Fence laws in Pomona, California
What the Pomona municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Pomona sets no rule of its own, the California rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Pomona, California, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- A Pomona fence and everything under it stays on the lot and three feet back from any street lot line, and the code names the footing and the foundation so the point is not arguable. The figure is 3 feet, for offset from a street lot line for a fence and its footing.
- How tall
- Pomona sets side and rear fence height by type rather than by a citywide number, and the answer turns on which side and rear fence type the lot Form Module applies. The figure is 6 feet, for side or rear fence height under Fence Type VI.
- Permits
- Pomona requires a ministerial permit for every new fence and wall, including ones built to satisfy a buffering or screening rule, and the answer turns on whether the work is a new fence or a same material replacement of less than half the existing length. The figure is 50 percent, for share of an existing fence that can be replaced without a permit.
- 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
- Pomona measures a fence near a retaining wall from the midpoint of that wall, not from its top or its base, and the answer turns on whether there is a retaining wall within three feet, the grade difference across the fence, and whether it faces an alley. The figure is 2 feet, for grade difference below which the higher side governs.
- 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
- A Pomona retaining wall stops at ten feet and is measured from the top down to the lowest ground beside it, so the tall side governs. The figure is 10 feet, for maximum retaining wall height.
- Materials
- Pomona lists what a fence may be built from and then spells out what it may not.
- 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 Pomona?
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Pomona answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A Pomona fence and everything under it stays on the lot and three feet back from any street lot line, and the code names the footing and the foundation so the point is not arguable. The reason given is utility access. Two more placement rules sit beside it: nothing may be built in a required drainage or utility easement, and the finished side of the fence faces outward.
All fences and walls including their sub-grade elements, such as footings or foundation, must be located on-site and offset 3 feet from any street lot line for utility access.
Pomona Zoning and Development Code 490.B.3.a.4
3 ftoffset from a street lot line for a fence and its footing
Also on fences on the property line in Pomona
- 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
- set in state lawThe good side of a Pomona fence faces away from the owner who built it. The rule is one line in the location subsection, with no exception for a fence the neighbor did not pay for. The same subsection bars a fence from any required drainage or utility easement, which on many lots is the strip a boundary fence would naturally follow. Pomona Zoning and Development Code 620.E.3.c.2Pomona · Zoning code
How tall can a fence be in Pomona?
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Pomona answers this, but the answer changes depending on which side and rear fence type the lot Form Module applies.
Pomona sets side and rear fence height by type rather than by a citywide number. Fence Type VI is the ordinary one and stops at six feet. Type VII is written for industrial side and rear yards that need screening and security, and reaches ten. Both sit at a zero setback, so the fence can stand on the lot line. Which type applies to a lot comes from the Form Module mapped to it, not from the fence section.
Fence Type VI Intended for typical side and rear yards. A B Side/Rear Yard STANDARDS A Wall/fence height (max) 6' B Setback from lot line (min) 0'
Pomona Zoning and Development Code 620.E.3.b
The answer turns on which side and rear fence type the lot Form Module applies.
- Fence Type VI, the typical side and rear yard
- Six feet, at a zero setback. 6 ft
- Fence Type VII, industrial side and rear yards
- Ten feet, at a zero setback. 10 ft
Also on fence height in Pomona
- 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
- depends, see the pageA Pomona front yard fence has no single height. Five frontage types run from A1, where a fence is not allowed at all, up through three feet, four and a half, six and eight. The types are a ladder: whatever type a lot is given, every lower numbered type is allowed too and every higher one is not. Type A3 adds an opacity rule on top, capping the part three feet and above at fifty percent solid. Pomona Zoning and Development Code 490.B.3.bPomona · Zoning code
Do I need a permit for a fence in Pomona?
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Pomona answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the work is a new fence or a same material replacement of less than half the existing length.
Pomona requires a ministerial permit for every new fence and wall, including ones built to satisfy a buffering or screening rule. There is no height floor under it. The single way past it is a partial repair: an existing legal fence can be replaced in the same material over less than half its length with no permit. Rebuild more than half, or change the material, and the permit comes back.
All new fences and walls, including buffering and screening, must obtain a permit pursuant to the procedures described in Sec. 1170.C. (Ministerial Permit).
Pomona Zoning and Development Code 620.E.2.d and 2.e
The answer turns on whether the work is a new fence or a same material replacement of less than half the existing length.
- any new fence or wall
- A ministerial permit.
- replacing an existing legal fence in the same material over less than half its length
- No fence and wall permit. 50%
Also on permits in Pomona
- 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 Pomona
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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 Pomona 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 Pomona
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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 Pomona 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 Pomona
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Pomona answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether there is a retaining wall within three feet, the grade difference across the fence, and whether it faces an alley.
Pomona measures a fence near a retaining wall from the midpoint of that wall, not from its top or its base. The rule applies where the fence sits within three feet of the outside face of a wall two feet or taller, so half the wall counts against the fence. Where the ground differs by less than two feet the measurement is taken at the base on the higher side, and a fence along an alley is measured from the alley surface.
When a wall or fence is located within 3 feet of the exterior face of a retaining wall and the retaining wall is 2 feet in height or greater, height is measured from the top of the wall or fence to the midpoint of the retaining wall.
Pomona Zoning and Development Code 620.E.4.a
The answer turns on whether there is a retaining wall within three feet, the grade difference across the fence, and whether it faces an alley.
- within three feet of a retaining wall two feet or taller
- Measured from the midpoint of the retaining wall.
- a grade difference of less than two feet across the fence
- Measured at the base on the higher side. 2 ft
- in a rear or side yard abutting an alley
- Measured from the surface of the alley.
Also on how height is measured in Pomona
- 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 Pomona
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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 Pomona 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.
Also on corner visibility in Pomona
- no rule, documents checkedPomona sets no sight triangle and no corner clearance for a fence. The code reaches the subject once, in the planting standards, where it says plants must not interfere with visibility at intersections and driveways, and it gives no distance, no height and no triangle. Section 620.E governs fences by type, material, placement and measurement without mentioning a corner at all, so the form module a lot is given is the whole of its front yard answer. Sections 490.B.3 and 620.E in full, searched for a sight or vision trianglePomona · Zoning code
Retaining wall rules in Pomona
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Pomona answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A Pomona retaining wall stops at ten feet and is measured from the top down to the lowest ground beside it, so the tall side governs. Two walls on one lot stand at least three feet apart horizontally, whether or not they are structurally connected. Above eight feet a wall has to be landscaped. A wall in a frontage yard is held instead to whatever height that lot frontage type allows, which on a Type A2 lot is three feet.
1. No retaining wall can exceed 10 feet in height.
Pomona Zoning and Development Code 620.G.3 and 620.G.4
10 ftmaximum retaining wall height
Also on retaining walls in Pomona
- 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
- set in state lawTwo kinds of Pomona retaining wall sit outside the section entirely. A public agency project is exempt, and so is a wall built to carry out a Building and Safety order to repair an unsafe or substandard condition. The second one matters to a homeowner: a wall the city has ordered is not held to the ten foot limit, the three foot spacing or the landscaping rule that would govern the same wall built by choice. Pomona Zoning and Development Code 620.G.5Pomona · Zoning code
Fence materials allowed in Pomona
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Pomona answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Pomona lists what a fence may be built from and then spells out what it may not. Masonry with an architectural cap, sealed wood, wrought iron and vinyl are in. Chain link is out, along with barbed wire, concertina wire, razor wire and electric fencing. The longest entry on the prohibited list is scrap: tires, garage doors, sheet metal, plywood, windows, corrugated metal, vehicle parts, appliances and yard debris are all named.
Scrap or “recycled” material, including but not limited to: tires; garage doors; sheet metal; plywood; windows; corrugated metal; inoperable motor vehicles and parts; construction material; household waste including discarded appliances; and yard debris.
Pomona Zoning and Development Code 620.E.3.c.1.ii
Also on materials in Pomona
- 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
- left to the townChain link is prohibited as a fence material in Pomona and comes back for construction sites, at the Development Services Director discretion. The code sets no duration, no height and no test for when active construction ends. So the one opening in the material ban is an unwritten judgment rather than a standard, and the same director also decides what other materials count as customarily used. Pomona Zoning and Development Code 620.E.3.c.4Pomona · Zoning code
Livestock and boundary fence law in Pomona
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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 Pomona 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 Pomona
- 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 Pomona itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- California LegislatureCalifornia Civil Code Section 841, Good Neighbor Fence Act of 2013
- City of PomonaPomona Zoning and Development Code, adopted July 1, 2024
- California LegislatureCalifornia Civil Code Section 841.4, spite fences
- 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 Pomona 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