El Cajon, CA Fence Regulations: Retaining Walls (2026)

200 splits retaining walls into two situations that get different height treatment. Where a wall holds back a cut below natural grade on a shared property line, it does not eat into the neighboring fence allowance: the owner may still add a fence, wall or hedge on top at whatever height would otherwise be permitted at that location if the retaining wall were not there. Where a wall instead retains a fill, the calculus reverses: the retaining wall's own height counts toward the permissible height of any fence, solid wall or hedge built above it, so a five-foot fill wall against a six-foot fence allowance leaves only one foot of fencing on top.

Even so, the section always allows a protective openwork fence or wall up to 42 inches to be added atop a fill-retaining wall regardless of how much of the height budget the wall itself has used, provided the fence is genuinely openwork, meaning its solid portions are evenly distributed and cover no more than 60 percent of the fence face. Where multiple retaining walls are required on a site, they must keep a three-foot minimum horizontal separation between them. Property owners who need a combined wall-and-fence height above these normal limits, on either a cut or a fill wall, can apply for an administrative zoning permit from the director of community development, but the director cannot issue it without first giving written notice to every adjoining property owner affected by the taller combination. Ordinances 5018 and 5033, both adopted in 2015, amended this section into its current form.