Fence permit rules in Ypsilanti, Saline, Milan, Dexter and Chelsea

Every town in Washtenaw County writes its own fence rules, and in all six places below a residential fence is a zoning permit from the city or township, not the county. We read each office’s own form or ordinance. Where we could not read something, we say so and give you the phone number instead of a guess. Ann Arbor and Pittsfield Township have their own page.

City of Ypsilanti

The city handles fences through a Zoning Review Application (Fence, Shed, Etc.) at the Building Department, One South Huron Street, (734) 482-1025. The fee on the 2025-26 schedule is $70 for zoning review of accessory structures and fences.

The zoning ordinance, Chapter 122, sets the residential limits: front yard no more than 4 feet and 50 percent opaque; side, street side and rear yards no more than 6 feet, with no opacity limit. Opacity is checked over any two-square-yard patch of fence between one foot above the ground and the top. No barbed wire or sharp points, no electric current.

The form needs a site plan or sketch showing the fence and its setbacks. A fence on the property line needs a notarized letter from the neighbor. A historic district needs separate approval. Planning questions go to 734-483-9646.

Ypsilanti Township

A fence on a residential lot needs a zoning permit from Planning & Zoning; on commercial property it is a building permit. The 2025 fee schedule lists a zoning permit for fences, sheds and driveways at $50 minimum.

Section 1305 of the township zoning ordinance, as confirmed by Ordinance 2023-505: in a required front yard, or in any yard that touches a street on a corner or through lot, only an ornamental fence, no more than 4 feet. An ornamental fence blocks no more than 40 percent of the view, so a privacy fence does not qualify. In yards that do not touch a street, up to 6 feet. A through lot, with a street at the front and the back, has a front yard on both.

Planning & Zoning, 7200 S. Huron River Drive, 734-544-4000 ext. 1, [email protected].

Saline

Saline lists fences among the zoning permits you apply for online. The Community Development fee schedule puts a fence at $75, a line revised June 17, 2024, plus a $3 technology fee for each online application.

Here we have to be straight with you. Saline’s height limits are in its zoning ordinance, on an online code library that blocked us, so we print no number. Ask when you apply. Community Development, (734) 429-8296, option 1 for the permit technician. The Building Department is at 100 N. Harris Street.

Milan

Milan’s rules are Section 7.30 of the zoning ordinance, and the Building Department repeats them in its Fences & Walls guide. A zoning permit is required to build, alter or move a fence, with four exceptions: repairs with no structural change, a gate up to 8 feet wide in an existing fence, less than 8 feet of new fence, and hedges.

• Side and rear yards: privacy fence 6 feet, ornamental 6 feet, chain link 5 feet, rail fence 5 feet, measured from the ground to the highest point.
• No fence in the required front yard at all.
• Corner lots: a fence on the street side only beyond 25 feet from the street right-of-way line, and not past the front corners of the house.
• On the lot line only with written consent from the neighbors or a surveyor’s letter.
• Finished side faces out. No barbed wire, electric current, wire or chicken wire.

The pages we read do not give the fee. Building Department, 147 Wabash Street, 734-439-7089.

Dexter

Building or altering any fence in the City of Dexter needs a permit approved by the Zoning Administrator, under Section 3.17. The zoning compliance application lists decks, fences and pools at $50 for the preliminary permit and $50 again for the final one after the fence is up; ask the office which apply to you.

• Front yard: ornamental only, up to 36 inches (post and rail, split rail, picket, wrought iron), not within 6 inches of the sidewalk or the lot line.
• Side yard: 6 feet, 4 feet on a corner lot, and not past the front of the house.
• Rear yard: privacy fence up to 6 feet, measured from the surrounding grade at every point.
• Corner lots count both street sides as front yards, and the 25-foot corner triangle allows nothing solid between 30 inches and 6 feet.
• On the line only with written consent from all neighbors or a certified survey. Finished side out. No chicken wire, barbed wire or electric.

Office of Community Development, 3515 Broad Street, (734) 580-2233. A building permit, when one is needed, comes from the Washtenaw County Building Department.

Chelsea

Chelsea issues a Zoning Compliance Permit for a fence at $50. Its application, updated October 2026, prints the residential limits: rear and side yards 6 feet at up to 100 percent opacity; front yard 4 feet at up to 50 percent. The form also prints a 3-foot minimum in every yard; ask what that means for a low garden fence. Commercial and industrial lots get 8 feet at the sides and rear and 6 feet in front.

You submit a sketch with materials, height, the distance to the lot line and gate locations, written consent from the homeowners association where there is one, and the neighbor’s consent for a fence on the lot line. Corner lots have to meet the visibility rule in section 3.13. Allow a two-week review, and the permit lapses if the fence is not built within 180 days.

City Offices, 305 S. Main Street, Suite 100, (734) 475-1771, option 5 for Planning & Zoning. Building permits, where needed, go through the Chelsea Area Construction Agency.

Before anyone digs

Michigan’s MISS DIG act wants a dig notice at least 72 hours before digging, counting business hours only, which is three business days, and no more than 14 days ahead. It is free: dial 811 or 800-482-7171. The contractor calls for his own job.

See your price range

Put your runs into the estimator and see the installed range. Our Ann Arbor cost page has the per-foot prices for this side of the line. If it looks right, request a quote, then ring the office above before anything is ordered.