Butte County, CA Fence Regulations: Retaining Walls (2026)

Section 13-2 defines 'fence' to specifically exclude retaining walls, so retaining walls fall under the grading rules in Chapter 13 rather than the wall-and-fence design standards in Chapter 24. Section 13-3 requires a grading permit for any earth movement over fifty cubic yards, and Section 13-11(d)(2) sets the baseline setbacks any grading project must keep from the top of a cut or the toe of a fill: five feet for slope heights up to ten feet, half the slope height for slopes between ten and thirty feet, and fifteen feet for anything taller.

The same subsection lets the director, or a recommending civil engineer, soils engineer or engineering geologist, increase those setbacks where needed for slope stability or to protect neighboring structures and roadways, and it expressly authorizes retaining walls or deep foundations as a way to reduce the required setback instead. Section 13-6(b)(10) requires a full engineering plan, soils report and erosion control plan stamped by a licensed civil engineer whenever total cut and fill exceeds ten thousand cubic yards, or when any single cut or fill exceeds fifteen feet in height, or the existing slope exceeds twenty percent grade, standards that capture most substantial retaining wall projects.

Section 13-11(f)(1) additionally caps slope steepness at one-to-one for cuts and one-and-a-half-to-one for fills unless a retaining structure or a geotechnical analysis justifies something steeper.