Fence rules in North Saanich

How tall a fence may be in North Saanich

In the street-facing part of a lot a fence may not exceed 1.2 m (3.9 ft). North Saanich measures that zone front yard, in R-1, R-2, R-3 and CD-1 only. Elsewhere on the lot the maximum is 1.9 m (6.2 ft).

The rules live in the Zoning Bylaw, zone by zone — only four of twenty-nine say anything. The governing document is the Zoning Bylaw No. 1255, with Building and Plumbing Bylaw No. 1150 (consolidated March 18, 2019).

How the height is measured — and why that matters more than the number

North Saanich measures from the zone's own Maximum Fence Height line (CD-1 is 1.8 m rather than 1.9 m).

Four municipalities in this region measure the same fence four different ways. A fence built to the limit under one method can be over the limit under another, which is why a contractor who works across Greater Victoria cannot carry one number in their head.

If the fence sits on a retaining wall

In North Saanich: "fence" expressly excludes a retaining wall.

This is the single clause that most often decides a terraced lot, and the region splits on it. The City of Victoria measures from the high side of the wall, so the wall costs the owner nothing. Sidney, Saanich, Central Saanich and View Royal count the wall against the fence. Same drawing, opposite answers.

Corner lots and sight lines

On a corner lot: 0.5 m (1.6 ft) inside the triangle. The triangle is measured 6.0 m each way from the exterior corner intersection of two highways. The strictest corner rule in the region, measured against the established grade of the road.

Do you need a permit?

A fence 2 m or taller IS a structure under both bylaws, and therefore needs a building permit.

In ten of the thirteen Greater Victoria municipalities an ordinary residential fence needs nothing at all. The exceptions are Langford, where a fence inside a wildfire-interface or riparian development permit area needs a Development Permit; North Saanich, where a fence of 2 m or more is a "structure"; and Colwood, where a pool fence needs a building permit.

If your lot touches water

No building or structure other than staircases, walkways and retaining walls within 15 m of the natural boundary of the marine shoreline, except in the Marine zones.

This is where the thirteen disagree most sharply. Highlands and View Royal prohibit a fence outright within 30 m of fresh water; Central Saanich expressly exempts fences from its marine setback. Knowing which side of a municipal boundary you are on changes the answer completely.

How do you know whether you are inside it? The distance is measured from the natural boundary, and that is not the edge of the water on the day you look — it is the line the water has marked on the ground over time, and on a creek it can sit well back from today's flow. You cannot pace it out and be safe. The people who establish it are a BC land surveyor, or a Qualified Environmental Professional where the Riparian Areas Regulation applies, and several of these bylaws name a QEP themselves. If your lot touches a creek, a ditch that runs most of the year, a pond or the sea, get that line located before you price a fence — it is cheaper than moving one, and in North Saanich it may decide whether there is a fence at all.

Pool enclosures

Applies to pools deeper than 1 m with a surface area over 15 m²: fence not less than 1.22 m, openings not over 100 mm, nothing between 100 mm and 900 mm that helps climbing, and a spring lock not less than 1070 mm above grade openable only from the pool side.

A pool enclosure is the one fence rule that is a minimum rather than a maximum: no enclosure, no water.

What beats these figures in North Saanich

Everything above is the general case for an ordinary lot. Each layer below can override it, and for a large minority of properties at least one does. They are not exotic — a particular zone, a creek or the shoreline, a strata bylaw, an easement and agricultural land.

CD-1 Comprehensive Development 1: 1.8 m rather than 1.9 m outside the front yard.

Every zone except R-1, R-2, R-3 and CD-1 — including Rural Agricultural: No fence height is stated at all. The 2 m building-permit threshold is what binds instead.

Any part of the lot near the sea, a lake, a pond, a wetland or a watercourse: North Saanich does not permit a fence there at all. A ditch that runs most of the year can be a watercourse, and the distance is measured from the natural boundary, which is not the edge of the water today.

A strata bylaw, or a restrictive covenant on your title: Either can forbid a fence North Saanich would allow, dictate its style, height and colour, or require written approval first. Where the ground is common or limited common property you do not control it alone. If you rent, you cannot authorise a fence at all — the owner has to ask.

An easement or right of way crossing your land: A fence is generally not permitted across an easement unless that easement allows it, and it is on your title rather than in any bylaw. Search the title before you set the line.

Land in the Agricultural Land Reserve: Usually the layer people worry about and usually not the binding one: a fence is normally an ordinary farm use and the Agricultural Land Commission's own guidance does not treat one as needing an application. What does change on agricultural land is the municipal rule — several municipalities here allow a taller fence on or beside agricultural land than anywhere else. Confirm with the ALC if you are doing more than fencing.

Your zone is named on your property tax notice. Easements and covenants are on your title. The municipality will confirm both.

The trees on your fence line

Almost every fence line wants a tree or two out of the way, and in twelve of the thirteen Greater Victoria municipalities that is regulated — often more tightly than the fence itself. North Saanich: Tree Protection Bylaw No. 1548, 2022.

The smallest tree that is protected here: An Arbutus, Garry Oak, Pacific Dogwood, Pacific or Western Yew, or Shore Pine at 10 cm DBH. But the prohibition is wider than the protected list: no tree at all may be cut, damaged or removed without a permit unless an exemption applies.

One exemption worth knowing: a tree within two metres of an existing permitted foundation wall.

What it costs to get wrong: Not less than $500 and not more than $50,000 per tree; if the tree dies or is removed, not less than $5,000; a significant tree, not less than $10,000.

Across the region the smallest protected tree ranges from three centimetres thick in Sidney to eighty in Highlands, and Sooke is the only one of the thirteen with no tree bylaw on private property at all. Walk the line and identify what is in the way before you accept a quote, not after the posts are ordered.

The same fence, across a municipal boundary

Greater Victoria is thirteen separate local governments and the boundary between two of them often runs down the middle of an ordinary residential street. Here is what the same fence runs into a short distance from North Saanich.

Near water the two are opposites: North Saanich prohibits a fence outright, Central Saanich expressly exempts fences from its marine setback.

Colwood sets no fence height limit at all, where North Saanich holds you to 1.9 m (6.2 ft).

On a corner lot North Saanich caps it at 0.5 m inside the triangle; Esquimalt has no corner rule for fences at all.

None of this is a claim about which municipality borders North Saanich — that is a geographic question we have not verified. It is a claim about how far apart the rules are inside one region.

Is a fence a "structure" in North Saanich?

Both bylaws exclude "fences under 2 metres in height" from "structure" — so a fence of 2 m or more is a structure, and a fence under 2 m is not.

It sounds like a technicality and it is not. A rule written for "structures" — a water setback, a permit trigger, a setback from a lot line — reaches a fence only where that municipality counts a fence as one. The region is split roughly down the middle.

What we could not settle

Because a fence under 2 m is not a "structure", it appears to escape the 15 m marine shoreline rule while a fence of 2 m or more does not. That reading follows from the definitions but has not been confirmed with the District.

We publish open questions rather than smoothing them over. If a figure here matters to a job you are about to commit money to, confirm it with the municipality for your exact address.