Camarillo, CA Fence Regulations: Retaining Walls (2026)

Under Camarillo Municipal Code Sec. 2, the city lists retaining walls among the structures exempt from a building permit, but only within a specific height cap. A retaining wall is exempt from permitting if it measures 3 feet or less in height, measured from the top of the footing to the top of the wall. Once a wall exceeds that 3-foot threshold, the exemption ends and a building permit is required before construction begins, which means submitting plans for review by the Building Official and, in most cases, engineering calculations showing the wall can safely resist the soil pressure behind it.

The exemption also disappears regardless of height if the wall supports a surcharge, meaning it holds back a slope, driveway, structure or other load above the retained soil, or if it is built to impound Class I, II or IIIA liquids, categories tied to flammable or combustible fuel storage under the fire code. Camarillo adopted this rule alongside a related exemption for fences: fences other than swimming pool barriers are exempt from permit only up to 6 feet high, which is a separate but adjoining threshold in the same subsection.

Property owners building a wall near the 3-foot line should have it measured precisely from the footing, not just the exposed face, since a wall that looks under 3 feet from grade can still exceed the threshold once the buried footing is counted. The Building Official, per Sec. 020, is the person or entity designated by the city council to administer this code, and that office is the point of contact for confirming whether a specific wall design needs a permit before work starts.