Inglewood, CA Fence Regulations: Material Restrictions (2026)

4 sets a flat material ban for residential fencing: no fence or wall in any residential zone may incorporate barbed wire or any other sharp or protruding object, with no exceptions written into the residential half of the section. Nonresidential zones get a narrow path around the ban rather than a flat prohibition. A commercial or industrial fence or wall may include barbed wire only if the property owner has obtained a variance, and the variance is available only where the City finds the installation necessary for security purposes and finds there is no reasonable alternative.

That variance process runs through the same Section 12-97 procedure used for other sign and fence variances elsewhere in Article 24. Razor wire gets no such exception anywhere in the City: the section prohibits razor wire in all zones, residential and nonresidential alike, regardless of security justification. 5), so a barbed-wire installation that also exceeds the underlying height limit or lacks a fence permit can draw more than one violation at once. The 2010 amendment to the section (Ordinance 10-09) added the razor wire prohibition to the original 1985 barbed-wire restriction, reflecting the City's tightening of allowable fence security materials over time.