Fence laws in Norwalk, California
What the Norwalk municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Norwalk sets no rule of its own, the California rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Norwalk, 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
- Norwalk writes its limit as one allowance with two carve-outs, and the answer turns on where on the lot the fence stands, whether it can be seen through, and whether the Director has approved more. The figure is 6 feet, for solid wall, fence or hedge on an ordinary part of the lot.
- Permits
- Norwalk ties the permit to the same number that ends the general allowance. The figure is 6 feet, for height above which a building permit is required.
- 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
- Norwalk leaves the measuring rule to the legislative body of each county and city, through its zoning ordinance.
- Corner lots
- Every Norwalk corner lot carries a vision cut-off formed by a diagonal line between two points seventeen feet back along the front and side lot lines, measured from where those lines meet or from where they would meet if extended. The figure is 17 feet, for leg of the vision cut-off along each lot line.
- Retaining walls
- Norwalk 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
- The one place Norwalk names a material is the line between industry and housing. The figure is 6 feet, for minimum masonry wall between industrial and residential land.
- 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 Norwalk?
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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 Norwalk 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 Norwalk
- 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 Norwalk?
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Norwalk answers this, but the answer changes depending on where on the lot the fence stands, whether it can be seen through, and whether the Director has approved more.
Norwalk writes its limit as one allowance with two carve-outs. A solid wall, fence or hedge may reach six feet anywhere on a lot, except inside the required front setback where it drops to forty two inches, and except inside a corner cut-off area where it drops to thirty inches. The Director of Community Development may approve two departures from those figures. An open, non-view obscuring fence may exceed the limit in the front setback or the corner cut-off, and a solid wall, fence or hedge may exceed six feet elsewhere on the lot where the Director finds it will not adversely affect the public health, safety or general welfare. A hedge is held to the same numbers as a fence throughout.
A solid wall, fence, or hedge up to six feet in height may be located anywhere on a lot or parcel, except within the required front setback area, where the height is restricted to 42 inches, and except within a corner cut-off area, where the height is restricted to 30 inches as prescribed in Section 17.03.250.B.
The answer turns on where on the lot the fence stands, whether it can be seen through, and whether the Director has approved more.
- anywhere on the lot outside the front setback and the corner cut-off
- Six feet. 6 ft
- inside the required front setback
- Forty two inches. 42 in
- inside a corner cut-off area
- Thirty inches. 30 in
- an open, non-view obscuring fence approved by the Director
- More than the stated limit in the front setback or the corner cut-off.
Also on fence height in Norwalk
- 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 Norwalk?
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Norwalk answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Norwalk ties the permit to the same number that ends the general allowance. A wall or fence over six feet needs a building permit before it goes up, and the zoning section states that plainly rather than leaving it to the building title. Since six feet is also the ordinary maximum, anything needing this permit has already been through the Director for the extra height, so the two approvals stack on the same structure.
No wall or fence in excess of six feet in height shall be erected or constructed unless a building permit therefor has been obtained.
6 ftheight above which a building permit is required
Also on permits in Norwalk
- 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 Norwalk
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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 Norwalk 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 Norwalk
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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 Norwalk 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 Norwalk
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Norwalk 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 Norwalk 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 Norwalk
- no rule, documents checkedNorwalk gives three fence heights and never says what any of them is measured from. The six foot, forty two inch and thirty inch figures in the height section carry no datum, and the article that holds them sets no general rule for reading the height of a wall or fence. The single datum anywhere nearby belongs to the corner cut-off, where obstruction height runs from the established curb grade, and that phrase is written into the vision rule rather than into the fence rule. On sloping ground or behind a raised pad the reading is therefore unsettled by the text. 17.03.300Norwalk · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Norwalk
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Norwalk answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Every Norwalk corner lot carries a vision cut-off formed by a diagonal line between two points seventeen feet back along the front and side lot lines, measured from where those lines meet or from where they would meet if extended. Inside it no tree, fence, shrub or other physical obstruction may rise more than thirty inches above the established curb grade, so the datum is the curb rather than the ground at the fence. The City Engineer may waive or modify the restriction where in his or her opinion the obstruction will not constitute an unreasonable hazard to traffic safety. A second, differently shaped cut-off sits in the same section for dedication: a curve of fifteen feet where an intersecting street right of way is or will be under eighty feet wide, and twenty five feet everywhere else, triggered when a building on a corner lot is erected, substantially reconstructed or structurally altered.
All corner lots shall maintain, for safety vision purposes, a corner cut-off at the street intersection corner of the lot, which cut-off shall be formed by a diagonal line drawn between two points located 17 feet along the front and side lot lines from their point of intersection, or from the point of intersection of the lot lines as extended. Within such corner cut-off, no tree, fence, shrub or other physical obstruction higher than 30 inches above the established curb grade shall be permitted
17 ftleg of the vision cut-off along each lot line
Also on corner visibility in Norwalk
- 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 Norwalk
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Norwalk 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 Norwalk 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 Norwalk
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Norwalk answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
The one place Norwalk names a material is the line between industry and housing. Along each lot line of industrial property that abuts residentially zoned land, a solid masonry wall of at least six feet is required, built and kept up at the industrial user’s expense. Where the exterior wall of a building on the industrial side already stands within five feet of that boundary, the masonry wall may be built as an extension of that building wall instead of as a separate structure. Nothing in the fence sections names a permitted or prohibited material for an ordinary residential fence.
A solid masonry wall, not less than six feet in height, shall be constructed and maintained along each lot or parcel line of property used for industrial use, when such lot or parcel line abuts property zoned for residential use.
6 ftminimum masonry wall between industrial and residential land
Also on materials in Norwalk
- 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 Norwalk
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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 Norwalk 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 Norwalk
- 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
12 documents, of which 3 were published by Norwalk 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 NorwalkZoning Ordinance, Title 17, Chapter 17.03, Article IV, Section 17.03.300, Height limitations for walls, fences and hedges
- 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 NorwalkZoning Ordinance, Title 17, Chapter 17.03, Article IV, Section 17.03.250, Corner cut-off area, Vision clearance dedication
- 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
- City of NorwalkZoning Ordinance, Title 17, Chapter 17.03, Article IV, Section 17.03.330, Sound control for industrial properties abutting residential property
- 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 Norwalk 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