Fence laws in Visalia, California
What the Visalia municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Visalia sets no rule of its own, the California rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Visalia, California, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Visalia prints the number most cities leave out. The figure is 10 feet, for how far behind the face of the curb the front property line typically runs.
- How tall
- Visalia allows seven feet everywhere except a front yard or a street side yard, and all three residential zones use the same number, and the answer turns on whether the fence stands in a front yard, a street side yard, or anywhere else on the lot. The figure is 7 feet, for general fence height in a residential zone.
- Permits
- A fence in Visalia goes through the Residential Building Permit application with three copies of a site plan showing location, height and material, and the fee falls due when the permit is issued.
- 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
- Visalia leaves the measuring rule to the legislative body of each county and city, through its zoning ordinance.
- 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
- Visalia 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
- Visalia takes the opposite approach to most cities on this site.
- 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 Visalia?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Visalia answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Visalia prints the number most cities leave out. The front property line is usually not at the curb and usually not at the back of the sidewalk either. Across much of the city it runs parallel to the curb at a point ten feet behind the face of the curb, and eleven feet in newer subdivisions. Everything in front of that line is public right of way, which is why a fence built to what looks like the edge of the lawn can sit on city land.
The front property line is usually not located at the curb or even at the back of the sidewalk.
Visalia Municipal Code Chapter 17.36
10 fthow far behind the face of the curb the front property line typically runs
Also on fences on the property line in Visalia
- 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 Visalia?
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Visalia answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence stands in a front yard, a street side yard, or anywhere else on the lot.
Visalia allows seven feet everywhere except a front yard or a street side yard, and all three residential zones use the same number. Inside a required front yard, which is fifteen feet deep on most single family lots, the limit drops to three feet. The same three feet applies within five feet of a street side property line on a corner lot or a side on cul de sac lot. A fourth foot is available on top of the three, and what it has to be made of is the subject of a separate rule.
Fences, walls and hedges not exceeding seven feet in height shall be permitted,
Visalia Municipal Code Chapter 17.36
The answer turns on whether the fence stands in a front yard, a street side yard, or anywhere else on the lot.
- anywhere other than a front yard or street side yard
- Seven feet, in R-1, R-M and R-A alike. 7 ft
- in a required front yard, typically fifteen feet deep
- Three feet. 3 ft
- within five feet of a street side property line on a corner or side on cul de sac lot
- Three feet. 5 ft
Also on fence height in Visalia
- 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 Visalia?
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Visalia answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A fence in Visalia goes through the Residential Building Permit application with three copies of a site plan showing location, height and material, and the fee falls due when the permit is issued. The city states that it does not locate lot lines and that a survey is not required for most fence permits, which means the permit is granted on the owner’s own drawing of where the boundary is. Block walls need extra detail such as footing designs, and a fence in the Historic District goes to the HPAC Committee for architectural review.
A survey is not required for most fence permits.
Visalia Municipal Code Chapter 17.36
Also on permits in Visalia
- 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 Visalia
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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 Visalia 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 Visalia
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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 Visalia 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 Visalia
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Visalia 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 Visalia 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.
Fence rules for corner lots in Visalia
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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 Visalia 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 Visalia
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Visalia 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 Visalia 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 Visalia
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Visalia answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Visalia takes the opposite approach to most cities on this site. Rather than list what is allowed, it allows any generally acceptable material and then names two things that are not: barbed wire and electrically charged fences, in all three residential zones. Chain link, corrugated metal and vinyl are all absent from the prohibition, so none of them is barred by this chapter the way they are in Richmond or Menifee.
Fences may be constructed of any generally acceptable material except that barbed wire and electric charged fences are specifically prohibited in any Residential zone (R-A, R-1, or R-M).
Visalia Municipal Code Chapter 17.36
Also on materials in Visalia
- 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 pageA three foot Visalia front yard fence can become a four foot one, and the extra foot has to be see through. In R-1 and R-M the pamphlet says that foot must be at least fifty percent open. In R-A it says instead that the foot may not be of a solid material, which is a different test for what looks like the same allowance. A lattice or picket top meets either version. A solid board meets neither. Visalia Municipal Code Chapter 17.36Visalia · Zoning code
Livestock and boundary fence law in Visalia
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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 Visalia 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 Visalia
- 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 Visalia itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- California LegislatureCalifornia Civil Code Section 841, Good Neighbor Fence Act of 2013
- City of Visalia, Community Development Department, Planning DivisionResidential Fence Regulations, Chapter 17.36
- 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 Visalia 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