Fence laws in Fountain Valley, California
What the Fountain Valley municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Fountain Valley sets no rule of its own, the California rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Fountain Valley, California, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Where a Fountain Valley commercial or industrial development adjoins a residential zoning district, the boundary carries an opaque screen made of two things rather than one: plant material and a solid masonry wall of at least six feet. The figure is 6 feet, for minimum screening wall between commerce and housing.
- How tall
- Fountain Valley writes its limits as prohibitions rather than allowances, and the answer turns on the yard, whether the wall was built with a subdivision, and how the lots meet. The figure is 3 feet, for fence, hedge or screen in a required front yard.
- Permits
- Fountain Valley states no fence permit and no height at which one begins.
- 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
- Fountain Valley leaves the measuring rule to the legislative body of each county and city, through its zoning ordinance.
- Corner lots
- Fountain Valley draws a right-angled triangle by measuring fifteen feet from where the front and street side property lines meet, or from an intersecting alley or driveway, and connecting those points diagonally. The figure is 15 feet, for leg of the corner cutback triangle.
- Retaining walls
- Fountain Valley leaves retaining walls to Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations, the California Building Standards Code, which tracks the International Building Code and the International Residential Code.
- Materials
- Fountain Valley prohibits barbed wire, razor wire and similar security wire, and names broken glass in the same breath, across every residential and commercial zoning district, and the answer turns on the district, and where on the lot the fence stands.
- 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 Fountain Valley?
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Fountain Valley answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Where a Fountain Valley commercial or industrial development adjoins a residential zoning district, the boundary carries an opaque screen made of two things rather than one: plant material and a solid masonry wall of at least six feet. The wall has to be architecturally treated on both sides, subject to the director’s approval, so the residential neighbor does not get the back of it. Its maximum height still comes from the fence section, which caps a side or rear yard at six feet, so the required minimum and the general maximum meet at the same figure.
An opaque screen consisting of plant material and a solid masonry wall, a minimum of six feet in height, shall be installed along parcel boundaries whenever a commercial or industrial development adjoins a residential zoning district.
6 ftminimum screening wall between commerce and housing
Also on fences on the property line in Fountain Valley
- set in state lawTwo 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. Civ. Code 841California · Statute
- 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 Fountain Valley?
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Fountain Valley answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard, whether the wall was built with a subdivision, and how the lots meet.
Fountain Valley writes its limits as prohibitions rather than allowances. A fence, wall, lattice work screen, hedge or dense growth of shrubs or trees greater than three feet is not allowed in a required front yard, and nothing over six feet is allowed in a side or rear yard, except where a governmental agency requires a fence for public safety, health and welfare. A wall built along an arterial highway as part of a subdivision has to be kept in its original condition, and may be extended to eight feet in like materials with the director’s approval. Where lots have a rear to side relationship the section gives no figure at all and refers the reader to plot plans on file in the planning and building departments.
Walls along arterial highways that were constructed as part of a subdivision shall be maintained in original condition. Such walls may be extended to a height of eight feet with like materials subject to approval by the director.
The answer turns on the yard, whether the wall was built with a subdivision, and how the lots meet.
- a required front yard
- Three feet. 3 ft
- a side or rear yard
- Six feet. 6 ft
- a subdivision wall along an arterial highway
- Eight feet, in matching materials, with the director’s approval. 8 ft
Also on fence height in Fountain Valley
- 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 Fountain Valley?
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Fountain Valley answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Fountain Valley states no fence permit and no height at which one begins. Two approvals appear in the chapter, both from the director rather than a commission: raising a subdivision wall along an arterial highway to eight feet in matching materials, and signing off on the architectural treatment of a required screening wall between commercial or industrial and residential land. A fence a governmental agency requires for public safety, health and welfare is outside the six foot side and rear yard limit altogether.
For side and rear yards, such items are not allowed in excess of six feet in height, except for a fence or wall necessary for the public safety, health and welfare as required by a governmental agency or as allowed under subsection 4 of this section.
Also on permits in Fountain Valley
- 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 Fountain Valley
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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 Fountain Valley 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 Fountain Valley
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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 Fountain Valley 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 Fountain Valley
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Fountain Valley does not set this. It leaves it to the legislative body of each county and city, through its zoning ordinance.
California 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.
This one is California law, not Fountain Valley law. All California findings
Regulate all of the following: (1) The location, height, bulk, number of stories, and size of buildings and structures.
The code hands this to the legislative body of each county and city, through its zoning ordinance, which is not published in the code itself.
Also on how height is measured in Fountain Valley
- no rule, documents checkedFountain Valley has a clear measuring rule and then excludes fences from it. Section 21.18.050 states that every structure is measured as the vertical distance from finish grade, and opens by carving out fences and walls, sending them to the fence section instead. The fence section gives three feet, six feet and eight feet and never says what any of them is measured from, offers no rule for a difference in grade between neighbors, and says nothing about a fence on a retaining wall. The one datum stated anywhere nearby belongs to the corner cutback, where obstruction height runs from the adjoining top of curb, and that applies only inside the triangle. 21.18.050Fountain Valley · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Fountain Valley
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Fountain Valley answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Fountain Valley draws a right-angled triangle by measuring fifteen feet from where the front and street side property lines meet, or from an intersecting alley or driveway, and connecting those points diagonally. Inside it nothing, whether a fence, landscaping, sign or wall, may pass three feet measured from the adjoining top of curb. Four things are exempt and named: traffic safety devices, trees trimmed to eight feet above the adjacent top of curb, utility poles, and other devices installed by a government or a utility. Because the triangle is also drawn at alleys and private driveways, the rule reaches more than the street corner.
The corner cutback area shall be described as a triangular shaped area on a corner parcel formed by measuring fifteen feet from the intersection of the front and street side property lines, or an intersecting alley or driveway, and connecting the lines diagonally across the property making a ninety-degree triangle as shown in Figure 3-1 of this section.
15 ftleg of the corner cutback triangle
Also on corner visibility in Fountain Valley
- set in state lawCalifornia 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. Cal. Sts. & Hy. Code 660California · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in Fountain Valley
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Fountain Valley does not set this. It leaves it to Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations, the California Building Standards Code, which tracks the International Building Code and the International Residential Code.
California 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.
This one is California law, not Fountain Valley law. All California findings
The building standards and rules and regulations shall impose substantially the same requirements as are contained in the most recent editions of the following international or uniform industry codes as adopted by the organizations specified:
The code hands this to Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations, the California Building Standards Code, which tracks the International Building Code and the International Residential Code, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence materials allowed in Fountain Valley
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Fountain Valley answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district, and where on the lot the fence stands.
Fountain Valley prohibits barbed wire, razor wire and similar security wire, and names broken glass in the same breath, across every residential and commercial zoning district. Chain link is treated separately and more narrowly: it is prohibited within the front yard setback area of the residential districts, which leaves it available behind the setback and outside those districts. Where a commercial or industrial development adjoins a residential zone the required screen is specified as plant material together with a solid masonry wall, architecturally treated on both sides.
The use of barbed wire, razor wire or similar security wire (including broken glass) shall be prohibited in all residential and commercial zoning districts.
The answer turns on the district, and where on the lot the fence stands.
- any residential or commercial district
- No barbed wire, razor wire, similar security wire or broken glass.
- a residential front yard setback
- No chain link.
- a boundary between commercial or industrial and residential land
- Plant material plus a solid masonry wall, finished on both sides.
Also on materials in Fountain Valley
- 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
Livestock and boundary fence law in Fountain Valley
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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 Fountain Valley 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 Fountain Valley
- 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
13 documents, of which 4 were published by Fountain Valley itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- California LegislatureCalifornia Civil Code Section 841, Good Neighbor Fence Act of 2013
- City of Fountain ValleyZoning Code, Title 21, Chapter 21.18, Section 21.18.080, Screening and buffering
- California LegislatureCalifornia Civil Code Section 841.4, spite fences
- City of Fountain ValleyZoning Code, Title 21, Chapter 21.18, Section 21.18.070, Fences, walls, screens, hedges and shrubs
- 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
- City of Fountain ValleyZoning Code, Title 21, Chapter 21.18, Section 21.18.050, Height measurement and height limit exceptions
- California LegislatureCalifornia Streets and Highways Code, Division 1, Chapter 3, Section 660
- City of Fountain ValleyZoning Code, Title 21, Chapter 21.18, Section 21.18.040, Corner cutback
- 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 Fountain Valley 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