Madera County, CA Ordinances (2026)

Junk and secondhand goods dealers in unincorporated Madera County need board of supervisors permission plus a sheriff background check, and must log and hold every item they buy.

Home occupations in unincorporated Madera County can't perform repair services beyond small items a single person can carry without power tools or mechanical equipment: no auto repair.

Operating a massage business in unincorporated Madera County without a sheriff-issued establishment permit is unlawful, and anyone performing massage for pay must be a CAMTC-certified…

Unincorporated Madera County treats any noise-chapter violation as a public nuisance and holds the property owner or event host liable, with each day and each verification visit a…

Madera County bans carrying an open container of alcohol, one that's been opened, seal broken, or partially emptied, onto or around any off-sale liquor store that has posted notice…

Unincorporated Madera County bans smoking, vaping, and tobacco or nicotine use in outdoor public places, recreational areas, outdoor dining, and public events, plus a 25-foot buffer…

In unincorporated Madera County, it's a misdemeanor to loiter in a business's off-street parking lot after the owner, manager, or a peace officer tells you to leave, but only where the…

Smoking, ingesting, or otherwise consuming marijuana anywhere outside a private residence is illegal across unincorporated Madera County: the ban covers recreational and medical use…

Madera County's code has no standalone artificial-turf ordinance; its only mention defines residential artificial turf and sod as qualifying 'landscape' material inside the…

Unincorporated Madera County caps overhead sprinkler irrigation to the hours of eight p.m. to nine a.m. for new and rehabilitated landscapes covered by the county's Water Efficient…

Madera County requires owners of vacant and improved lots in the unincorporated area to clear weeds by May 1st each year or face a $250 fine plus abatement costs.

Madera County's landscape ordinance does not force common areas or open space meant to stay natural to be landscaped, and it bars HOA covenants from prohibiting low-water or native…

Madera County parks, including Oakhurst, Parkwood, Parksdale, Ahwahnee Regional, Courthouse Park, and the Fairmead Tot Lot, are open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.; being on the grounds after hours…

Madera County bars anyone under eighteen from being in any public place or business establishment in the unincorporated county between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., with parents and store…

Keep four or fewer dogs, cats or other small domesticated animals at an unincorporated Madera County home and no kennel license is required: five or more triggers 'kennel' status and…

Unincorporated Madera County bars dogs from running loose on public streets, parks or private property without permission; a dog counts as at large unless leashed, held…

Unincorporated Madera County sets no permit or zoning limit on beekeeping, but anyone who keeps an apiary somewhere other than their own residence must post an identifying sign with…

Madera County has no breed-specific dog ban; instead it controls dangerous animals through a behavior-based vicious-animal declaration and control order.

Cat licensing is optional in unincorporated Madera County, unlike the mandatory license and vaccination scheme that applies to dogs.

Anyone keeping a wild, exotic or dangerous animal in unincorporated Madera County must obtain a wild animal permit from the county animal services department before possessing it…

In the Sierra National Forest portion of unincorporated Madera County, property owners, residents and businesses must keep garbage and other bear attractants secured in bear-proof…

Unincorporated Madera County lets licensed pet shops sell dogs but requires monthly reporting of every unlicensed dog sale to animal services.

Unincorporated Madera County residential zones allow noncommercial poultry and rabbits on lots of one acre or more, capping the total at twenty-four birds or small animals per acre.

Short-term rentals in unincorporated Madera County cannot have open wood-burning fire pits, bonfires, or campfires; only rental-provided propane or gas pits with small tanks, set ten…

Madera County bans the sale of dangerous fireworks outright and allows safe-and-sane fireworks sales only to eligible nonprofit organizations that hold a Fire Chief permit. Discharge…

Parcels in Madera County's state responsibility area, the foothill and mountain land north and east of the Madera Canal, must meet state fire-safe building setbacks and maintain…

Burning any material on the exposed lake bed at Bass Lake below the high water mark is illegal in unincorporated Madera County, a rule enforced with mandatory warning signage posted at…

Unincorporated Madera County law requires anyone who owns, occupies, or controls a building outside any incorporated city or town to maintain a fire protection break at least twenty…

Selling or soliciting orders door-to-door in unincorporated Madera County requires a permit from the county tax collector before you start, under the county's itinerant vendor chapter.

In unincorporated Madera County, oversized items like appliances, furniture, tires, and mattresses are collected only through compactor or drop-box service under the county's exclusive…

Unincorporated Madera County's solid waste code defines yard waste, grass, leaves, prunings, branches, and small wood pieces up to 3 inches thick and 36 inches long, for franchise…

Dumping solid waste, organic waste, or other regulated materials anywhere but a designated facility in unincorporated Madera County is an infraction, and violators are billed for full…

Unincorporated Madera County residents get solid waste pickup Monday through Friday under an exclusive county franchise system; commercial accounts run through Saturday, with no…

SB 1383 census tracts in unincorporated Madera County must separate organic waste, via franchise collection, self-haul, on-site management, or community composting, under the county's…

Unincorporated Madera County channels recycling through its exclusive waste franchise system, which must collect source-separated recyclables to a designated facility, and every…

Unincorporated Madera County limits construction work to 7 a.m.–7 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Saturdays under the noise code, though the same section separately states Saturday…

Unincorporated Madera County makes it unlawful for any person to let a dog in their possession habitually destroy the peace and quiet of another person or neighborhood by excessive…

Madera County makes it unlawful to cause disturbing or raucous noise off any street or highway by racing or accelerating a vehicle's engine, willfully backfiring an exhaust or muffler…

In unincorporated Madera County, amplified sound from TVs, radios, and musical instruments is strictly banned between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. whenever it crosses onto a neighboring…

Before renting to guests, short-term rental operators in unincorporated Madera County must register the lodging with the county tax administrator and post a registration certificate on…

Short-term rental hosts in unincorporated Madera County owe a 9% transient occupancy tax on rent charged to guests staying 30 days or less, collected at time of payment and remitted…

Madera County's traffic engineer designates specific no-parking zones under Vehicle Code § 21458 and marks them by painting the curb red, posting signs, or both. Chapter 10.36 lists…

Madera County makes it unlawful to leave any abandoned, dismantled, inoperative, or wrecked vehicle, or parts of one, on public or private property, including highways, for more than…

In unincorporated Madera County, commercial, industrial, multiple-family, and public/institutional parking areas must be paved with asphalt, concrete, or another material the zoning…

Unincorporated Madera County requires commercial, industrial, and institutional buildings to provide on-site loading spaces sized to gross floor area, recommended within 50 feet of the…

Unincorporated Madera County bars parking any commercial vehicle of 10,000+ lbs GVW on residential lots, roads, or rights-of-way except while actively loading, with a narrow exception…

Unincorporated Madera County runs electric vehicle charging stations that qualify under state law through an expedited, administrative permit process rather than the standard…

Parking facility lighting in unincorporated Madera County has to stay on the property that installed it. Madera County Code Section 18.102.120(J) requires every light fixture…

Film shoots in unincorporated Madera County can be conditioned by the permit clerk to restrict firearms, explosions, and other noise-creating devices that disturb the peace.

Filming on location in unincorporated Madera County requires a county film permit, filed at least ten business days ahead through the clerk of the board.

A film production that needs to close a public street in unincorporated Madera County must request it in the permit application, and the road commissioner decides whether to approve it.

Unincorporated Madera County's landscape ordinance directs that invasive plant species be avoided in new and rehabilitated landscape plantings, particularly near parks, buffers…

Mobile food and itinerant vendors in unincorporated Madera County can only set up on private property zoned commercial, industrial, or highway frontage, and only with the landowner's…

Mobile food and other itinerant vendors are flatly barred from operating on sidewalks, streets, and other public rights-of-way anywhere in unincorporated Madera County.

Unincorporated Madera County requires beneficiaries and trustees to register, secure, and maintain abandoned or distressed residential property once a borrower defaults, and Madera…

In unincorporated Madera County, vacant lots must have a thirty-foot strip cleared of weeds along every property line and street frontage each year, with an exemption for actively…

Madera County's second-unit overlay ordinance bars renting or selling a second dwelling and requires family-only occupancy, but state ADU law (Gov. Code §§ 66310-66342) overrides that…

Detached accessory structures like sheds need only a ministerial building permit, no discretionary review, but must sit at least ten feet from the house or any other building on…

The county's Second Unit Overlay District lets an immediate family member occupy a second home on a mapped one-acre-plus lot, but current state ADU law overrides its family-only…

Madera County's older second-unit conversion pathway requires three years of owner-occupancy before converting part of a home into a rentable second unit, though current state ADU law…

Businesses near a Highway 99 interchange in unincorporated Madera County share a single freeway sign per interchange quadrant instead of putting up individual roadside signs. Madera…

Madera County bans moving parts and intermittent lighting on every sign in the unincorporated county, which rules out digital and electronic message billboards outright under the…

In the Oakhurst/Ahwahnee Plan Area of unincorporated Madera County, a window sign under three square feet needs no sign permit at all, but anything larger counts against the building's…

Unincorporated Madera County allows an extra 32 square feet of campaign-sign area per parcel, but signs can't go up more than 90 days before an election or stay more than 10 days after.

In unincorporated Madera County, a personal marijuana cultivation area cannot sit within 1,000 feet of an institutional use such as a church, school, or other public building. Madera…

Madera County bans marijuana dispensaries, commercial cannabis operations, and marijuana deliveries throughout the unincorporated county. Madera County Code Section 18.87.060 prohibits…

In unincorporated Madera County, fences, walls and hedges at street and driveway intersections can't exceed three feet within the vision setback triangle, protecting sightlines for…

Adjacent Madera County landowners who both use their land for raising livestock must split the cost of building and maintaining their boundary fence equally, and county code sets a…

Unincorporated Madera County grants density bonuses of up to 35 percent for housing projects meeting affordability thresholds, implementing state Government Code § 65915, which…

Unincorporated Madera County caps the share of a residential lot that structures may cover through the development standards table in Chapter 18.11. The limit is set separately for…

Residential structures in unincorporated Madera County top out at thirty-five feet in most zones, with a handful of rural residential districts allowed up to forty feet.

Every agricultural zone district in unincorporated Madera County, from the five-acre AR-5 district up through the 640-acre ARE districts and the ARF foothills district, shares the same…

Unincorporated Madera County requires every motor vehicle burglar alarm to auto-shutoff within fifteen minutes, and bars owners from letting an audible alarm run longer than that.

Unincorporated Madera County bans operating any device that produces vibration above the 'vibration perception threshold' at the property line, the standard the code applies to…

Unincorporated Madera County doesn't set a general recycled-water use ordinance, but its cross-connection rules require an approved air-gap backflow device wherever reclaimed water is…

Unincorporated Madera County's Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance protects turf replacement: covenants, conditions, and restrictions tied to a covered permit cannot prohibit…

Unincorporated Madera County requires a development permit, issued by the county floodplain administrator, before any construction or land alteration inside a FEMA-mapped special flood…

Construction and grading projects in unincorporated Madera County must retain sediment on site and hold cut slopes to 1:1 and fill slopes to 1 1/2:1 under the county's drainage and…

Developments approved under Madera County's conditional-use zoning chapter within state fire-responsibility areas must maintain their defensible space every year to keep it usable in a…

Unincorporated Madera County bans discharging any pollutant other than stormwater into the county's MS4 storm drain system, allowing only a short list of exempt flows like irrigation…

Unincorporated Madera County requires new and substantially improved residential structures in FEMA-mapped special flood hazard areas to have the lowest floor built at or above the…

Building a residential swimming pool in unincorporated Madera County requires a county building permit. Title 14 names swimming pools alongside buildings and structures, and adopts the…

Closing a county road for a neighborhood gathering in unincorporated Madera County requires written road commissioner approval, on top of any outdoor-event permit or registration.

Parades, processions, and caravans in unincorporated Madera County count as outdoor events and must be filed with the planning department sixty days before the date.

Street fairs, flea markets, and festivals in unincorporated Madera County need an outdoor event permit once they're expected to draw 300 or more people at a time.

Home-based businesses in unincorporated Madera County, cottage industries, can use no more than 25% of one floor of the residence and need a cottage industry permit from the planning…

A home occupation in unincorporated Madera County can't post any sign advertising the business, and other advertising can't list the home address. Madera County Code Section…

A permitted Madera County cottage industry may host one customer at a time, by appointment only, weekdays 8 a.m.-5 p.m., with on-site parking required.

Madera County bans charcoal grills outright at every short-term rental in the unincorporated county and requires all other grills, barbeques, and outdoor cooking apparatuses to sit at…

Madera County has no dedicated data center ordinance. In unincorporated areas a data center is an industrial use, sited in the IL (Industrial, Light) or IH (Industrial, Heavy)…

Madera County holds stationary noise from data-center cooling and generators to its General Plan Noise Element: 50 dB Leq daytime and 45 dB Leq nighttime, measured at a nearby home's…

Unincorporated Madera County adopts the California Plumbing Code and requires a separate county plumbing permit before any installation, alteration, repair, replacement, or remodel of…

Title 14 of the Madera County Code requires a county building permit for erecting, altering, repairing, relocating, or maintaining any building, structure, or related electrical…

Unincorporated Madera County requires a written construction permit from the building official before any electrical system is erected, altered, or installed, under the county's…

Unincorporated Madera County shields established commercial agricultural operations from nuisance suits over changed conditions nearby, as long as the operation follows accepted…

Building or repairing a driveway, curb, sidewalk, gutter, or retaining wall within a Madera County road right-of-way requires a construction permit from the road commissioner before…

Unincorporated Madera County law declares any premises infested with rodents a public nuisance outright, no permit or notice needed to trigger it. Madera County Code § 7.28.020, on the…

Madera County requires every business applicant to disclose enough detail to classify the business activity before the license collector can determine the license fee.