Yuba City, CA Fence Regulations: Fence Permit Requirements (2026)

Sec. 5901 makes Article 59's fence standards apply whenever a fence is installed, erected, or enlarged in Yuba City, or when a building or outdoor use it serves changes. Sec. 5903, titled Exceptions, Use Permit, states plainly that exceptions to the standards in the article may be permitted only if a use permit is first secured under Sec. 7003. That use permit process is triggered specifically by exceeding the height limits set in Sec. 5904: three feet in a required front yard or street side yard, six feet in any other required yard for one- and two-family residences.

A homeowner who wants an eight-foot rear fence, for example, cannot simply build it; the fence has to go through the discretionary use permit process, which is decided administratively or by the Planning Commission depending on the project and can include conditions the Director attaches to protect neighboring properties. Fences that comply with the baseline height and material standards of Article 59, meaning three feet in front and street-side yards and six feet elsewhere, do not need this permit. Multi-family, commercial, and industrial developments face their own required fencing under Sec.

5905, such as a six-foot masonry wall along common lines with adjacent single-family districts, and those mandatory walls are a separate track from the use-permit exception process for residential height variances.