FENCE RULES – LANTANA (TOWN), FLORIDA
OVERVIEW
Residential fences are permitted on private property within Town of Lantana, subject to local regulations.
For properties located outside Town of Lantana municipal limits, Palm Beach County regulates fences in unincorporated areas.
The principal local fence standards appear in the Town of Lantana Code of Ordinances, especially Chapter 23, section 23-81. Permit procedures and project submittal requirements appear in the Town’s Building Permits materials and Fence Checklist, with separate rules for easements, rights-of-way, designated historic properties, flood hazard areas, and pool barriers.
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 Town of Lantana Code of Ordinances, Supplement No. 75; Town of Lantana Building Permits, Fence Checklist, Permit Applications and Checklists, Building Permit Application, Easement Consent Package, Construction Right-of-Way Permit materials, and Pool Safety Requirements Affidavit; Chapter 2026-63; and applicable Florida Statutes as of July 2026.
GOVERNANCE
The governing authority is the Town of Lantana. The Town Code is published through Supplement No. 75, May 2026, and includes ordinances through Ordinance No. O-02-2026, adopted March 9, 2026.
Town-wide fence placement, height, visibility, design, and material standards appear primarily in section 23-81. The Development Services Department administers planning, zoning, building permits, and related development review, and the Building Division publishes the fence-permit checklist and application materials.
The Plan Review Committee administers Certificates of Appropriateness for fences on designated historic sites and within designated historic districts. The Building Official is also designated as the Town’s Floodplain Administrator for development in mapped flood hazard areas.
PERMIT AND APPROVAL REQUIREMENTS
Effective July 1, 2026, Florida’s HB 803, enacted as Chapter 2026-63, changed the building-permit framework for certain work on single-family residential property. A local government that issues building permits must exempt an owner of a single-family dwelling, or the owner’s contractor, from the requirement to obtain a building permit for work valued at less than $7,500 on the owner’s property. The exemption does not apply to work on property located partly or entirely in a flood hazard area as defined by the Florida Building Code, or to electrical, plumbing, structural, mechanical, or gas work performed on property containing a single-family dwelling. A construction project may not be divided into multiple projects to evade this rule. To qualify, the owner or the owner’s contractor must submit a written exemption request to the local enforcement agency with a contract or other documentation showing the nature and value of the work.
This statutory exemption concerns only the requirement to obtain a building permit. It does not eliminate separate requirements involving zoning, fence permits, setbacks, surveys, easements, rights-of-way, drainage, visibility, floodplain review, historic or design review, Certificates of Appropriateness, pool barriers, HOA approval, covenants, or other site-specific restrictions that may apply to the property.
The statute does not classify every fence project as structural or nonstructural. Unless the local permitting authority has published specific guidance for fence work under HB 803, whether a particular fence project qualifies for the valuation exemption depends on the nature of the work, the property location, and the applicable local permitting process.
• Fence Permit: The Town of Lantana lists fences as permit-required work. The fence submittal package includes a completed permit application, survey information, and a fence plan showing the proposed location, gates, material, and height.
• Easement Placement: When a fence is proposed within an easement, the Town’s Fence Checklist requires the applicable easement-holder consents and a recorded removal agreement using the Town’s published easement-consent forms.
• Historic Approval: A Certificate of Appropriateness is required before a fence or wall is erected, altered, restored, moved, or demolished on a designated historic site or within a designated historic district. This approval is required whether or not a building permit is otherwise required.
• Floodplain Approval: Development wholly or partly within a mapped flood hazard area requires application to the Floodplain Administrator and, when applicable, the Building Official. The floodplain ordinance includes development involving structures and facilities that are exempt from the Florida Building Code and allows a separate floodplain development permit or approval in addition to a building permit.
• Right-of-Way Work: Work that disturbs, excavates, blocks, obstructs, or places construction activity or materials within a public road, right-of-way, or applicable public easement is subject to the Town’s separate construction right-of-way permit process.
• Pool-Barrier Use: A fence used as part of a regulated private swimming-pool barrier is subject to the Town’s separate pool-safety documentation and applicable pool-barrier review. Ordinary yard-fence rules and pool-barrier requirements remain distinct.
• Temporary Construction Fences: The Town’s Fence Checklist states that a temporary construction fence does not require a Town building permit. Separate construction-site screening and safety standards may still apply.
FENCE PLACEMENT RULES
• Property Lines and Surveys: The code does not state a setback requirement for standard residential fences from property lines. The Town requires survey information and a fence plan showing the proposed location, and the fence must remain on the owner’s property unless the Town’s easement-consent process applies.
• Through Lots: A through lot must provide the required front yard along each street. The residential front-yard fence limit therefore applies along both street frontages.
• Corner-Lot Structure Triangle: At intersecting streets on a corner lot, no structure may be placed within a triangular area whose two smaller sides extend at least 15 feet from the intersecting property lines.
• Public Easements and Rights-of-Way: The code prohibits obstructing a public easement, including areas used for public utilities, streets, sidewalks, public rights-of-way, and public places. Fence work that affects the right-of-way is handled through the Town’s separate right-of-way process.
• Waterfront Lots: Waterfront fence placement is subject to the special height limits measured upland from the high-water mark, seawall, or bulkhead. These limits are stated in the height section below.
• Utility Safety: Florida law requires notice through the statewide notification system commonly operated as Sunshine 811 before excavation or demolition. For fence projects that involve digging, drilling, augering, boring, grading, or other movement of earth on land, notice must be provided not less than 2 full business days before excavation begins. Member operators mark or otherwise respond regarding covered underground facilities, and the excavator must verify the system’s positive responses before beginning excavation 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
• Front Yard: In residential districts, walls, fences, and other solid structures are limited to 4 feet in height from the front property line back to the front building line.
• Elsewhere on the Lot: In residential districts, the maximum height is 6 feet outside the area between the front property line and the front building line, subject to the waterfront and visibility rules.
• Driveway Gates in R1 and R1A: Driveway gates and their associated columns and supporting structures may be up to 6 feet high. Architectural features or lights may extend another 24 inches, for a maximum height of 8 feet.
• Waterfront Property: For at least 30 feet upland from the high-water mark, seawall, or bulkhead, walls, fences, and hedge material may not exceed 4 feet. Open wire-mesh or chain-link fences may reach 6 feet, provided vines or shrubbery on the fence do not exceed the four-foot level.
• Intersection Visibility Triangle: Within the triangle extending 25 feet along the front property line and 25 feet along the side property line from the corner, a fence or other obstruction may not obscure visibility between 24 inches and 9 feet above grade. A fence may qualify as an exception when it transmits at least 75 percent light and air, is no more than 4 feet high, and remains visually clear from every angle along the stated property lines. The code states that chain-link fencing meets this openness criterion, and the Town may require a greater clear distance when traffic safety requires it.
• Hedges and Shrubbery: Hedge and shrubbery material may be located anywhere on a residential lot up to 20 feet high, provided it does not create a traffic hazard or impair required visibility and is maintained in a healthy, trimmed condition.
MATERIAL AND CONSTRUCTION LIMITS
• Accepted Designs: Residential fences must use standard industry-accepted designs. The code identifies board-on-board, shadow-box, chain-link, stucco, and lattice as examples.
• Accepted Materials: The code identifies wood posts and slats, metal posts and chain-link, vinyl, and masonry as standard industry-accepted residential fence materials.
• Front and Street-Side Chain Link: Chain-link fencing in the front setback area, and within the minimum setback adjoining a side street on a corner lot, must be coated dark green or black vinyl. It may be screened by a hedge of at least the same height.
• Support Orientation: All exposed structural supports for fencing must face the owner’s property.
• Additional Material Prohibitions: The code does not identify a separate list of prohibited materials for standard residential fences beyond the requirement to use standard industry-accepted designs and materials.
PRIVATE RESTRICTIONS
HOAs, covenants, subdivision restrictions, deed restrictions, private easements, architectural-review covenants, and other recorded private agreements operate independently of Town of Lantana requirements and may be more restrictive.
Effective July 1, 2026, section 720.3035(1)(c), Florida Statutes, as added by Chapter 2026-63, provides that an association or similar committee may not require issuance of a governmental building permit as a prerequisite to its review of structures or improvements. This provision does not eliminate HOA or private architectural 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:
• Permit Submittal: Whether the permit application, survey information, and fence plan identify the proposed fence location, gates, height, and materials.
• Height and Yard Location: Whether the fence complies with the 4-foot front-area limit, the 6-foot limit elsewhere, and the special rules for driveway gates and waterfront lots.
• Traffic Visibility: Whether the fence avoids the corner-lot structure triangle and preserves the required intersection visibility triangle.
• Easements and Rights-of-Way: Whether placement affects a public or private easement, requires easement-holder consent and a removal agreement, or involves construction activity within the public right-of-way.
• Historic Properties: Whether a fence on a designated historic site or within a designated historic district has received the required Certificate of Appropriateness.
• Flood Hazard Areas: Whether the property is wholly or partly within a mapped flood hazard area and requires separate floodplain permitting or approval.
• Pool Barriers: Whether a fence used as a private pool barrier satisfies the separate pool-safety documentation and barrier-review requirements.
• Materials and Orientation: Whether the design and materials are industry-accepted, required chain-link coating is provided, and exposed structural supports face inward.
USING THIS INFORMATION
This page provides general orientation on how residential fence rules are structured and applied within Town of Lantana, based on the referenced published materials as of July 2026.
In addition to local fence rules, certain Florida laws apply statewide. See Statewide fence laws in Florida.
It is not legal advice and does not replace official ordinances, permits, zoning approvals, zoning certifications, development approvals, Florida Building Code requirements, HB 803 exemption procedures, surveys, or professional guidance. Rules and interpretations may change, and application may vary based on zoning district, site conditions, easements, rights-of-way, flood-hazard status, coastal conditions, stormwater requirements, drainage conditions, historic district status, design-review status, rural or agricultural context, pool-barrier use, Florida Building Code edition, local amendment status, Sunshine 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 Town of Lantana Development Services Department and any applicable private agreements. If this page conflicts with official ordinances, published guidance, or direction from Town of Lantana staff, the official sources control. For legal advice or legal interpretation, consult a licensed attorney.