Fence Permits in Port St. Lucie

Yes: Port St. Lucie handles fences through a Fence Application (Zoning) filed with the Building Department at 121 SW Port St. Lucie Blvd., phone 772-871-5132 (Port St. Lucie Fence Application (Zoning)).

Port St. Lucie Code Compliance does not issue fence permits. Its page lists fence permits among the common issues it does not handle and sends residents to the Building Department at 772-871-5132, adding that anyone planning to put up a structure, fence or accessory unit should check with the Building Department for permit requirements first (Port St. Lucie Code Compliance). Once a fence is up, Code Compliance enforces its upkeep: the city's list of common residential violations cites Section 41.08(D), which says approved fencing materials must be used and kept in good repair (Common Residential Code Violations).

The Building Department's list of permit applications carries the Fence Permit (Zoning) form, a matching Fence (Zoning) checklist and a Fence Diagram Tool among its resources (Building Permits: Applications, Fees and Checklists). The fence form leaves the permit fee to office use; the same Port St. Lucie page publishes a Residential Permit Fees schedule and a One and Two Family Residence Fee Calculator, and notes that all building permit fees carry the State of Florida surcharge and that electronic payments carry a 2.35% service fee.

The current Port St. Lucie form, revised in 2025, asks for the property and parcel details, owner and installer information, fence material, height, corner-lot status, valuation and notarized signatures from both the contractor and the owner (Fence Application (Zoning)).

Every row is from the checklist page of the Port St. Lucie Fence Application (Zoning). The form's material checkboxes are chain link, wood, vinyl or PVC, aluminum, wrought iron and other. By signing, the applicant certifies the fence will be installed under the listed code sections and accepts responsibility for any violation of the City of Port St. Lucie Code of Ordinances.

An older Port St. Lucie Residential Fence Permit Application still posted on the city permit server, form updated 06/06/2016, adds two rules: a permit becomes null and void if work does not start within 6 months or stops for 6 months, and a fence used as a pool barrier must be inspected under Florida Building Code 4101.7 with a Pool Alarm/Barrier Affidavit (Residential Fence Permit Application with ordinance). That Port St. Lucie form also warns owners that failing to record a notice of commencement may result in paying twice for improvements, that the notice must be recorded and posted on the job site before the first inspection, and that electrical, plumbing, sign, pool and similar work each need a separate permit.

No Port St. Lucie residential fence may exceed six feet, and a single-family fence must sit at least 25 feet from the front property line or even with the outside front corners of the building, whichever is greater (Section 158.216 as reprinted by the city).

Port St. Lucie reprints Sections 158.216, 158.203 and 158.204 in its residential fence permit form, updated June 6, 2016.

The table follows the ordinance pages of the Port St. Lucie residential fence permit form, whose reprint lists amendments through Ord. No. 15-85 of Dec. 7, 2015. Landscape segments may be wood, masonry, stone, vinyl or metal picket. Nonresidential fences next to residential property follow subsections (B) through (F) and Chapter 154.

Residential fences in Port St. Lucie may be chain link, wood, masonry or stone, aluminum, vinyl coated steel or polyester powder steel, ornamental or imitation wood, while chicken wire and barbed wire are not permitted in residential districts (Section 158.216(A) as reprinted).

That reprint sits in the city fence form updated June 6, 2016. The same Port St. Lucie subsection allows vinyl coated welded wire as an interface to a wooden fence, defining an interface as material placed upon an existing fence, inside its common boundaries, for added security. Masonry or stone walls are prohibited in utility and drainage easements on single-family lots unless the zoning administrator and City Engineer approve a specific waiver, and every metal or wood fence in a utility or drainage easement must be built to be easily removable (Section 158.216(A)).

Only with permission: the Port St. Lucie fence checklist allows improvements within a 20-foot-wide city-owned easement under a revocable encroachment permit, and the owner removes them at the owner's cost when the city asks (Fence checklist easement provisions).

The Port St. Lucie checklist explains that the city reserves the right to use or cross land owned by others for stormwater and drainage, water, sewer and reuse facilities, access and maintenance. Unpermitted improvements that hinder that use are prohibited, and placing any structure or material on, over or beneath a city-owned easement without a revocable encroachment permit, a contract or other city approval violates Chapter 55. If an owner fails to remove and restore the easement area, the city may do the work and collect the cost from the owner (Fence Application (Zoning) checklist).

Those amounts appear in the Port St. Lucie Public Works residential review and permitting guidelines, effective October 1, 2026.

Port St. Lucie corner lots must keep a 25-foot sight triangle clear of any fence, wall, hedge or shrub planting that obstructs sight lines between two and six feet above the crown of the road (Section 158.204 as reprinted).

The reprint is in the city fence form updated June 6, 2016. The same Port St. Lucie sight-line limit applies on any lot within ten feet of the edge of a driveway or alley, and trees inside those limits must keep foliage at or above six feet (Section 158.204). Section 158.203 sets the corner-lot side setback next to the side street by lot width: 15 feet for lots under 90 feet wide, 20 feet for lots 90 to 100 feet wide and 25 feet for lots over 100 feet (Section 158.203).

For pools, subsection (G) of the reprinted Port St. Lucie ordinance requires a fence or suitable enclosure around the pool area, including the concrete patio, and a pool fence must be between four and six feet tall (Section 158.216(G)). The current checklist ties the two permits together when the fence is the pool barrier (Fence Application (Zoning)).

Only when the vacant Port St. Lucie lot sits next to a lot with an existing primary use and both are in common ownership, in the same zoning district and the same future land use designation, under Section 158.216(J) (Section 158.216(J) as reprinted).

The reprint is in the city fence form updated June 6, 2016. The vacant-lot fence in Port St. Lucie must also meet the front, side and rear setbacks that apply where a lot abuts a public right-of-way, and where the street already has a predominant fence setback greater than the code requires, new fences on that street must match it (Section 158.216(J)). Subsection (K) requires every fence permit applicant to sign a Building Department affidavit accepting responsibility for compliance with Section 158.216.

Last verified: October 22, 2026, by re-reading the 2025 Fence Application (Zoning) and checklist, the older residential fence form with its ordinance reprint, the Building Department application list, both Code Compliance pages and the Public Works fee schedule.