Fence & Deck Repair in East Palo Alto

• Chapter 18.26 of the Development Code sets the height limits by yard (front, side, rear) — the city's planning FAQ points homeowners to its Figure 3.3 for the exact numbers by zone.
• Above the regulated height: building permit with planning review required. Within the limits, standard residential fences proceed without one.
• A structure 18 inches or taller that defines a boundary or secures a yard is a "fence" under the code — which means low garden walls and tall planters can count too.
• East Palo Alto's flood-zone geography adds one local wrinkle: parts of the city fall under floodplain management rules (Ch. 15.52), which can affect solid structures near drainage — worth a question to the city for fences near channels or in mapped flood zones.

Repairing an existing fence at its existing height — posts, boards, gates, like for like — stays inside the rules by definition. It's height increases and new locations that trigger review. Given that the exact height chart lives in the code's Figure 3.3 and varies by zone, the practical advice for any rebuild is one call to East Palo Alto Planning with your address; for a repair, there's nothing to ask.

Same Peninsula physics: posts rot in the narrow band at the soil line where moisture and oxygen meet, irrigation accelerates it, and a fence that leans after a storm lost its posts long before. Photos of the post bases tell us whether you're looking at two posts or a full run.

Send photos through the form — post bases up close, the full line, the gate if it drags — and get a repair estimate range before anyone drives out.