National City, CA Fence Regulations: Height Limits (2026)

Section 18.43.050 of the Land Use Code (Title 18) sets maximum fence heights in National City. Fences and walls not exceeding 8 feet in height, and hedges, can be located in setback areas. If located in any front setback, or in the exterior side setback of a corner lot, they cannot exceed 4 feet, except that a residentially developed property in a residential zone can have a fence, wall or hedge up to 6 feet high within the exterior side setback of a corner lot. On a reversed corner lot that abuts the front setback of the key lot at the rear, nothing over 4 feet is permitted in the rear setback area.

Retaining walls count toward the total. Within interior side and rear setbacks the required height of screens or protective fences is not reduced by a retaining wall, and a protective fence is measured from the top of the retaining wall it sits on. When a fence sits on top of, or within one foot of the face of, an above-ground retaining wall in a required yard, height is measured from the top of the fence to the midpoint height of the retaining wall. Masonry walls cannot exceed 8 feet, and a masonry wall that includes a retaining wall is capped at 6 feet for the masonry and 2 feet 8 inches for the retaining wall. Up to 30 percent of the length of a fence can exceed the limits by up to 6 inches.

Other chapter rules change the numbers by use. Screening between land uses under Section 18.43.020 requires an opaque fence or wall of a minimum 6 feet and maximum 8 feet where a commercial or industrial use, or a multi-family use next to a single-family zone, abuts a residential zone. Parking lots are screened with a 5 to 6 foot fence or wall within a 5-foot landscape buffer under Section 18.43.030. Special fences under Section 18.43.090 include recreation area fences up to 12 feet and security fences up to 8 feet. Chain link in residential side and rear yards is capped at 6 feet and barred from front yards.

Corner lots in commercial and industrial zones also carry the traffic visibility triangle in Section 18.43.100: within the triangle, no tree, fence, wall, shrub or other obstruction higher than 3 feet above the official grade is permitted. The triangle distances are 25 feet for local to local and local to collector intersections and 30 feet for driveway to collector or arterial, collector to arterial and arterial to arterial intersections.