Why chain link outlasts better-looking fences here
Every fence in Southeast Idaho is fighting three things: wind, drifting snow, and a deep annual freeze. Chain link is the only common fence type that declines two of those fights outright.
The City of Pocatello publishes a design wind speed of 115 MPH per 3 second gusts. A six-foot solid panel standing in that is a sail, and the posts carry every bit of it. Mesh lets it through. The same logic applies to snow: against a published 45-pound ground snow load, a solid run collects blowing snow and holds it, while an open mesh lets it pass and keeps the drift from building against the line.
That leaves frost, which chain link is no more immune to than anything else. Posts go below the freeze depth or they heave. What is different is that mesh hides a leaning post far longer than a panel does — a chain link fence can be well out of plumb before it looks wrong, so the problem tends to be found late.
The ordinance likes chain link more than it likes anything else
Two separate places in Pocatello’s fence chapter work in chain link’s favour.
First, the materials list. Section 15.28.030(J)(1) requires that fencing materials in residential, residential/commercial/professional and commercial general zones be architecturally compatible with the neighbourhood, then lists what is generally acceptable — chainlink, split rail, wood fabricated primarily as fencing material, vegetation and hedges, masonry, brick or cinder block, and ornamental iron. Chainlink is first on that list. Materials that are not on it get routed through the minor exception procedure in 15.28.040, which requires written consent from every adjacent property owner.
Second, and more unusually, the sight triangle. Section 15.28.030(G) sets a three-foot limit above the existing centreline street elevation inside the triangle formed forty feet in each direction from the intersection of two street edges. Then it adds:
“Provided, however, the building official may approve chainlink or similar ‘open’ fences no greater than four feet (4’) in height if they determine that the sight obstruction from such a fence will not constitute a traffic hazard.”
That is the code naming a material by hand. On a corner lot, it is often the difference between a four-foot fence that encloses the yard and a three-foot one that does not. Note what it is not: it is discretionary, it is the building official’s determination, and it applies to open fences. It is not an entitlement, and it is worth raising with the department rather than assuming.
An alley corner carries its own triangle under 15.28.030(H) — three feet, ten feet in each direction.
Every fence in the city needs a permit
Section 15.28.010 requires a permit from the building department before any fence is erected in the city, with no exemption for height, length or type. The permit may be issued in the contractor’s name, and the ordinance is explicit that this does not relieve the person who hired them of the obligation to confirm the permit was actually issued.
The application is a site plan. Under 15.28.020 it has to show the owner’s and the fence contractor’s names, addresses and phone numbers, the project address, a statement of materials, and a diagram with property lines and site dimensions, the fence location, the length of the fence lines, the height of each section, and the location of materials where they differ from section to section.
The permit fee is set annually by resolution of the city council.
Height limits that apply regardless of material
- Seven feet maximum anywhere in the city (15.28.030(A)).
- Four feet inside a designated front setback (15.28.030(E)).
- Four feet in the side setback of a corner lot whose rear lot line abuts the side property line of a lot facing the side street (15.28.030(F)).
- Three feet in a street sight triangle, subject to the open-fence discretion above (15.28.030(G)).
- Three feet in an alley sight triangle (15.28.030(H)).
Two more rules in the same section are worth knowing if you are fencing for containment. No fence in the city may be electrified (15.28.030(B)). And barbed wire is prohibited except along the top and bottom of approved security fences in light industrial, commercial general and industrial zones, on a demonstration of good cause and a showing that it will not be a public safety hazard (15.28.030(D)). Neither is available as a residential add-on to a chain link fence inside city limits.
Section 15.28.030(C) also requires that all fencing be maintained in good condition, which is an ongoing obligation rather than a condition at installation.
Where chain link is the wrong answer
- When you actually want privacy. Slats are a compromise that satisfies nobody and quietly converts an open fence into a solid one without upgrading the posts underneath it. If screening is the goal, start with a fence type designed to screen.
- When appearance is the point. Against a period house or a street of decorative fencing, chain link reads as what it is. Ornamental iron does the same containment job and looks deliberate.
- For livestock on acreage. Chain link will hold most animals, but the cost per foot over long runs makes ranch fencing the sensible choice well before you reach the boundary of a large parcel.
Sources
- City of Pocatello — General Building Information (frost level, ground snow load, design wind speed, adopted codes)
- Pocatello, ID Code of Ordinances — Chapter 15.28 Fence Construction (permit requirement, site plan contents, height limits, sight triangle language, acceptable materials, electrified and barbed wire rules)
Pocatello Building Department: 208-234-6158.