Fence Rules in Mountain View

Three feet inside the required front yard. Six feet on the rear and side property lines outside that front yard (§36.06(g)(1)). Within those limits the city asks for no zoning permit at all — the fence is exempt (§36.06(g)).

Because on a corner lot the six feet is conditional on position. A fence up to 6 feet may run along the rear and side property lines outside the required front yard and outside the traffic safety visibility areas, and it must be at least 5 feet from the street side property line (§36.06(g)(2)(c)).

That is a placement rule, not a height rule, and it is the one that breaks a fence design that was drawn to the line. A run planned along the side street property line does not become legal by dropping to 6 feet — it has to move.

At the front corner. The front traffic safety visibility area is formed by measuring 35 feet from the intersection of the street side property line and the front property line, along both lines, and connecting the points. Inside it — and inside the required front yard — nothing over 3 feet (§36.06(g)(2)(a)).

Note where the measurement starts: at the intersection of two property lines, not at the curb and not at the corner of the pavement. On a drawing those three points look interchangeable. On the ground they are not, and the error runs one way: step the 35 feet off the curb or the edge of the pavement and the triangle you draw comes out smaller than the real one, so a fence set against its edge stands inside the area the rule actually covers. The plan says it clears; the city measures from the property lines. Correcting that is not a drawing change — the run comes out and goes back at the owner's cost.

The one almost nobody knows about. A fence over 3 feet running along the side street property line has to step back where it approaches the adjacent lot's front yard, creating a triangular visibility area for that neighbour: measure 10 feet from the intersection of your street side property line and the adjacent parcel's side property line, along both lines, and connect the two points across your corner parcel (§36.06(g)(2)(c)).

So a corner lot carries two triangles at once — its own 35-foot one at the intersection, and a 10-by-10 one it owes the lot behind it. A fence can clear the first and fail the second.

It says something close to that, and read quickly it misleads. The zoning code makes it unlawful to erect any building or structure inside a setback line excepting fences three feet in height or less (§36.08.10). That is a floor, not a permission slip for the whole setback.

In the street side yard the 5-foot placement rule still applies to anything taller than 3 feet, inside the traffic safety visibility areas the 3-foot limit is the ceiling regardless of which yard you are in, and structures over 3 feet on a corner lot have their own setback rule at the intersection (§36.08.05). "Three feet is fine anywhere in the setback" is the sentence that ends with a fence being moved.

Because there is more than one Mountain View in the United States, and more than one municipal code that answers to the name. Search the city name plus "municipal code fences" and you can land on a code that reads like a real city ordinance — its own chapter numbers, its own fence heights of four, six and eight feet, references to "the Town" — and belongs to a different place entirely. Nothing on the page announces that.

The rules on this page are Mountain View, California: Chapter 36 of the city code, on the city's own code platform. If a number you have been quoted does not appear there, the safest assumption is that it came from somewhere else — a neighbouring city's rule, a contractor's habit, or another town with the same name.

Three separate questions, and mixing them up is the usual source of a stalled job.

Zoning. Within the heights above, nothing: those fences are exempt from zoning permit requirements (§36.06(g)).

Planning. Above 6 feet and up to 7, the city's own fence guidance requires a planning permit plus written consent from the adjacent neighbours.

Building. Per the same city guidance, a building permit is required for any non-wood fence at any height, and for any wood fence over 6 feet. Many jobs above 6 feet therefore need both.

🚩 Where the "7 feet" you may have read comes from. Seven feet exists in Mountain View's zoning, but for non-residential districts — in required yards other than front yards and street setback areas, and subject to development review (§36.08.20). On a single-family lot seven feet is reachable only through the planning permit, the neighbours' written consent and the building permit above. A quote that promises 7 feet without those has read the rule that applies to somebody else's property.

Every number on this page is measured from a property line — the front line, the street side line, the neighbour's side line. None of them is the sidewalk, the curb or the fence that is already standing. A boundary survey by a licensed surveyor is the only thing that fixes those lines for certain; short of that, the city's Planning Division is who confirms what applies at a specific address.

It is worth the effort in proportion to how close the run is to the line and how tall it is. A fence built inside a visibility triangle or short of the 5-foot setback is not corrected on paper — it comes out and goes back at the owner's cost, and on a corner lot that is usually the longest run on the property.

We work on fences in Mountain View — fence repair, posts, gates and boards — and these are the rules we design a corner run around before anything is set. Send photos of what you have and we will tell you what the corner allows. The wider picture for neighbouring cities is in the fence rules and permits guide.