Can our Redwood City back fence go to 8 feet with lattice on top?

Not on a home lot. Section 36.3 caps every fence in a side or rear yard at 7 feet and counts the lattice toward that total. The Architectural Permit that can allow 10 feet elsewhere is not available in any residential district, so the code offers no route above 7 feet for a back fence behind a house.

Does a new 6-foot wood fence in Redwood City need a building permit?

No. The Building Division exempts fences up to 7 feet, though not swimming pool barriers. If the fence sits on a retaining wall, the wall is exempt only up to 4 feet measured from the bottom of its footing, unless it holds back a surcharge. The zoning limits for the yard still apply, and in Redwood Shores the association's review comes on top.

We live on the Redwood Shores lagoon. Can we fence the lawn edge to keep geese off?

Yes, with low fencing of the kinds the owners association pre-approves: factory-painted dark green wire fencing or stakes and line no more than 24 inches high, run straight along the top of the rip rap or the sloped bank's edge. Those need no application. Anything else on the waterfront goes to the Modifications Committee, and a new improvement inside the city's bank zones needs a Planned Development Amendment.

Redwood City Fence Repair Where Lattice Counts Toward 7 Feet

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Permits and local rules

Three city documents behind a Redwood City fence

Zoning Code Section 36.3, Fences
Section 36.3 sits in Article 36, Exterior Site Improvements, which applies in every zoning district unless a provision says otherwise. It defines a fence as any constructed barrier separating properties or giving privacy, security or confinement, and counts walls as fences. Electrically charged, barbed wire and razor wire fences are prohibited in residential zones. The section was last amended in July 2026. Arbors at gates and entries are covered next door in Section 36.4.
Redwood City Zoning Code, Article 36 (opens in a new tab)
Work requiring and work exempt from permits
The Building Division's handout, revised in January 2026, exempts fences up to 7 feet from a building permit, with one exception: swimming pool barriers are not covered. Retaining walls are exempt up to 4 feet measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall, unless they support a surcharge. The exemption covers the building permit only; the zoning limits in Section 36.3 apply to an exempt fence just the same.
City of Redwood City Building Division (opens in a new tab)
Redwood Shores Lagoon Bank Policy and Construction Guidelines
Nothing may be built in, on or over the lagoon bank, and decks, fences and other improvements reaching into the Tidal Plain-Water zone must be supported entirely by structure outside it. Within roughly 3 feet of the top of the bank, structural work needs a civil engineer's plans and city review. Rear yard fences should stay open to view and minimal in height. A retaining wall over 4 feet needs a building permit, counting footing and pilasters. Repairs that keep the original scope need no Planned Development Amendment, though some still need a building permit.
City of Redwood City, Lagoon Bank Policy (2006) (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 Redwood City fence job meets Section 36.3

Adding lattice to a back fence
Section 36.3 limits every fence in a side or rear yard to 7 feet whatever its type, and counts lattice and other decorative tops toward that total. An Architectural Permit can take a side or rear fence to 10 feet in other districts, but the code excludes the Professional Office district and every residential district from that route. Height is measured from the nearest adjoining grade, or from the lowest one where the ground differs on either side, so a fence on a stepped line is judged from below.
Front-yard fences, solid and open
In a required front yard, a solid fence is held to 3 feet and a fence combining solid and open sections to 5. The code's open fence lets a viewer see straight through at least 80 percent of any one square foot of its face, with the openings spread evenly rather than bunched in one place, and no single part, lamp posts and pilasters included, wider than 12 inches. Chain link above 3 feet is barred from front yards in residential districts, and no private fence may stand in the public right-of-way.
The street side of a corner lot
Along the side yard that faces a street, a corner lot may have a fence up to 7 feet, set back 18 inches from the sidewalk, with the strip between fence and sidewalk landscaped and kept healthy and free of weeds. The vision triangle still applies: no solid fence or hedge over 3 feet within 15 feet of the corner of intersecting streets. Chain link over 3 feet is not allowed on that street side in residential districts either.
Driveways on the city's busy streets
On a residential lot, nothing solid over 3 feet may stand within 10 feet of a driveway serving required parking. The triangle grows to 15 feet at driveways on a list of high-volume streets, among them Alameda de las Pulgas, Farm Hill Boulevard, Jefferson Avenue, Woodside Road, El Camino Real, Edgewood Road between the Alameda and the western city limit, and in the Shores, Redwood Shores Parkway, Marine Parkway and Shell Parkway. A hedge counts just as a fence does.

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

Ordinary lots under Section 36.3, and lots that end at an engineered slope

Most Redwood City fences stand on single-family lots where the zoning code alone sets the limits. Redwood Shores is the exception. The city describes a peninsula ringed by levees because its ground lies below high tide, with a city-owned lagoon inside that doubles as a storm water retention pond. On a lagoon-front lot the property line in most cases runs out into the water, the rip rap on the bank is the owner's to replace, and the city holds a stormwater easement reaching 15 to 21 feet from about the bottom of the slope toward its top. The FAQ on the city's Lagoon Bank Policy warns that shoreline changes, added together, could lead to a general slope failure, which is why a back fence there is treated as more than a fence.

Part by part

Two kinds of Redwood Shores lot with extra fence rules

Lagoon-front lots in Redwood Shores
The Redwood Shores Owners Association's modifications guidelines set a waterfront fence or hedge at a standard 3 feet, at least 3 feet back from the top of the lagoon bank, and limit a side line to one shared fence or hedge. Low goose fencing of the kinds its appendix describes, no more than 24 inches high, needs no application; any other waterfront fencing, temporary ones for children or pets included, needs Modifications Committee approval.
Street-facing lots in Redwood Shores
Within each local association, fencing seen from a street or other perimeter has to be identical in design from house to house, and lattice or other extensions on top of it essentially identical in design and color, never plywood. New fencing and extensions there need a Modifications Committee application. A like-for-like repair that matches the original and stands out to no casual observer needs no RSOA approval.

Timing

Which approval comes first in Redwood Shores

The association steps come before the city. The owners association will not consider an application until the local homeowners association has approved or acknowledged it. For work on a lagoon-front lot, the city's bank policy requires written notice to the applicable associations before plans go to the city, and an application without proof of that notice is not accepted for review. The Building Division also recommends filing plans the association has stamped Approved, dated and signed, to avoid rounds of revisions. The city's FAQ adds that an association's approval does not settle what the city allows; a design that cannot meet both is redesigned.

Before you hire

Questions for a Redwood City fence contractor

Ask them to include any lattice in the total height they quote, since Section 36.3 counts it toward the 7-foot limit.
On a sloping side line, ask where they will measure from; Redwood City uses the lowest adjoining grade.
For a front-yard fence over 3 feet, ask how the open sections will pass the 80 percent see-through test.
On a lagoon-front lot, ask whether any new post lands within 3 feet of the top of the bank, where structural work needs city review.
In Redwood Shores, ask for the association's stamped approval letter before the city application goes in.

Still deciding?

How tall can the arbor over our front gate be in Redwood City?

Up to 9 feet under Section 36.4, no more than 8 feet long and 3 feet deep. An entry arbor needs no setback, but in a required front or street side yard it has to be built into the perimeter fence where one exists. Residential lots may have one per street frontage and required yard, four at most.

Can the old pressure-treated fence go out with our Recology carts?

No. Recology San Mateo County, which collects Redwood City's carts, says it does not handle hazardous waste. Its page describes treated wood as typical of fences and decks, notes that the state toxics department governs its disposal, and points owners to the State Water Board's list of approved landfills. Keep the posts apart from other debris and agree who hauls them.

Keep exploring

More on fence and gate work and Redwood City

Fences and gates in other cities

Other trades in Redwood City

Guides and smaller jobs

Where this page belongs

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.

Redwood City fences, from the 10-foot driveway triangle to the lagoon bank

Asked before a Redwood City fence comes down

Get quotes for fence and gate work in Redwood City

Three city documents behind a Redwood City fence

Zoning Code Section 36.3, Fences

Work requiring and work exempt from permits

Redwood Shores Lagoon Bank Policy and Construction Guidelines

Where a Redwood City fence job meets Section 36.3

Adding lattice to a back fence

Front-yard fences, solid and open

The street side of a corner lot

Driveways on the city's busy streets