Derby Fence Installation

Derby is its own permitting authority. The fence permit application is handled at 611 Mulberry Road, Suite 300, Derby, KS 67037, by phone at (316) 788-6632 option 2, or by email at permits@derbyks.gov. The fee is $25.00 and the city states plainly that it is non-refundable, so the drawing you submit should reflect what you actually intend to build.

That drawing is not optional. The application will not be accepted until it is attached, and it has to show property lines, easements, existing structures and the proposed fence location. After the fence is up, an inspection must be scheduled at least 24 hours in advance through the same number.

Derby also publishes a GIS map of HOA and development names covering the city, which is the fastest way to find out which association, if any, governs a given address before you start drawing.

Two Derby rules catch people out more than height does. The first is the finished side: where a wood fence is visible from a public right of way, the city requires that the finished side face the public street. A shadowbox design, with boards alternating from one side of the rail to the other, satisfies it as well, which is why shadowbox is so common on Derby corner lots and along collector streets.

The second is easements. Derby will allow a fence inside a drainage or utility easement only under conditions: it has to let normal drainage flow continue, it cannot divert storm water, it must include removable panels so crews can get in for maintenance, and the City Engineer has to approve the placement. Even then, the city states that it assumes no liability for damage to the fence during maintenance work. On a lot where the rear easement is wide, it is usually cheaper to set the line in front of it than to rebuild a panel run after a storm-sewer repair.

Derby's zoning regulations define a fence at Section 202 as "a free-standing artificially constructed structure resting on or partially buried in the ground, constructed to enclose or screen areas of land," and Section 303.O governs vision triangles, the triangular area on a lot next to where two streets intersect. Confirm the current height and vision-triangle numbers with the permit desk when you apply.

Derby is the largest suburb in the Wichita metro, and most of its growth arrived as platted additions with covenants attached — Stone Creek, The Oaks, Amber Ridge, Spring Ridge, Cedar Ranch and Glen Hills among them. Homeowners associations in these developments commonly require written architectural approval before a fence goes up. That approval is separate from the city's $25 permit, and getting one does not substitute for the other.

For ground conditions, the reference point most Derby contractors work to is MABCD's frost line for Wichita and Sedgwick County: 24 inches below finish grade. Wind is the other constant. The National Weather Service office in Wichita records an average annual wind speed of 11.5 mph over the 1991-2020 normals, prevailing out of the south-southwest, and the highest gust in its records for the metro is 102 mph on June 17, 2025. A solid privacy fence takes that load straight into the posts.

Before any digging, Kansas 811 requires at least two full business days' notice. Post holes count.