Fence Company in Stayton, Oregon

Corners are where Stayton gets strict. Two chapters bite here. Stayton Municipal Code 17.26.020.4.d requires an unobstructed sight distance triangle of 30 feet along the property lines of both approaches at an uncontrolled intersection on a local residential street, with vegetation inside it kept to 24 inches or less, and a minimum of 10 feet per leg at a driveway — and 17.20.090.12.c flatly prohibits screening inside the triangle. Then SMC 8.04.060.3.b, revised in February 2026, bars any temporary or permanent obstruction to vision over 24 inches above curb level in that same vision clearance area, except a supporting pillar or post up to 12 inches. That one reaches fences, not just plants. Measure the triangle on a corner lot before you commit to 6 feet.

Permits: the seven-foot line, and the caveat that comes with it. Stayton's development code has no fence permit provision of its own — we read the whole February 2026 consolidated code. The threshold instead comes from the state structural-permit brochure the City publishes on its own Building Permit Center page (Oregon BCD form 440-2672), and that brochure is worded as guidance: typically no permit is needed to build a fence up to seven feet high, while a fence more than seven feet high, or any fence serving as the barrier around a swimming pool, hot tub or spa at any height, does need a structural permit. The brochure itself tells you to check with the local building department to verify, so treat seven feet as the usual line and not a guarantee. Stayton contracts plan review and construction inspection to Marion County. Either way, the height rules in 17.20.050 apply whether or not a permit gets pulled — the brochure says as much: code standards must be met even when a permit is not required.

Height is measured from the lowest adjoining grade. Not from the high side. Section 17.20.090.12.c measures fences, hedges, walls and berms from the lowest adjoining finished grade, so on a sloped lot — or where you're setting a fence on top of a retaining wall or a raised bed — the tape starts low. That's what quietly turns a 7 ft fence into an over-height one.

Barbed wire, electric and glass are out. Section 17.20.050.4 says a fence shall not be constructed of or contain any material that will do bodily harm — barbed wire (except as necessary for security fences in commercial and industrial districts), electric wires (other than stock fences), broken glass, spikes, or any other hazardous or dangerous material. In industrial zones, 17.20.050.3.b allows 18 inches of barbed wire above the 7 ft maximum for security. Note that Stayton's nuisance chapter, SMC 8.04.070, reads more permissively on barbed wire than the zoning chapter does; on a house, plan to the zoning prohibition and ask the City if you think you're the exception.

Keep it on your side of the line — and off the water. Section 17.20.050.1.a.1 requires fences, walls and hedges to sit on private property and not extend into or over the street right of way. In older parts of Stayton the right of way often reaches well behind the sidewalk, so the property line and the sidewalk are not the same thing. Near water, 17.20.080.2.b sets a riparian setback of 15 feet from normal high water along the Salem Ditch and Stayton Ditch and 35 feet along Mill Creek and the North Santiam River — and it applies that setback to new development other than a fence, sign or pedestrian way, so a fence is named as an exception. The drafting is loose enough to read either way, and the vegetation-removal limits in 17.20.080.2.d still bind, so call the City before you clear a line down there.

Sublimity and Aumsville are not Stayton. Five minutes up the road the numbers change. Sublimity Development Code 2.401.9 allows a fence or wall up to 8 feet in a residential zone and caps the front at a flat 4 feet with no 50%-open requirement, measured against the front property line or front yard setback rather than Stayton's fixed 10 feet — and 2.401.8 requires a locking 6 ft fence around any swimming pool. Sublimity also publishes its own fence permit page, which we couldn't load, so don't assume Stayton's permit threshold travels — ask Sublimity directly. For Aumsville we won't quote a height we haven't read in the code. Different city, different numbers; we check the code for the address, not the region.

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