Fences and gates Newark

Newark fences, from chain link tract lines to stuccoed block walls

Newark's 2018 zoning code decides what can replace an old fence. Chain link is no longer allowed in residential districts, plain concrete block must be stuccoed or split-faced and capped, and fences stop at 6 feet, or at 3 feet in a required front yard and within 4 feet of a street side lot line. A masonry wall needs a building permit once it passes 4 feet, while a wood fence needs none up to 7.

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  • Rules on this page checked against 9 public sources, October 2026

Asked most

Newark fence questions from tract-house owners

Our Newark side fence is old chain link. Can we put up new chain link in its place?

Not on a residential lot. Section 17.17.040 prohibits chain link in residential districts under the zoning ordinance adopted in 2018. A chain link fence that was lawfully in place before then is nonconforming and can be maintained and repaired, as long as it is not enlarged or made taller, but a new fence along that line needs another material, such as wood, finished masonry or wrought iron.

Can our back fence in Newark be 8 feet tall?

Only in two cases. A residential lot beside an arterial of four or more lanes may have 8 feet as of right. Anywhere else it takes a minor use permit, which the Director can grant only for masonry block, precast concrete, wood or wrought iron, and only after finding the extra height will not harm light, air and openness next door or the look of the neighborhood.

Does a hedge in Newark count as a fence?

Usually. The fence section applies to hedges too, but a hedge whose main trunk is more than 4 feet from the street side lot line and within 5 feet of a permitted structure may be any height. At street corners and at driveways where Chapter 10.36 applies, hedges, shrubbery and natural growth are held to 3 feet above the nearest pavement like any fence.

The Silliman Activity and Family Aquatic Center in Newark
The Silliman Activity and Family Aquatic Center in Newark. Photo: LPS.1, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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Free to request, and you agree the scope and price with the person you hire before work starts. In California, a job over $1,000 in labor and materials, or one that needs a building permit, must be done by a contractor licensed by the CSLB in the right class. Ask for the license number and check it at cslb.ca.gov.

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Permits and local rules

The Newark code text behind a fence quote

  1. Section 17.17.040, fences and freestanding walls

    The section covers fences, walls and hedges alike. Beyond the heights and materials, it allows one entry gateway, trellis or similar structure in the required front or street-facing side yard of each lot, no more than 8 feet high or wide and 5 feet deep. Fencing around a tennis, basketball or similar court may reach 12 feet with Director approval if everything above 6 feet is open wire or another corrosion-resistant material. Fences must also meet Chapter 10.36's visibility rules.

    Newark Municipal Code, Section 17.17.040 (opens in a new tab)

  2. Chapter 10.36, visibility requirements

    Placed in the traffic title rather than the zoning code, this chapter dates from 1979 and was amended for driveways in 2003. It names signs, hedges, shrubbery, natural growth and fences alike. Exceptions include trees trimmed to leave a clear band from the pavement up to 6 feet, and saplings. The City Council may grant a variance where the curb sits more than 10 feet from the property line, or at a driveway on a registered traffic engineer's report acceptable to the city engineer.

    Newark Municipal Code, Chapter 10.36 (opens in a new tab)

  3. The Building Permit Requirements brochure

    Newark's Building Inspection Division lists the work that needs no building permit, and two lines decide most fence jobs: wood or chain link fences not over 7 feet above adjacent grade and masonry fences not over 4 feet, and retaining walls not over 4 feet from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall, unless they support a surcharge. A permit exemption does not lift the zoning limits, which still cap most fences at 6 feet.

    Source: City of Newark Building Inspection Division (newarkca.gov)

  4. Chapter 17.22, nonconforming structures

    A structure lawfully built before the 2018 zoning ordinance that does not meet it is nonconforming, and the right to keep it passes with the land to a new owner. Maintenance and repair, structural or not, are allowed when they do not enlarge the structure, change its footprint or raise its height. A nonconforming structure damaged by fire, earthquake or another natural disaster, through no act of the owner, may be restored within limits set by the chapter.

    Newark Municipal Code, Chapter 17.22 (opens in a new tab)

State license for this work: C-13 Fencing, C-29 Masonry. Look up a contractor's license on the CSLB website (cslb.ca.gov).

The work

Where a Newark fence job runs into the 2018 rules

  • Replacing a chain link side fence

    Section 17.17.040 prohibits chain link fencing in residential districts outright, so a worn chain link run along a side yard can be patched under the nonconforming rules but not rebuilt as chain link. The section names the materials the Director may approve for extra height, masonry block, precast concrete, wood and wrought iron, which gives a sense of what the city expects in its place. Barbed wire, razor wire, ultra-barrier and electrified fencing are barred as well.

  • A concrete block wall on the back line

    Plain concrete block is not permitted as a fencing material in Newark. A block wall has to be finished with stucco, or built of decorative split-face block, and capped with a decorative cap. The Building Inspection Division's permit brochure also treats masonry more strictly than wood: wood or chain link fences up to 7 feet above adjacent grade need no building permit, but a masonry fence is exempt only up to 4 feet.

  • Going above 6 feet

    A residential lot beside an arterial of four or more lanes may have a fence of 8 feet as of right. Elsewhere, the Director can approve extra height with a minor use permit: up to 8 feet outside the required front yard and more than 4 feet from a street lot line, or up to 6 feet in the front yard on a lot next to a non-residential use. The Director must find that light, air and openness around neighboring houses, and the look of the neighborhood, will not suffer. An extension on top of an existing fence must match its material and design.

  • Corners and driveways

    Chapter 10.36 keeps fences, hedges and other obstructions to 3 feet above the nearest pavement inside a triangle at street corners whose sides run 40 feet along the right-of-way lines. At a driveway the triangle runs 40 feet along the right-of-way line and 12 and a half feet back along the driveway edge, but that driveway rule does not apply where the street's speed limit is 25 miles per hour or less. On application, the city traffic engineer can decide whether a fence actually blocks the view.

A white wooden picket fence with an open gate in front of a white weatherboard house
A white wooden picket fence with an open gate in front of a white weatherboard house. Photo: Jorge Royan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The houses here

Tract back lines from the 1960s and 70s, held to a 2018 code

Newark's Housing Element puts 53 percent of the city's housing in the years 1960 to 1979 and counts 70 percent of homes as detached houses, so most fence calls are about the side and back lines of tract lots that have been fenced for decades. Some of those lines are wood, some chain link, some concrete block. In January 2018 the City Council adopted a new zoning ordinance with its own fence section, and a fence that was legal before then but no longer meets it became nonconforming. The code lets such a fence be maintained and repaired without making it larger or taller. Its allowance covers repair, not a rebuild by choice, so plan a full replacement to today's limits.

Before you hire

Questions to put to a fence pro working in Newark

  • If the old fence is chain link, ask for a replacement in wood, masonry block, precast concrete or wrought iron instead.
  • For a block wall, ask how it will be finished: stucco or split-face block, with a decorative cap on top.
  • Ask whether a masonry wall will pass 4 feet, the height at which Newark's brochure requires a building permit.
  • At a corner or a driveway on a faster street, ask them to mark the 40-foot sight triangle before any post goes above 3 feet.
  • Ask where the pressure-treated posts will go, and whether hauling them to a site that takes treated wood is in the quote.

Free, no obligation. Next, add your details in the request form.

More questions

Still deciding?

We have a low block wall along the front of our Newark house. Can we raise it?

Only to 3 feet in a required front yard, unless the lot sits next to a non-residential use, where the Director may approve up to 6 feet with a minor use permit. Any extension has to be the same material and design as the wall, the block has to be stuccoed or split-faced and capped, and masonry past 4 feet needs a building permit.

Where can the old pressure-treated posts from a Newark fence go?

Not in a curbside cart. RE:Source, StopWaste's disposal directory for Alameda County, says treated wood never goes in one and lists the sites that take it for a fee; the nearest drop-off on its list is the Newby Island landfill in Milpitas, with a note to call first. Keep the posts separate from other debris and settle who hauls them before demolition.

Where these facts come from

Checked against these public sources in October 2026. Rules and programs change: confirm permit requirements with the city before work starts, and a contractor's license on the CSLB website.

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