Fence or deck costs in Allentown

Allentown has three local historic districts: Old Allentown, Old Fairgrounds and West Park. If your house is in one, exterior changes go through the city's Certificate of Appropriateness process, and the design guidelines cover fences and decks you can see from the street. City staff can approve minor work. Bigger visible changes go to the Historical Architectural Review Board, which makes a recommendation, and City Council has the final say.

The guidelines, adopted in 2022, are specific about fences. They ask owners to avoid chain-link, vinyl, split-rail and ranch-rail fences. Out front, picket, capped picket and spindle styles fit, in wood or metal, with wrought iron the most historic metal. For a privacy fence, the guidelines suggest capped flat board or lattice, and call wood the most appropriate material. Replacing an old vinyl fence with new vinyl isn't encouraged either.

Porches and decks visible from the public right-of-way fall under the same guidelines. If wood in kind isn't feasible, composite decking is an acceptable stand-in for tongue-and-groove porch floors when the boards are close to the original size. Vinyl railings and trim are not acceptable replacements for wood.

That porch rule can reach past your own lot. If your house is part of a pair or a row designed together, the guidelines say to look at the neighbors' porches to find the original design.