Denver Alley Fence Rules for Corner Lots and Rear Yards

A Denver alley fence belongs on your side of the alley, not in it. The City and County of Denver says a fence should not be built on a neighbor's property or in the public right-of-way, and that right-of-way includes streets, alleys, sidewalks, and tree lawns. Height follows the primary street-facing facade, so the alley is not a free pass for a tall run. On a corner, the side street is a street, not a backyard. This page is those lot lines. It is not a permit. Confirm the edges with the city before anyone orders boards.

Where a Denver alley fence can sit

An alley, in the zoning code, is a public right-of-way smaller than a local street. It is not for general travel. It is how cars reach the rear of houses and businesses. A private alley is reserved by deed, easement, or plat for that access and is not dedicated to the city. Neither one is a spare side of the yard.

Stay off the neighbor's land, and stay out of the alley, the sidewalk, and the tree lawn. Every fence and wall has to sit at least six inches back from the public sidewalk, no matter where the property line is. Measure from the concrete. An old post that already touches the walk is not a template. If the alley has no sidewalk, the paving, the drainage, and the poles are still public. Do not treat the gravel edge as your line.

On an interior lot, Article 13 says the primary street zone lot line abuts the named or numbered street. The rear line is the one opposite that street. The other two are side interior lines, and there is no side street. When the rear line faces the alley, the fence along it is the rear run. It still stops at your lot.

A lot with more than four lines, two or more abutting alleys, or an irregular shape can have its lines set by the zoning administrator. Two alleys on one house is a question for that desk, not a reason to copy the block.

Fence estimates in Denver start when you trace the line you mean to build. Draw the alley, the street, and the gates. Then ask which edges the city calls primary, side, and rear.

A corner lot has two streets, and only one is primary

The side street has a sidewalk and a name. The alley has garages and trash carts. The last fence on the block is not the rule.

On oblong blocks, Article 13 says the line on the long side of the block is the primary street, and the line on the short side is the side street. You may call the short side primary only when at least three lots, including yours, already front that short side, and the short-side line is half or less of the long-side line. You may ask for an administrative adjustment to treat the long side as the side street. On a lot with a historic structure, the zoning administrator may name the primary street, and may name more than one.

The rear line is opposite the shorter of the two lines that run parallel to a street. If those two match, the administrator picks the rear. You can ask for a different rear. One limit does not bend: a line that runs along a street and touches that street is never the rear. A tall fence on the side street is not "the back" because the front door faces the other way.

A street in front and a street in back, a curved block, and a lot on three streets each have their own paragraph in that article. The zoning guide for fences asks you to mark which kind of lot it is, and to write the forward height separately from the height behind the facade. It also says that on an oblong block the primary street abuts the longer side. Use Zoning Tip Sheet #4, linked from the fences page, before you label the plan. After the lot is developed, Article 13 says that primary-street label stays unless the lot can still meet every rule in the zone district.

Four feet in front of the facade, six feet behind it

The fences page says that, outside industrial areas, the maximum is four feet in the front yard and six feet in the backyard. The primary street-facing facade is the wall facing the primary street, often the one with the front door. In front of it, four feet. Behind it, six.

Section 10.5.5 is the line on the drawing. For houses, and for most other uses outside the industrial districts named there, four feet is the maximum forward of at least 75 percent of the primary street-facing facade width. Six feet is the maximum flush with or behind that line. A wrap down the side street changes height there, not at the alley.

If no primary facade can be picked, including on a vacant lot, the code uses the primary street setback: four feet inside it and six feet elsewhere. Industrial districts I-A, I-B, and CMP-NWC use seven feet inside a required setback and ten feet outside it. A house is not that table.

Section 13.1.7 measures height from the base, at the higher finished grade inside or outside, up to the top. A fence on a retaining wall starts six inches above where the wall stops holding earth. An alley slope can make the same boards read taller on the low side. An as-built fence may vary by up to six inches for minor grade changes. That is not permission to plan a taller fence.

The zoning administrator may allow up to two extra feet for security, privacy, or protection from traffic noise or lights, if the other tests in section 10.5.5.1 are met, including traffic safety and trees. Any four-foot stretch of that extra height forward of the 75 percent line has to be at least 50 percent open. More than two feet over the maximum is a variance. Read that section before you draw a privacy wall past six feet along the alley.

The sight triangle at the corner and at the alley

Section 10.5.5.1 says sight triangles sit at the intersecting corners of streets, driveways, or alleys. Landscaping, fences, walls, and screening there may have to stay low so drivers and people on foot can see. Anything inside one needs approval from the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure. Section 10.5.2.1 says the same thing.

The code does not print one triangle size for every lot. If the run meets the street corner, a driveway, or the alley where cars pull out, mark it and ask DOTI. A wood picket or an aluminum fence stays partly open, and open is not an approval. A solid craftsman cedar fence at the alley mouth is the run most likely to need a lower piece. Cedar dog-ear privacy is that same closed board with a different top. Chain link leaves a view through it, and on a landmark block it is often the wrong material anyway.

What the permit drawing has to label

Fences over four feet need a zoning permit. Fences shorter than four feet do not, unless the site is a landmark, a historic district, or a designated parkway. A post-hole fence needs a building permit only when it is taller than eight feet. Other fence and wall types need a building permit over four feet. When a Denver fence permit applies is the longer checklist. The alley does not change those cutoffs.

The fences page says the site plan should name every zone lot line, show the distance from those lines, include a north arrow, label the streets and alleys, show the structures, and mark location, height, and materials. A corner lot should show both heights when the run changes at the facade. An alley should be labeled, not left blank. An over-height fence, or a fence on a wall, also needs an elevation.

E-permits is the click path. Make an account, then choose Development Services and Apply for a Permit. When only zoning is required, select zoning permit. A six-foot cedar run of posts and boards is that path: over four feet, and under eight.

Any fence in a historic district, on an individual landmark, or along a designated parkway needs a permit at any height. Landmark Preservation reviews it. Front-yard fences there may not exceed four feet and must be more than half open. Vinyl and chain link are not allowed in most of those districts. The alley side of a landmark block is still that review.

Gates, the old fence, and the neighbor

An alley lot often needs a walk gate for the cans and a drive gate for the garage. The swing stays out of the sidewalk and out of the alley.

Allowed materials are wood, composite, brick, masonry, metal or iron bars, textured or aggregate concrete, and chain link or wire mesh. Scrap doors, tires, and car doors are prohibited. Vinyl privacy is not named in that list, so ask the permit desk before you order it. On a landmark lot, treat vinyl as off the table until Landmark Preservation says otherwise. Ornamental iron stays open. Split rail is a low edge, not an alley wall.

If the old boards might belong to the neighbor, agree on the face, the gate, and the haul-away before the application treats that run as yours. An association can still be stricter on color, material, and height. HOA fence approval is a separate stamp from the zoning permit.

The locate, then the visit

A permit does not find the gas line. Colorado 811 says fence posts need a locate, and that the locate is free. Contact them at least three business days ahead, not counting the day you call. State law sets a shorter minimum. Use the longer wait 811 publishes. Denver Water repeats that three-business-day note. Sprinklers are not on the ticket.

How an estimate works is the visit in short. You trace the yard, pick a style, and say where to send the number. The crew still checks the property line, the sidewalk gap, the alley slope, the sight triangle, and truck access. Say if the house might be a landmark, or if a second street faces the side yard.

Get a REAL quote for your Denver fence project in seconds. You draw the fence, pick a style, and answer a few questions. Tell us where to send it and the price shows then, from a vetted, insured, family-owned contractor. Bring the alley edge and the corner. The next step is your address, checked against the city's fences page.