Montebello, CA Fence Regulations: Material Restrictions (2026)

Montebello Municipal Code § 17.10.130(D) lists the only materials allowed for screening or fencing visible from a public right-of-way: decorative masonry walls such as slumpstone, stucco or split-face block; closely spaced, healthy evergreen shrubs; wood fencing of adequate aesthetic and structural quality, expressly excluding plywood sheeting; decorative wrought iron; an electric fence behind a protective barrier; or another material the planning commission finds architecturally or aesthetically compatible with the building and neighborhood. The same subsection then bans the alternative outright: corrugated or sheet metal, fiberglass, or plastic material other than an approved electric fence installation may not remain on any residential lot for more than one hundred twenty days beyond the section's effective date.

Section 17.10.130(E) carves out a detailed, separately regulated exception for electric fences. An electric fence is defined by its energizer output (impulse rate no more than 1 hertz, impulse duration no more than 10 milliseconds) and must protect commercial or industrial property; it is allowed only in the CM, M-1 and M-2 zones, or in the CR, C-1 and C-2 zones with site plan review, and only behind a solid six-foot protective barrier. Height is capped at ten feet in non-industrial zones and sixteen feet in industrial zones, with mandatory warning signs at every thirty feet, a Knox Box shunt switch for fire and police access, and a signed indemnification agreement with the city. Installing or operating an electric fence without following Section 17.10.130(E) is expressly made a misdemeanor by subsection (E)(2)(j).