Fairfield, CA Fence Regulations: Retaining Walls (2026)
Key Facts
- Grading permit trigger
- unsupported height over 5 feet
- Permit-exempt threshold
- 5 ft or less, with building permit
- Hillside Overlay standard
- Hillside Management Guidelines
- Height measurement point
- grade on higher side of wall
- Permitting authority
- City Engineer
Summary
Fairfield requires a grading permit for a retaining wall excavation whenever the unsupported cut exceeds 5 feet after construction, per City Code Section 25.240(1). In the Hillside Overlay District, retaining wall height instead follows the Hillside Management Guidelines under Zoning Code Section 25.30.2(B)(3).
No person shall do any grading without first having obtained a grading permit from the city engineer except for the following: 1. An excavation below finished grade for basements and footing of a building, retaining wall or other structure authorized by a valid building permit. This shall not exempt any fill made with the material from such excavation nor exempt any excavation having an unsupported height greater than 5 feet after the completion of such structure.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: rev 4962673; v0 updated 2026-02-17).
Full Breakdown
Retaining walls in Fairfield sit at the intersection of the grading ordinance and the zoning fence rules. 240 requires a grading permit from the City Engineer before any excavation, but it carves out an exemption for "an excavation below finished grade for basements and footing of a building, retaining wall or other structure authorized by a valid building permit," provided the unsupported excavation does not exceed 5 feet in height once the structure is complete; a wall cut deeper than that loses the exemption and needs a standalone grading permit.
2 even if the retaining wall itself is short. 2(B)(3) instead sends them to the height requirements set by the Hillside Management Guidelines, reflecting the steeper grading and drainage concerns on Fairfield's Green Valley hillside lots. Grading permit applications that involve retaining wall design must include lateral loading factors and retaining wall design criteria as part of the geotechnical engineering report the City Engineer reviews before issuing the permit, and plan-checking and permit fees for retaining walls are charged separately from the base grading fee under the fee tables the City Engineer maintains.
Violations & Fines
Grading or building a retaining wall without the required grading or building permit is enforced as a City Code violation under the general penalty in Section 1.7: an infraction up to $100 for a first offense, up to $250 for a second offense within a year, and a possible misdemeanor with up to a $1,000 fine or six months in county jail for later offenses. The City Engineer can also require an unpermitted wall to be redesigned, permitted after the fact, or removed if it lacks the required engineering review.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a permit for a retaining wall in Fairfield?
How is the height of a fence on top of a retaining wall measured?
Are hillside retaining walls held to different standards?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Fairfield
California rules heatmap·Compare Fairfield to another location·View the California fence regulations overview
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Retaining Walls in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Solano County handle retaining walls.