Fence Company in Independence and Monmouth, Oregon

Two miles apart, opposite permit rules. Independence requires a permit for every fence at any height. IDC 74.020(A)(4) says fees and plans showing the location, materials and design of all fences go to the city before construction, and there's no threshold to fall under — a 3 ft picket needs it the same as a 7 ft privacy fence. Monmouth's zoning code has none: MCC 18.135.070 sets heights and materials and says nothing about a permit, and the City's own one-page fence checklist shows no permit and no fee. We still confirm with Monmouth planning staff at (503) 751-0148 before setting posts rather than assume. Monmouth's code changed publishers, so 18.135.070 now reads at ecode360.com/48710777. Either way the rules run with the land, not the lease — around Western Oregon University a lot of these lots are rentals, and the owner has to be signed on, not just the tenant.

Independence effectively bans chain link in neighborhoods. Residential fences in Independence have to be wood, brick, vinyl or wrought iron. Under IDC 74.020(A)(1)(a)(ii), chain link is prohibited unless 50 percent of the residential lots on your same block or cul-de-sac already have it at the time you apply — and then only in a similar location on the lot as those neighbors. No new chain link is allowed anywhere in the Independence Historic District. Monmouth's code doesn't restrict chain link at all.

Corner lots — both cities print a number, and they're different. Independence's triangle comes off the diagram at IDC 75.055, which labels each leg 20 ft, with the view kept clear between 3 ft 6 in and 9 ft above the curb line. The planting and fence diagram at the back of Subchapter 74 gives the same set of setbacks: 20 ft residential, 15 ft business, 10 ft at alleys. Monmouth's are bigger — MCC 18.140.110 measures 30 ft back along the curb lines at a paved street intersection in a residential zone and 15 ft at an alley, or 25 ft and 15 ft in commercial, public and industrial zones, with nothing obstructing the view between 2 ½ and 8 ft above street grade in any zone except commercial retail. Traffic control signs, utility poles, tree trunks under 12 inches and signs erected for public safety are excepted.

Monmouth measures from the sidewalk, not from your dirt. Where a fence adjoins a street, MCC 18.135.070 measures height from the sidewalk to the highest part of the fence. With no sidewalk the code's sentence is loosely drafted — it points at the curb, the finished shoulder grade of the right-of-way, and the finished grade along the fence — so on a lot that sits high above the street we ask planning which grade they measure from before anything gets cut. That difference can cost you real height.

Materials each city refuses. Independence prohibits sheet metal, metal roofing, plywood, broken or splintered material, pallets, barbed wire, pig wire, woven wire and farm fence wire; stained or discolored material has to be painted; and the finished side must face outward (IDC 74.020(A)(3)). Monmouth bars anything that could cause bodily harm — barbed wire, broken glass, spikes — bars barbed wire as part of any fence along a sidewalk or public way, and prohibits electric fences in any residential or commercial zone or adjacent to any sidewalk or public way.

Pool barrier, Independence. IDC 74.020(B) says a pool has to be protected against accidental entry by a fence not less than 48 inches high with a self-closing, self-locking gate not less than 48 inches from the edge of the pool. Read that the way it's written: the 48-inch distance sits on the gate, not on the whole fence. The sentence is ambiguously drafted, so we confirm the layout with the City before setting posts. Monmouth's zoning code has no pool fence provision, which makes a Monmouth pool barrier a state building code question.

Call 811 first. Contact the Oregon Utility Notification Center two business days before digging. That's every post hole.