Newport Beach, CA Fence Regulations: Material Restrictions (2026)

040(E) draws a hard line against a specific list of fencing materials: barbed wire, electrical fences, razor wire, and other similar materials are not allowed in residential zoning districts, full stop. 040, which allow exceptions through modification permits or site development review, the material ban carries no permit pathway; a property owner cannot apply to keep barbed wire or an electric fence in an R-A, R-1, R-BI, R-2, RM, or RMD district. Newport Beach's zoning districts are established under Part 2 of Title 20 (Zoning Districts, Allowable Land Uses, and Zoning District Standards), and the prohibition follows the residential zoning designation on the parcel rather than the use, so a home business or a private stable on residential-zoned land is bound by the same rule as an ordinary house.

020 instead govern fence and wall requirements between differing land uses, including a requirement that a masonry wall at least 6 feet high (8 feet for industrial abutting residential) separate nonresidential development from housing. A fence that otherwise complies with the Table 3-1 height limits but uses a banned material, such as a residential side yard fence topped with razor wire for security, is still a Zoning Code violation because the material ban in subsection (E) applies independently of the height standard.