Fence glossary · Code & Permits
Right-of-way
The strip of land a public road occupies, together with the margin the municipality or PennDOT holds beside it for sidewalk, utilities and maintenance. It is usually wider than the paved surface, extends into what looks like private lawn, and fence setbacks are measured from its line.
The practical shock is how far back it reaches. On older streets in West Chester and Kennett Square boroughs, along the Main Line, and on the state routes crossing Delaware County, the right-of-way frequently runs well behind the curb, which means a strip of what you mow, plant and maintain is legally road corridor. You do not get to fence it. A fence built into the right-of-way is a removal order waiting for a neighbour complaint, a sidewalk project or a utility dig, and the cost of that removal lands on the property owner.
Where the frontage is a state highway rather than a township road — Route 1 through Concord and Chadds Ford, Route 3 across Delaware County, Route 202 north of West Chester — the corridor belongs to PennDOT, and work inside it can require a highway occupancy permit on top of the township fence permit. Sight-distance rules apply near driveways and intersections as well: a solid fence that blocks the view of oncoming traffic can be refused even at a height the ordinance would otherwise allow.
The line exists on a recorded plan, not on the ground. A survey or the subdivision plot plan shows it; the curb, the hedge, the utility pole and the previous owner's fence do not reliably mark it. Since the permit application asks for the fence drawn on a plot plan anyway, this is the natural moment to confirm it — and it is why we would rather work from a survey than an assumption on any front-yard or corner-lot fence line.
