Fence glossary · Code & Permits
Setback
The distance a municipality requires between a fence and a property line, street right-of-way, sidewalk or easement. It lives in the zoning ordinance rather than the building code, it differs between townships that share a border, and the figure binding on a given parcel comes from that municipality alone.
Setback is where fence permit applications get rejected, and it is rarely the rear line that causes it — it is the street. A front-yard setback is normally measured from the right-of-way line rather than from the curb or the edge of the pavement, and the right-of-way commonly extends several feet into what a homeowner reads as their own lawn. Measuring from the curb and building to that mark is the classic and expensive error, because the remedy is moving the fence rather than amending the paperwork.
Corner lots feel the rule twice. Most ordinances across Chester County, Delaware County and the Main Line treat a corner property as having two front yards, one for each street frontage, which applies the front-yard setback and the lower front-yard height limit to the side the homeowner has been calling the back. This is the single most frequent surprise in this territory, and it is worth resolving before a design is drawn rather than after a permit comes back marked up.
The other setback that catches people is not in the zoning ordinance at all. A recorded easement — utility, drainage, sanitary sewer or access — can run straight through a yard, and a fence built inside it may be perfectly permitted by the township and still removable at the owner's expense when the easement holder needs the ground. Both the setback and any easement appear on the plot plan or survey that the permit application asks for, which is exactly why that document is worth locating before the fence line is designed.
