Bishop, CA Fence Regulations: Retaining Walls (2026)

Inyo County adopts the California Building Standards Code (Title 24) under Chapter 14.08 of the County Code, with local amendments for snow loads, freezing temperatures, high winds, and remote mountain terrain. The retaining-wall permit trigger comes from that building code. Under California Building Code Section 105.2, a building permit is not required for retaining walls that are not over four feet (1219 mm) in height measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall, unless supporting a surcharge or impounding Class I, II, or IIIA liquids. So a wall over four feet, or any wall (even shorter) carrying a surcharge such as a slope or driveway above it, needs a building permit and usually an engineered design. The four-foot measurement is taken from the bottom of the buried footing, not from finished grade. Separately, the Title 18 zoning code addresses fences built above retaining walls in Section 18.78.160: the term wall does not apply to the supporting portion of a retaining wall, but where a fence or hedge rises directly above a retaining wall along a lot line, or above, parallel with, and within four feet of such a wall, the permitted height of a fence not required by the title is reduced by one-half the height of the supporting portion of the retaining wall, but in no case to less than three feet.