Clovis, CA Fence Regulations: Fence Permit Requirements (2026)

030 lists the activities exempt from the Development Code's land use permit requirement, and subsection (B)(2) sets the residential fence and wall thresholds. On an interior lot, a fence or wall stays exempt from a land use permit up to three feet within the required front yard, or up to six feet anywhere outside that front yard. On a corner lot, the three-foot cap also covers the street side yard on a reverse corner lot and any City Engineer-defined traffic safety visibility area, with the six-foot allowance available once the fence clears both the front yard and that visibility area.

Subsection (B)(10) layers on a second, lower building-permit threshold: walls under four feet, and retaining walls that create a grade change of thirty inches or less, do not need a building permit either. Anything above these caps, whether a taller wall, a fence exceeding the three- or six-foot land-use limits, or a retaining wall with a bigger grade change, falls outside the exemption and needs the applicable land use and/or building permit before construction starts. 060(I)(3)(b) requires a building permit before installing any security fencing (barbed wire, razor wire, concertina wire, or electrified fencing), which the Development Code otherwise limits to industrial zoning districts. "