Retaining wall permit checklist — Long Beach, California
Assembled from Long Beach’s own published permit rules. Every line below is quoted from a city document and linked to it. Nothing here is generated, estimated, or inferred from another jurisdiction.
Do you need a permit?
Long Beach requires a permit for a retaining wall.
Long Beach Municipal Code Section 18.04.020.B.5 leaves retaining walls and planter boxes off the permit list at 4 feet or less, sized from the footing base up to the wall's highest point, but only where nothing adds load behind the wall, no sloping earth bears on it, and no flammable liquid is held back. Ground slope also matters: on any grade pitching more steeply than one vertical unit per five horizontal, a 20 percent slope, the exemption falls away no matter how short the wall. Skipping the permit is not license to build something that runs afoul of the Zoning Regulations, the rest of the municipal code, or state law.
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Sources
- retaining wall — permit rules ↗verified August 2026
Other permits Long Beach publishes rules for
Listed because the city publishes a separate rule for each type — not because this project necessarily triggers one. Whether it does depends on your scope of work.
- Deck permit checklist
- Fence permit checklist
- Shed permit checklist
- Water heater permit checklist
- Re-roof permit checklist
- Electrical work permit checklist
- General building work permit checklist
BuildSpec is a reference, not the authority having jurisdiction. Confirm requirements with Long Beach before you build.