In Mandeville, the height of a fence is set by the city’s Comprehensive Land Use Regulations Ordinance, the CLURO, and its numbers differ from Hammond’s in ways that change the design.
Palisades Hammond Fence is a Hammond-area fence company that also covers Mandeville. It installs and repairs privacy, ornamental metal, vinyl and chain link fences and gates across Mandeville, from the older streets of Old Mandeville near the lakefront to subdivisions between the lake and I-12, along the Causeway approach, US 190, LA 22 and LA 59. Installation is carried out by licensed and insured fence contractors.
The fence rules below come from the CLURO as quoted in the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission staff reports from February 2023. They are stated as reported there, and the current text, the permit process and the fee are confirmed for each address with the city before a plan is drawn.
What the CLURO allows, yard by yard
As quoted in those staff reports, CLURO section 8.1.3 sets these limits:
| Where on the lot | Limit as reported |
|---|---|
| Between the front of the house and the front property line | No fence or wall over 4 ft |
| Decorative wrought iron in front setbacks and street-facing side or rear setbacks | Up to 5.5 ft, columns to 6.5 ft, no more than 15% opaque above 2 ft |
| Side and rear yards | Up to 7 ft |
| A required side or rear yard that fronts a street | Up to 4 ft; staff described a setback of about 15 ft or a 4 ft maximum, except on subdivision boundaries |
| Street intersections | Must meet the sight triangle in CLURO 8.1.1.8 |
| Electric fences | Prohibited |
| Barbed wire | Only in the B-2, B-4, M-1 and M-2 districts, and only above 6 ft |
Two lines stand out against Hammond. The back-yard limit is 7 ft, not 8, so a privacy fence ordered as 8 ft panels does not fit. And the front yard is more generous to open metal: an ornamental iron fence can stand taller than a solid one. In practice a Mandeville front often gets aluminum or steel pickets, and privacy starts behind the house.
Street-facing yards on corner and through lots
The February 2023 cases came from owners asking for variances to put 6 ft privacy fences along a side or rear yard that faces a street. Under the rule as quoted, those runs were held to 4 ft unless the fence sat back from the street. On a corner lot, or a lot with streets front and back, that changes how much yard a privacy fence can enclose.
The choice is real: a lower fence along the street line, a taller one set back with lawn outside it, or an open ornamental section where the street runs. Each changes the footage and the materials, so the line is settled before the price. A variance is the owner’s application to the city, and its timing sets the schedule.
Utility servitudes and the back line
The CLURO as quoted bars a fence inside a utility servitude without written approval from the affected utilities, and says those utilities have no obligation to replace a fence they remove. Many back and side lines run along a servitude for power, water, sewer or drainage. A fence built across one without approval can be cut open or taken down for access, at the owner’s loss.
So the survey or recorded plat is the starting point, not the old fence. The drainage easement guide explains how servitudes shape a fence line, and the fence permits guide covers the approvals.
Lake-edge ground and a patchy flood map
The USDA soil survey points sampled around Mandeville map Abita and Guyton silt loams and Stough fine sandy loam, and four of the nine points fall on open water in Lake Pontchartrain. The drained points are somewhat poorly or poorly drained, with the seasonal high water table between about 9 and 27 inches down and near 12 inches at the median (USDA NRCS). A post hole there can hold water for months.
That shapes the post plan: gravel at the base, concrete crowned to shed water, deeper footings for a solid 7 ft face, and ground-contact posts. FEMA’s online flood layer returned no data for most points around the city, which is a gap in the map service rather than a sign of low risk. For lots near the lakefront or a bayou, the flood zone is checked on the official map for that address before a solid fence goes across low ground. The wet soil post guide goes further.
Housing that shares walls and restrictions
Census figures show a city with a smaller share of detached houses than its neighbors: about 65% of Mandeville’s 6,003 housing units are single-family detached, against about 77% parishwide, with 68% owner-occupied and a median year built of 1990. Those are citywide figures, not a reading of any lot. They do mean that some homes share a lot line, a courtyard or a wall with the next unit.
Where that is the case, the fence is often on a shared line and may be under recorded subdivision restrictions that set its height, style and material on top of the city’s rules. Louisiana Civil Code article 685 presumes a fence on a boundary is common to both owners, as the Louisiana fence laws guide explains. The restrictions and any association approval are checked before materials are ordered.
How a Mandeville job is planned
The address comes first: whether it is inside city limits, a corner or through lot, or under recorded restrictions. The site walk measures the line, gates, slopes and wet spots, and checks the survey against servitudes.
The drawing follows the CLURO heights confirmed for that address. Louisiana 811 is notified at least 48 and no more than 120 hours before digging, weekends and holidays excluded. Posts are set and allowed to cure before rails, panels or gates go on, and the job ends with gate adjustment, cleanup and a walk of the finished line.
Prices do not change at the city line. A Mandeville fence is priced from the same Hammond-area ranges as anywhere in the service area, set out in the privacy fence cost and aluminum fence cost guides. The fence cost estimator gives a range for your length, and the Covington page covers the city a few miles north on US 190. Call (985) 866-3827 to start a Mandeville estimate.
Plan a fence for a Mandeville lot
Send the address, the length, the height you want and whether a street or servitude runs along the line.