Encino gate height rules
How tall, and how far back, a gate can go under the City of Los Angeles code
Encino, Tarzana and Sherman Oaks share one rulebook: the City of Los Angeles code. Gate height depends on your lot's zone and where the gate sits. Each rule below carries its source.
1. In the required front yard
LAMC 12.22 C.20(f)(2) sets the limits for a fence, wall or gate in the required front yard:
| Zone on the lot | Limit |
|---|---|
| R zones (R1, RS, RE and the rest) | 3 ft 6 in |
| A zones, including RA | 6 ft |
| Either, with a Zoning Administrator's approval under LAMC 12.24 X.7 | 8 ft |
Under 12.22 C.20(f)(1), height is measured from the natural ground level next to the fence, and a hedge or thick row of shrubs counts as a fence.
2. How the zones split in these three areas
By land area, from the City's zoning map data (checked September 2026):
| Area | Residential land zoned RA or A | Residential land zoned R |
|---|---|---|
| Tarzana | about 72% | about 28% |
| Encino | about 28% | about 72% |
| Sherman Oaks | about 4% | about 96% |
These are shares of land, not homes. Look up your own lot on ZIMAS, the City's zoning map: a zone starting "RA" or "A" gets six feet, one starting "R" gets three and a half.
3. Outside the required front yard
Side yards, rear yards and other open space follow LAMC 12.22 C.20(f)(3):
- 8 ft on lots 40 feet or wider that are not in a Hillside Area.
- 6 ft on lots narrower than 40 feet, or inside a Hillside Area as defined in LAMC 91.7003, unless a Zoning Administrator allows 8 ft.
Parts of all three areas are in the City's Hillside Area, so check the parcel before assuming eight feet.
4. No Fence Height District here
LAMC 13.10 lets the City create Fence Height Districts where open wrought iron can reach six feet in residential front yards. None turned up in these three areas on the City's planning map layers in September 2026, so on an R zoned lot the route to a taller front gate is a Zoning Administrator approval.
City Planning map layers, checked September 2026.
5. On a busy street
Placing a gate in the public right of way takes a Revocable Permit from the Bureau of Engineering, whose permit manual adds two rules:
- Arterial streets: the gate "should be placed 20-feet back of the curb face or edge of roadway" so a car can stop in front of it out of the roadway. If it cannot be, written approval from LADOT is required.
- Hillside streets: if the road in front is narrower than 20 feet, the owner will be required to widen it to at least 20 feet of paving as a condition of the permit.
In Encino the arterials include Ventura, Balboa, White Oak, Hayvenhurst and Louise (City street layer, September 2026). The Tarzana and Sherman Oaks pages list theirs.
6. Near Mulholland Drive
Within five hundred feet of the Mulholland Drive right of way (the Inner Corridor of the Mulholland Scenic Parkway Specific Plan, Ordinance 167,943), fences, gates and walls visible from Mulholland must be rough cut unfinished wood, native type stone, split face concrete block, textured plaster, black or dark green chain link or wrought iron, or a mix. Where the plan is stricter than the zoning code, it wins.
Mulholland Scenic Parkway Specific Plan, Ordinance 167,943, Section 5.
7. Building permits
LAMC 91.106.2 exempts non masonry fences up to 10 feet, and masonry or concrete up to 3 ft 6 in, from a building permit. The exemption does not lift the height limits above.
LAMC 91.106.2, item 13.
Questions about the height rules
Does an open iron fence get a higher limit than a solid wall?
Only inside a Fence Height District under LAMC 13.10, where open wrought iron can reach six feet in the front yard. Encino, Tarzana and Sherman Oaks had no such district when checked in September 2026, so here open iron and a solid wall share the same front yard limit.
Is height measured from my side or my neighbor's?
LAMC 12.22 C.20(f)(1) measures from the natural ground level next to the fence or wall, not from either house. On a sloping lot, or where the ground sits higher on one side of a property line, the reading can change along the run, so measure at more than one point.
Can I just ask for an eight foot front gate?
You can apply. LAMC 12.22 C.20(f)(2) allows up to eight feet in the required front yard of R and A zoned lots when a Zoning Administrator authorizes it under LAMC 12.24 X.7. Get that approval before ordering a tall front gate, not after.
Sources
- LAMC 12.22 C.20(f), 12.24 X.7, 13.10, 91.106.2 (Los Angeles Municipal Code, American Legal Publishing)
- LA Bureau of Engineering, Permits Manual, Revocable Permits, Technical Procedure 04, revised May 2026
- Mulholland Scenic Parkway Specific Plan, Ordinance 167,943
- City of Los Angeles zoning, street and planning map data (ZIMAS and GeoHub), September 2026