the Village requires a Driveway Permit before the driveway work is built.
• Private Swimming Pools: All private swimming pools must be reviewed and receive building permits before construction. A fence used as a private pool barrier is reviewed in that pool-permit context, separate from an ordinary yard fence.
FENCE PLACEMENT RULES
• Required Yards: The UDO treats walls or fences as landscape features and allows them in required yards when they do not interfere with any recorded sight easement.
• Property Lines: 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.
• Sight Easements and Sight Distance Triangles: The UDO defines sight distance triangles as areas at the corners of intersections of roads and driveways where approaching traffic views should not be obstructed. For street-intersection sight distances, including sight triangles, measurements begin at the edge of pavement.
• Yadkin River Conservation District: In the YR District, the UDO requires 100-foot undisturbed vegetated buffers along the Yadkin River and all streams, restricts land-disturbing activity and impervious surface in stream buffers, and restricts land-disturbing activity or placement of structures in designated floodplains except for listed uses and activities. This is a mapped district and environmental constraint, not a general fence setback.
• Stormwater, Watershed, and Drainage Conditions: Fence work that is part of a proposed development or redevelopment site, or that affects land disturbance, impervious surface, drainage, stormwater conveyance, or mapped watershed or stream-buffer conditions, is subject to the applicable Environmental Ordinance permit path.
• Floodplain Areas: Fence work involving development activity in a special flood hazard area must be handled under the floodplain development permit provisions before work begins.
• Driveway and Curb Work: The Village requires a Driveway Permit before building a new driveway, reconstructing a driveway, breaking a street or curb for a driveway entrance, or constructing a driveway across grass or sidewalk areas.
• Utility Safety: North Carolina law requires notice to the North Carolina Notification Center / NC 811 before excavation where the Underground Utility Safety and Damage Prevention Act applies. For fence projects that involve digging, including fence post holes, notice for non-subaqueous excavation must be given not less than three full working days before the proposed start date, and the notice expires 28 calendar days after the work start date. North Carolina law also includes specific exemptions, including certain work by the owner of a single-family residential property on the owner’s own land and certain agricultural or gardening excavations. This statewide utility-notice framework is separate from local fence permitting, zoning, development approval, easement limits, right-of-way approvals, coastal/CAMA approvals, watershed or riparian-buffer rules, floodplain review, stormwater review, HOA restrictions, and other applicable requirements.
FENCE HEIGHT AND VISIBILITY RULES
• General Fence Height: The code does not specify a general maximum height for standard residential fences. The over 6 feet figure is a local building-permit application trigger, not a stated maximum fence height.
• State Building-Code Baseline: The North Carolina State Building Code 7-foot figure is a building-permit exemption threshold, not a local maximum fence height and not a substitute for the Village of Clemmons local permit, zoning, stormwater, floodplain, historic, pool-barrier, right-of-way, easement, or private-restriction rules.
• Required Yards and Sight Easements: Fences and walls may be located in required yards only where they do not interfere with a recorded sight easement.
• Sight Distance: The UDO identifies road and driveway intersection corners as areas where views of approaching traffic should not be obstructed, but it does not publish a single numeric sight-triangle distance for standard residential fences in the referenced published materials.
• Private Pool Barrier Height: A private swimming pool fence must be at least 4 feet high above average grade level, unless the pool qualifies for the setback alternative in the AG, YR, RS-40, RS-30, or RS-20 Districts.
• Pool Barrier Setback Alternative: For swimming pools on lots of 5 acres or more in the AG, YR, RS-40, RS-30, and RS-20 Districts, the UDO allows a setback alternative in lieu of the fencing requirement: at least 200 feet from the front lot line and 100 feet from the rear lot line.
MATERIAL AND CONSTRUCTION LIMITS
• Standard Residential Materials: The code does not specify permitted or prohibited materials for standard residential fences in the referenced published materials.
• Opaque Fence or Wall: The UDO defines an opaque fence or wall as a vertical structure constructed of masonry, concrete, metal, or wooden material that does not allow light to pass through. This definition controls where the code requires an opaque fence or wall, but it is not a general material rule for every residential fence.
• Pool Barrier Openings and Gates: A private pool fence and gate must be void of any holes or openings larger than 5 inches or 10 centimeters in one dimension. All fence openings or points of entry into the pool must have gates, and gates must be self-closing and self-latching to keep the gate or door securely closed at all times.
• Historic Properties: Fence, wall, and appurtenant-feature materials or appearance may be reviewed under Design Review Standards where a Local Historic Landmark, H District, or HO District Certificate of Appropriateness requirement applies.
• Barbed Wire, Razor Wire, and Electric Fences: The code does not specify a residential barbed-wire, razor-wire, or electric-fence standard for ordinary single-family yard fences in the referenced published materials.
PRIVATE RESTRICTIONS
Private restrictions operate separately from Village regulations. A homeowners association, subdivision covenant, deed restriction, recorded easement, architectural-review covenant, conservation easement, private boundary agreement, or similar private restriction may impose fence limits that are more restrictive than the Village of Clemmons rules.
The referenced published materials do not state that the Village of Clemmons enforces private covenants or HOA architectural rules as part of ordinary residential fence review.
REVIEW AND ENFORCEMENT CONTEXT
Fence issues are typically reviewed during permit or approval review when required, and through complaint-based code enforcement. Examples include:
• Permits for Taller Fences: Residential single-family fence projects over 6 feet are routed through the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Inspections Division building-permit application process.
• Zoning and Required-Yard Compliance: The UDO allows fences and walls in required yards where they do not interfere with recorded sight easements, and a building permit issued under the State Building Code also serves as a zoning permit.
• Visibility Review: Fence placement near road and driveway intersection corners may be reviewed against sight easement and sight distance triangle requirements.
• Stormwater, Watershed, and Floodplain Review: Development or redevelopment involving land disturbance, impervious surface, drainage, mapped watershed or stream-buffer conditions, or special flood hazard areas may be reviewed by the Village Stormwater Administrator or Floodplain Administrator under the Environmental Ordinance.
• Historic Review: Fence or wall work on a Local Historic Landmark or within an H District or HO District may require a Certificate of Appropriateness through the historic-review process.
• Private Pool Barriers: Pool fences are reviewed in the pool-permit context, including the 4-foot minimum barrier height, gate requirements, and opening limits.
• Driveway and Curb Work: Fence or gate projects involving new or reconstructed driveway work may also require a Village Driveway Permit.
• Utility Safety: Fence-post excavation is also subject to the statewide North Carolina Notification Center / NC 811 utility-notice framework where that law applies.
USING THIS INFORMATION
This page provides general orientation on how residential fence rules are structured and applied within Village of Clemmons, based on the referenced published materials as of June 2026.
In addition to local fence rules, certain North Carolina laws apply statewide. See Statewide fence laws in North Carolina.
It is not legal advice and does not replace official ordinances, permits, zoning approvals, development approvals, 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, watershed status, riparian-buffer status, coastal or CAMA jurisdiction, historic district status, design-review status, rural or agricultural context, livestock or stock-law context, pool-barrier use, utility safety requirements, 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 Village of Clemmons Planning Department, Village Stormwater Administrator, and Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Inspections Division, as applicable, and any applicable private agreements. If this page conflicts with official ordinances, published guidance, or direction from Village of Clemmons staff, the official sources control. For legal advice or legal interpretation, consult a licensed attorney.