Fence Rules in Unincorporated Rabun County, Georgia

Unconfirmed for fences: the zoning code requires a building permit before any structure goes up and calls a fence a structural barrier, but no building permit rule or fee names fences. Ask Planning and Zoning before you build. Planning and Zoning · 706-782-1579 · planning@rabuncounty.ga.gov 18 Old Raco High Drive, Suite 102, Clayton, GA 30525

No county fence height limit, except near the corner where two streets meet (see corner lots).

No county fence height limit, except near the corner where two streets meet (see corner lots).

On a corner lot the 3 ft limit is measured from the street's centerline, not from the ground in your yard, which can differ on a sloped lot.

On a corner lot, nothing over 3 ft tall, measured from the street's centerline, may stand in the triangle formed by the two street lines and a line joining points 25 ft from where they meet.

Wood, metal or another conventional fence material.

Salvage or junk materials.

None. The county code creates no local historic district.

Unclear. A July 2026 amendment defines the road setback as the minimum distance between a structure and the property line along a road, and the code does not say whether a fence must stay behind it or may stand on side and back lines. Ask Planning and Zoning. That amendment set one road setback for all streets, but its online copy does not show the figure. Road with no deeded right-of-way: the setback is measured from the edge of the traveled road or, where there is one, the outer edge of the publicly maintained shoulder. A public road's right-of-way is government land, not part of your lot. Near water: buildings and other development, which the code says includes any structure, stay at least 25 ft from protected waters, or more where state or federal rules require. Ask Planning and Zoning whether that covers a fence. Rabun County Code Secs. 56-1 (as amended July 28, 2026), 56-134

None for a home fence.

None for a home fence. Pool gates follow the state pool code.

In a flood hazard area (on FEMA's flood maps, or land known to have flooded), a county development permit comes before any development, meaning any man-made change to land. The flood rules never name fences, so ask Planning and Zoning whether yours needs one. Floodway (the stream channel and the land beside it that must stay open to carry floodwater): nothing may go in unless a registered professional engineer certifies it will not raise flood levels or widen the floodway. Flood elevations mapped but no floodway marked: nothing in the flood hazard area unless a registered professional engineer certifies that, with all other existing and expected development, it will raise the flood no more than 1 ft. Along a stream in a mapped flood hazard area where no floodway is mapped and no other flood data are available: no structure, fill or other encroachment within the stream's width or 20 ft of the top of the bank, whichever is greater, unless a registered professional engineer certifies it will raise flood levels no more than 1 ft. Water supply watersheds of the Tallulah River, Little Tennessee River and Mud Creek: along a stream shown as a conservation corridor on the county's Future Land Use Map, a strip measured from the top of the bank must stay undisturbed, 100 ft wide within 7 miles upstream of a public water supply intake or reservoir, and 50 ft wide farther upstream in the Mud Creek watershed. The code does not say whether a fence disturbs it; ask Planning and Zoning. Fence work that causes only minor soil erosion is exempt from the county's soil erosion rules. Rabun County Code Secs. 16-23, 16-24, 16-30, 16-77, 16-78, 16-79, 16-139, 16-285, 16-286

None. The county sets no fence color rule.

Governed by the county's zoning ordinance (Chapter 56), which covers the unincorporated county only: no fence height limit away from a street corner, and conventional materials only. Inside a city, ask that city. Planning and Zoning · 706-782-1579 18 Old Raco High Drive, Suite 102, Clayton, GA 30525