Fence laws in Arcadia, California
What the Arcadia municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Arcadia sets no rule of its own, the California rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Arcadia, California, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Two neighbors split the cost of a fence on the line in California.
- How tall
- Where two Arcadia properties sit at different levels, a fence, wall or gate may reach six feet next to the rear and side property lines only if it holds a setback equal to the difference in grade between them. The figure is 6 feet, for fence height available where the setback matches the grade difference. It reaches rear and side property lines between properties at different grades only.
- Permits
- Every new fence, wall and gate in Arcadia goes through Site Plan and Design Review.
- Pool barriers
- A pool fence in California stands at least sixty inches high. The figure is 60 inches, for minimum height of a pool enclosure.
- Spite fences
- A fence over ten feet tall in California is a private nuisance when it was put up or kept there to annoy the neighbor and the extra height serves no purpose. The figure is 10 feet, for spite fence threshold, with malice required.
- Measured from what
- Arcadia measures from the lowest adjacent grade to the uppermost part of the fence or wall.
- Corner lots
- California writes no clear view triangle into state law. It reaches the right of way of a state highway, whether or not the whole width is paved only.
- Retaining walls
- Arcadia leaves retaining walls to the Director and the Building Official, through Site Plan Review.
- Materials
- Arcadia bans spears on any fence, wall or gate, and names them: apache, aristocrat with crushed spears, or any spear-like feature.
- Livestock
- California calls a fence lawful when it is strong enough to keep livestock from getting in or out. The figure is 4 feet, for height of the top wire on a lawful wire fence.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Arcadia?
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California answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Two neighbors split the cost of a fence on the line in California. The law starts from the idea that both get the same benefit from it, so both owe the same share of building it, keeping it up and replacing it. A neighbor about to spend that money gives the other one thirty days written notice first. Either neighbor can show the even split is wrong, and a court can then order less than half or nothing at all.
This one is California law, not Arcadia law. All California findings
Adjoining landowners are presumed to share an equal benefit from any fence dividing their properties and, unless otherwise agreed to by the parties in a written agreement, shall be presumed to be equally responsible for the reasonable costs of construction, maintenance, or necessary replacement of the fence.
Also on fences on the property line in Arcadia
- set in state lawThe notice has to say six things: that the law starts from an even split, what is wrong with the fence now, what is planned instead, what it is expected to cost, how the cost gets shared, and when the work happens. Civ. Code 841(b)(1)California · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Arcadia?
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Arcadia answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Where two Arcadia properties sit at different levels, a fence, wall or gate may reach six feet next to the rear and side property lines only if it holds a setback equal to the difference in grade between them. Two feet of drop buys two feet of setback. Anywhere else, the ordinary height rules apply unchanged. It puts the cost of a grade difference on the owner of the higher lot in ground rather than on the lower neighbor in height.
Where there is a difference in a grade between properties, a fence, wall, or gate may be a maximum height of six feet adjacent to the rear and property lines if such fence, wall, or gate maintains a minimum setback
Arcadia Development Code 9103.05.030.B
6 ftfence height available where the setback matches the grade difference
Also on fence height in Arcadia
- no rule, documents checkedCalifornia sets no limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. Cities and counties write that in their zoning codes and the answer changes a lot from one town to the next. The one height in state law is the ten feet in the spite fence rule, and that only matters when the fence was put up to annoy a neighbor. It is not a building limit. Civ. Code 841California · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Arcadia?
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Arcadia answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Every new fence, wall and gate in Arcadia goes through Site Plan and Design Review. There is no height at which nothing is required and no material that escapes it. The same section adds that in a Specific Plan or Planned Development the fence heights in that plan govern, and where the plan is silent the Director picks the zone whose standards most closely reflect it.
Construction of new fences, walls, and gates shall be subject to Site Plan and Design Review according to Section 9107.19 (Site Plan and Design Review).
Arcadia Development Code 9103.05.020
Also on permits in Arcadia
- set in state lawCalifornia does not write its own building code from scratch. Section 17922 adopts Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations and requires it to ask for much the same things as the International Building Code and the International Residential Code, with state additions and cuts. So the permit rule for a fence starts out as outside code text that California then edits. Health & Saf. Code 17922California · Statute
- set in state lawA California city or county can make the statewide building code stricter, but not quietly. Section 17958.7 makes the city council say in writing why each change is needed because of local weather, ground or land shape. That finding goes to the California Building Standards Commission, and the change does nothing until it is filed. The finding is a public record, which is why a local permit line can sit well below the statewide one. Health & Saf. Code 17958.7California · Statute
Pool fence requirements in Arcadia
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California answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A pool fence in California stands at least sixty inches high. No more than two inches may be left between the ground and the bottom of it, and no gap in it may pass a four inch ball. The outside face has no handholds or footholds a child under five could climb. Gates open away from the pool and close and latch by themselves, with the latch set no lower than sixty inches above the ground.
This one is California law, not Arcadia law. All California findings
An enclosure shall have all of the following characteristics: (a) Any access gates through the enclosure open away from the swimming pool, and are self-closing with a self-latching device placed no lower than 60 inches above the ground. (b) A minimum height of 60 inches. (c) A maximum vertical clearance from the ground to the bottom of the enclosure of two inches. (d) Gaps or voids, if any, do not allow passage of a sphere equal to or greater than four inches in diameter. (e) An outside surface free of protrusions, cavities, or other physical characteristics that would serve as handholds or footholds that could enable a child below the age of five years to climb over.
60 inminimum height of a pool enclosure
Spite fence laws in Arcadia
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California answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A fence over ten feet tall in California is a private nuisance when it was put up or kept there to annoy the neighbor and the extra height serves no purpose. Height on its own is not enough. The case turns on proving why the fence is there. The rule covers anything built like a fence, not only a fence.
This one is California law, not Arcadia law. All California findings
Any fence or other structure in the nature of a fence unnecessarily exceeding 10 feet in height maliciously erected or maintained for the purpose of annoying the owner or occupant of adjoining property is a private nuisance.
10 ftspite fence threshold, with malice required
How fence height is measured in Arcadia
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Arcadia answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Arcadia measures from the lowest adjacent grade to the uppermost part of the fence or wall. Both halves matter. Lowest adjacent grade means the downhill side governs. Uppermost part means a finial, a cap or a lattice topper counts toward the total, which matters in a city that separately bans spear-shaped finials outright.
The fence or wall height shall be measured from the lowest adjacent grade to the uppermost part of the fence or wall.
Arcadia Development Code 9103.05.030.A.1
Also on how height is measured in Arcadia
- left to the townCalifornia gives a fence height and never says what it is measured from. Civil Code section 841.4 makes a fence over ten feet a private nuisance when it is kept up to annoy a neighbor. It does not say whether the ten feet starts at bare dirt, at the finished yard, or at the high side of a slope. Government Code section 65850 is why the state stops there: it lets any county or city set the place, height and size of structures. So the number and the surface it starts from are both written into local zoning. Cal. Gov. Code 65850(c)(1)California · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Arcadia
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California answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
California writes no clear view triangle into state law. The Streets and Highways Code counts a fence as an encroachment once it stands in, under or over any part of a state highway right of way. Section 670 then makes putting one there without a written permit from the department a misdemeanor. That covers the public strip, not the corner of a private yard. Government Code section 65850 gives every city and county the power to set the height and place of structures, and that is where a corner triangle gets written in California.
This one is California law, not Arcadia law. All California findings
“Encroachment” includes any tower, pole, pole line, pipe, pipe line, fence, billboard, stand or building, or any structure, object of any kind or character not particularly mentioned in this section, or special event, which is in, under, or over any portion of the highway.
Retaining wall rules in Arcadia
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Arcadia does not set this. It leaves it to the Director and the Building Official, through Site Plan Review.
Arcadia publishes no height for a retaining wall. Whether one is needed at all, and how tall it may be, is determined by the Director together with the Building Official through Site Plan Review. On hillside land the code removes a step rather than adding one: a retaining wall or fence on a hillside needs no administrative modification. So the answer for any given Arcadia lot exists only after the review, and not before it.
The need for any retaining walls and/or fences, and their heights, shall be determined by the Director and the Building Official through the Site Plan Review process.
Arcadia Development Code 9103.05.030.A.3
The code hands this to the Director and the Building Official, through Site Plan Review, which is not published in the code itself.
Also on retaining walls in Arcadia
- left to the townCalifornia has no rule of its own in statute for a wall that holds back earth. The rule is in Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations, which section 17922 adopts by reference and requires to match the newest editions of a named list of outside codes, the International Building Code and the International Residential Code among them. The same section leaves setbacks, side yards, rear yards and property line rules entirely to cities and counties. Health & Saf. Code 17922(a)California · Statute
Fence materials allowed in Arcadia
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Arcadia answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Arcadia bans spears on any fence, wall or gate, and names them: apache, aristocrat with crushed spears, or any spear-like feature. Apache and aristocrat are trade names for wrought iron finials rather than legal terms, so the code is banning a product a supplier sells by that name. The catch-all at the end keeps the rule working when the names change.
No spears (apache, aristocrat with crushed spears, or any spear-like features) shall be allowed on a fence, wall, or gate.
Arcadia Development Code 9103.05.040.A
Also on materials in Arcadia
- set in state lawCalifornia sets a wire standard for a lawful fence in grazing counties. A wire fence takes three tight barbed wires on solid posts set no more than a rod apart, with one wire at least four feet up. Any fence as strong and as tall as that one counts too. Cal. Food & Agric. Code 17121California · Statute
- depends, see the pageChain link, corrugated fiberglass, bamboo fencing and wire type fencing are all prohibited in every Arcadia zone. Chain link keeps two uses: enclosing a sports court, and temporary construction fencing, which is separately allowed in a front or street side setback up to six feet. Bamboo appearing by name is the unusual entry, and it is the rolled screening people attach to an existing fence rather than a structural material. Arcadia Development Code 9103.05.040.BArcadia · Zoning code
Livestock and boundary fence law in Arcadia
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California answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
California calls a fence lawful when it is strong enough to keep livestock from getting in or out. A wire fence gets real numbers: three tight barbed wires on posts set no more than one rod apart, with one of those wires at least four feet off the ground. Any other fence as tall, as strong and as good at holding animals counts too, and so does a cattle guard wide and deep enough to turn them.
This one is California law, not Arcadia law. All California findings
No wire fence is a good and substantial fence within the meaning of this article unless it has three tightly stretched barbed wires securely fastened to posts of reasonable strength, firmly set in the ground not more than one rod apart, one of which wires shall be at least four feet above the surface of the ground.
4 ftheight of the top wire on a lawful wire fence
Also on agricultural fencing in Arcadia
- depends, see the pageCalifornia answers this one county by county. Section 17123 names Siskiyou, Lassen and Modoc, plus parts of Trinity and Shasta, as land used mainly for grazing. Section 17124 lets the board of supervisors of any county put the same label on the county or part of it. Where the label applies, the land has to be fully fenced before the person on it may take in a stray animal or hold it for payment. Cal. Food & Agric. Code 17122California · Statute
Documents behind this page
10 documents, of which 1 was published by Arcadia itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- California LegislatureCalifornia Civil Code Section 841, Good Neighbor Fence Act of 2013
- California LegislatureCalifornia Civil Code Section 841.4, spite fences
- City of Arcadia, Development Services Department, Planning and Zoning ServicesArcadia Development Code, Section 9103.05, Fences, Walls and Gates
- California LegislatureCalifornia Health and Safety Code Section 17922, adoption of building standards
- California LegislatureCalifornia Health and Safety Code Section 17958.7, local modification of building standards
- California LegislatureCalifornia Health and Safety Code Section 115923, enclosure requirements
- California LegislatureCalifornia Government Code, Title 7, Division 1, Chapter 4, Article 2, Section 65850
- California LegislatureCalifornia Streets and Highways Code, Division 1, Chapter 3, Section 660
- California LegislatureCalifornia Food and Agricultural Code, Division 9, Part 2, Chapter 3, Article 5
- California LegislatureCalifornia Food and Agricultural Code, Division 9, Part 2, Chapter 3, Article 5
What this page does not cover
A city ordinance is not the only rule that reaches a fence. The zoning district a parcel sits in can change the height allowed on it, and so can an overlay district, a recorded easement, a fire hazard severity zone or a coastal zone. A homeowner association can be stricter than the city and nothing in the municipal code will say so. None of those appear here.
The rules above are the ones Arcadia publishes, plus the California rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in California has the state layer in full.
This is general information drawn from published government documents. It is not legal advice, ordinances are amended, and the date beside each finding is the date the document was read. How findings are made · What the terms mean