Front yard fences - What if the fence is too high?

Are you thinking of building a fence? Be careful about how high you build, otherwise that new fence might not follow the City of Calgary's land use bylaws:

Land Use Bylaw, 1P2007 - Fences

Section 343 - The height of a fence above grade at any point along a fence line must not exceed:

(a) 1.2 metres for any portion of a fence extending between the foremost front facade of the main residential building and the front property line;

(b) 2.0 metres in all other cases; and

(c) 2.5 metres at the highest point of a gate that is not more than 2.5 metres in length.

In this dupex the foremost front facade is the 6.10m portion east of the fence, not the facade to the north on the adjacent unit.

This is good information to know before building a fence. However, what if there's already a fence in the front yard and the Real Property Report (RPR) shows that it's 1.8m high when it should only be 1.2m? What if you're selling the house next week?

Do I need to get out a chainsaw?

Thankfully, the Planning Department doesn't look at fence height for Certificate of Compliance stamps. The certificate itself states the following:

"The Certificate of Compliance relates only to the building location requirements of the Land Use Bylaw 1P2007..."

According to the Planning Department, fence height won't affect whether or not the City will stamp the RPR. However, a fence higher than 1.2m in a front yard does not meet the bylaw requirements. If somebody complained, the City might still investigate.