Why Glendale Will Not Let You Fence Your Front Yard

Search for fence height limits in Glendale and you will find sites telling you the front yard limit is three and a half feet. That number is wrong for this city, and the real answer is stranger. Glendale does not set a lower height for front yard fences. It keeps fences out of the front setback almost entirely.

What The Code Actually Says

The rule is Glendale code 30.11.070, which covers setbacks in the home zones. On the front setback it says that nobody may build, place or keep any building, wall, fence or other structure in the space between the street and the setback line, apart from a short list of exceptions.

That list is the whole thing, and the item that matters for fencing is retaining walls, planters and curbs no more than eighteen inches above the ground as it was before construction. Not a fence. A retaining wall, a planter or a curb, and no more than eighteen inches.

This Is Not A Height Limit

The difference matters, because it changes what you can negotiate. A height limit means build it lower. A ban with a narrow exception means the thing you want is not on the list at all.

So a three foot picket fence across the front of a Glendale garden is not a legal shorter version of a six foot one. In most of the city's home zones it is simply not among the things you are allowed to put in that space. The eighteen inch allowance covers a low retaining wall, a planter edge or a curb, which are landscaping rather than fencing.

The street side setback, which is the strip along the street on a corner lot, works the same way, with the same eighteen inch allowance. So a corner lot has two restricted frontages rather than one, which is worth thinking about if you are buying a corner property and you own a dog.

Where Fences Are Allowed

The same rule is clear about the inside boundaries. Boundary fences and freestanding walls that hold back nothing may sit along your interior property lines or inside the setback areas next to them, as long as they do not come forward into the street setback.

• Along the interior property lines, meaning the boundaries you share with neighbors rather than with a street
• Inside the setback areas near those lines, so the fence does not have to sit exactly on the boundary
• Not forward into the street setback, which is what the whole rule turns on
• Subject to design review if it is over three feet in a home zone
• Subject to a building permit above seven feet, or next to a slope, or next to the public sidewalk
• Built from wood, block or brick, decorative metal such as wrought iron, or another material the city approves

In other words the back and the sides behave the way people expect. It is the front that does not.

Using The Eighteen Inches Properly

The eighteen inch allowance is more useful than it first sounds, and the code has more to say about low walls elsewhere on the lot. Inside the side and rear setbacks, a wall holding back dirt that is under three feet can sit anywhere in the hillside zones, and one between three and five feet of visible height can sit there as long as it stays at least five feet from an interior property line. In the standard home zone a five foot wall can sit inside that setback area.

So the ground can be reshaped even where it cannot be fenced. A low wall or planter across the front at eighteen inches, with the ground behind it raised and planted, gives you a defined edge and a surprising amount of screening without any of it counting as a fence. That is why so many Glendale front gardens sit slightly above the sidewalk.

The One Exception: The Horse Zone

There is a genuine exception, and it is a Glendale peculiarity. The city has a horse zone, laid over parts of certain neighborhoods, and horses may only be kept in Glendale inside it or one other zone.

Inside that zone, fences and walls are allowed in the front and street side setbacks with conditions. They have to sit on private property, at least five feet back from the back of the curb, and no more than four feet, or forty eight inches, tall at any point.

The same chapter has a clause worth knowing about. Fences, walls, trellises and gates that already existed on April 19, 2005 may be taller than forty eight inches and may stay where they are, unless they are made of sharp edged material, barbed wire, razor wire, chicken wire, chain link, fiberglass, or plain or painted block.

That date is why you will see tall front fences in some Glendale neighborhoods that plainly could not be built today. They came first. It does not mean you can match them.

What People Build Instead

The most common answer is planting. A hedge is landscaping rather than a structure, so it is not caught by a rule about fences and walls. Much of the privacy you see on Glendale front gardens, especially around Rossmoyne and Verdugo Woodlands, is a hedge doing a fence's job.

The second is using the eighteen inch allowance properly, with a low wall or planter edge that marks the boundary without enclosing it. Put planting behind it and you get an edge without a fence.

The third is putting the fence where fences are allowed. A gate and fence line set back at the front corners of the house, running to the side boundaries, encloses the usable garden without ever entering the front setback. It is the standard Glendale solution and most people arrive at it eventually.

If You Build One Anyway

It is worth being blunt. A fence in the front setback is visible from the street to anybody who cares to look, including code enforcement and any neighbor with a complaint. Enforcement in most cities happens because somebody complains, which means the risk is not random. It depends on how your neighbors feel.

The expensive version is building it, being told to take it out, and paying twice. The cheap version is a ten minute call to the Planning office on (818) 548-2140 before you order material, or a counter appointment booked at GlendaleCA.gov/PlanningAppt.

This is a summary of how the code reads and is not legal advice. Zones vary and overlays change what applies. Check the rules for your own property with the Glendale Planning office on (818) 548-2140 before you build.