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Fence and Retaining Wall Permit — Miles City, Montana · Requirements sheet
Verified 2026-07-03 · Source: https://www.milescitymt.gov/building-department
PermitBase is an independent reference and is not affiliated with any government agency. Requirements change and vary by project — confirm current details with the building department before you submit.
Fence and Retaining Wall Permit in Miles City, Montana
Required for construction or replacement of a fence or retaining wall within Miles City. Uses a dedicated one-page Fence Permit application (separate from the Cloud Permit Building Department process) with a flat $100 fee, covering both fences and retaining walls on the same form.
Verified 2026-07-03 · Source
When you need this permit
- Flat $100 fee, marked directly on the Fence Permit application form
- Application requires property/mailing address, applicant and contractor contact information, fence material, height, fence location (front/back/side), whether it is a replacement (replacement fences must meet current codes), and whether the structure includes a retaining wall
- Corner-lot applicants: the application requires office determination of clear-vision-triangle compliance (categorized by intersection control type — stop sign, yield, traffic signal, uncontrolled, etc.) before approval; a site visit may be required
- Easements and property lines are the responsibility of the property owner; the form instructs applicants to call 811 before digging
- Signed by the applicant; requires Planning Approval sign-off
- Submitted by emailing the completed form to gmartinsen@milescity-mt.org or delivering in person to the Building Inspector
Required documents
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Fee schedule
Fence/Retaining Wall Permit Fee (flat)City of Miles City Fence Permit application (PDF) — fee printed directly on the form
$100.00
Review timeline
Plan review
Not published — contact the department
Inspection process
- 1
Site Visit (if required)
The Fence Permit form includes an office-use 'Site Visit Required? Yes/No' field, applied case-by-case, particularly for corner lots with clear-vision-triangle considerations
Tips
- The Fence Permit form covers retaining walls on the same application (a 'Retaining Wall? Yes/No' checkbox appears next to the fence-material field) — no separate retaining-wall-only permit exists.
- Corner-lot fences require the city to determine clear-vision-triangle compliance based on the specific intersection control (stop sign, yield, traffic signal, or uncontrolled) before the permit is approved.
- GENUINELY HARD-UNPUBLISHED: no specific turnaround time exists for a Fence/Retaining Wall Permit. Unlike Miles City's building-permit types, fences and retaining walls use a separate one-page Fence Permit form — NOT the single-family-dwelling Building Permit Application — so they are NOT 'handled as building permits' and the 10-working-day statutory bar in MCA 50-60-106(2)(c) (which is triggered only by an SFD building-permit plan submission with the department checklist attached) does not apply. The permit is not state-administered either, so the DLI 'a few hours to several weeks' figure does not govern. Timing is inherently case-by-case: the form itself carries an office-use 'Site Visit Required? Yes/No' field and requires clear-vision-triangle determination for corner lots before Planning Approval. Avenues checked with no published figure: the Fence Permit application PDF (site-visit and Planning-Approval fields, no stated SLA); the milescitymt.gov building-department page (independently re-fetched 2026-07-03, HTTP 200, no turnaround language); City Code Chapters 5 and 24 (no fence-permit review-time provision). Confirm turnaround directly with the Building Inspector at (406) 874-8611.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. The City of Miles City requires a Fence Permit for $100, using a dedicated one-page form (separate from the general Building Permit application) that also covers retaining walls.
In Miles City, the published Fence/Retaining Wall Permit Fee (flat) is: $100.00. These are the jurisdiction's own published figures — see the fee schedule table and source citations on this page.
Miles City does not publish a plan-review timeline for this permit. Contact City of Miles City Building Department at (406) 874-8611 for current turnaround.
You'll need: City of Miles City Fence Permit. See the required-documents checklist on this page for details on each.
Miles City requires 1 inspection(s) for a fence and retaining wall permit, in order: Site Visit (if required). Schedule each through City of Miles City Building Department ((406) 874-8611).
Apply through City of Miles City Building Department at 17 S. 8th St., Miles City, MT 59301. Phone: (406) 874-8611, email: gmartinsen@milescity-mt.org. Office hours: Monday-Friday 7:00 AM - 4:00 PM (Building Inspector); City Hall general hours Mon-Fri 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Official information: https://www.milescitymt.gov/building-department.
Miles City, Montana has adopted: Montana has a mandatory statewide building code administered by the Montana Department of Labor & Industry (DLI) Building Codes Bureau, amended by the Administrative Rules of Montana (ARM) Title 24, Chapter 301. Cities, counties, and towns may become 'certified' to locally administer permitting and inspection for all or part of the code; a certified local program's adopted code 'may include only codes adopted by the Building Codes Bureau' (ARM 24.301.202). Non-certified trades within a jurisdiction fall under direct state administration by the DLI Building Codes Bureau. Source: Montana DLI Building Codes Bureau, Certified City, County and Town Programs and Current Codes pages (bsd.dli.mt.gov/building-codes-permits).; Miles City is a Montana DLI-certified jurisdiction for Building (B), Swimming Pool (SP), and Electrical — residential only — within Miles City city limits; certified program contact on file with DLI: Gabe Martinsen, (406) 874-8611. Miles City is NOT certified for Plumbing or Mechanical, or for commercial Electrical — those permits/inspections are issued directly by the Montana DLI Building Codes Bureau (Helena) even within Miles City city limits. Source: Montana DLI Building Codes Bureau, Certified City, County and Town Programs list (List of certified jurisdictions table), bsd.dli.mt.gov/building-codes-permits/certified-government; Miles City City Code § 5-2(a): the city adopts by ordinance 'the current editions of the building codes and all accompanying appendices, amendments and modifications' adopted by the DLI Building Codes Bureau, as authorized by MCA 50-60-301(1)(b) — the city does not maintain independently amended code text; it tracks whatever edition the state Building Codes Bureau currently has in force for local-government jurisdictions. Source: Miles City Code of Ordinances § 5-2, Municode (Ord. No. 1132, 5-28-02; most recently amended by Ord. No. 1375, 1-23-24); International Residential Code (IRC), 2021 Edition, as amended by ARM 24.301.154 — adopted by City of Miles City Code § 5-46 (Ord. No. 1375, 1-23-24); 2021 Existing Building Code, as amended by ARM 24.301.171 — adopted by City of Miles City Code § 5-61(a) (Ord. No. 1375, 1-23-24); 2021 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code, as amended by ARM 24.301.175 — adopted by City of Miles City Code § 5-61(b); Miles City is DLI-certified for Swimming Pool (SP) permitting (Ord. No. 1375, 1-23-24); 2021 International Energy Conservation Code, as amended by ARM 24.301.161 — adopted by City of Miles City Code § 5-61(c) (Ord. No. 1375, 1-23-24); National Electrical Code (NEC), 2020 Edition, as amended by ARM 24.301.401 — adopted by City of Miles City Code § 5-76 (Ord. No. 1392, 3-11-25); Miles City is DLI-certified for residential Electrical permitting only — commercial electrical work in Miles City is permitted and inspected directly by the state DLI Building Codes Bureau; International Building Code (IBC) — applicable via § 5-2(a)'s blanket adoption of the DLI Building Codes Bureau's current edition (2021 IBC statewide, effective June 11, 2022); the City of Miles City Building Permit Application form itself references IBC Section 105.3.2 (180-day application-abandonment provision) and IBC Section 110 (duty to request inspection); 2021 Uniform Plumbing Code (UPC) and 2021 International Mechanical Code (IMC)/International Fuel Gas Code (IFGC) — statewide editions; state-administered in Miles City since the city holds no Plumbing or Mechanical DLI certification; Miles City Code § 24-65 (Zoning, Article III): locally adopted Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) performance standards, including a Tiny Home provision referencing International Residential Code Appendix Q. Local amendments apply — see the Miles City overview page for the full list.
Sources & verification
Verified against official sources. Last reviewed 2026-07-03.
Fees, timelines, and adopted codes are researched from each jurisdiction's published records — see how we verify. Requirements change and vary by project, so always confirm the current details with the Miles City building department before you submit. PermitBase is an independent reference and is not affiliated with any government agency.
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