San Clemente, CA Fence Regulations: Material Restrictions (2026)

090(B) sets standards that apply to fences, walls and hedges regardless of zone, and its second provision is an outright prohibition: barbed wire and razor fences are not allowed anywhere in the city, with one narrow carve-out for materials needed to restrict access to public utility equipment like high-voltage transformers. The same subsection requires every fence, wall and hedge, whatever it is made of, to be constructed and maintained so it does not create a hazard to traffic, people or property, and sets the measurement rule used citywide: height is taken from the lower side of finished grade to the top of the fence, including any pilasters or trellis elements built to support it.

Because the ban sits in the general standards that apply in all zones rather than only the residential height table, it reaches commercial, industrial and mixed-use fencing along with residential yards. A property owner who wants to secure a yard with something sturdier than an ordinary fence has to look at height and screening options within the code's other allowances, such as a taller rear-yard enclosure approved through a Conditional Use Permit, rather than barbed or razor wire.