Driveway Gates in Palmdale, CA

Drives in the middle of Palmdale are mostly tract drives, and the choice there is usually one swing leaf, two, or a slide. Swing leaves need arc room behind the opening, on your side of it, and a pad close to level. A slide needs parking room beside the opening instead. Out toward the larger parcels on the east and west edges, openings get wider and the leaf gets heavier, which changes the frame before it changes the look.

Think of the leaf as a lever. It hangs from one post, and the load on that post grows with the weight of the leaf and how far it reaches. A wide single leaf puts the whole span on one post and one pair of hinges. Split the same opening into two leaves and each post carries half the reach. We step the post section up as the leaf widens, and our own rule is at least 36 inches of concrete around a gate post, more under a wide leaf. That number is shop practice, not a code figure.

The city code has a line written for this spot. Under Palmdale Municipal Code 17.86.040, in the required front setback of a home lot, fencing across the driveway must operate as an automated rolling gate or open inward, away from the public right-of-way, and any main gate opens away from the right-of-way too. A pair of leaves that swings out over the sidewalk does not meet it. The wording covers an automated rolling gate, so a manual slide across the drive is a question to put to Palmdale Planning before it is drawn.

Height at the street follows the front setback figures. Anything sight-obscuring stops at 3 feet, and open view fencing may be allowed up to 5 feet. On a lot of 20,000 square feet or more, a 6 foot open view fence may stand in the front setback, and a vehicle gate must be set back at least 20 feet from the property line. The code gives the reason: room to park a vehicle while the gate is closed. On a big parcel that setback moves the posts, the operator pad and the power run well up the drive.

The same section lists what a fence may be made of: engineered wood, masonry, wrought iron, durable vinyl, or other similar durable materials the city approves. It prohibits solid metal. A leaf skinned in flat sheet steel is solid metal, so we do not build one for a Palmdale drive. A welded picket or bar leaf is open steel in the wrought iron style, and that is what we quote here. Take the drawing to Planning before the steel is ordered.

Say at the measure if a motor might come later. The frame, the hinges and the posts get sized for a daily push, and a sleeve goes through the post so wiring has a path. The operator and its wiring are separate trades. A slide in the front setback needs its operator to match the automated rolling wording, so on that design the frame gets planned for the motor from the first cut.

Once the gate is motorized, UL 325 and ASTM F2200 apply, and on a slide gate in Classes I, II or III that means guards on weight bearing exposed rollers 8 feet or less above grade, positive stops at both ends of travel, and screening so a 2.25 inch sphere cannot pass the gate or the fence it covers when open, up to 72 inches above grade or the top of a shorter gate. Those are welded details, far easier in the shop than on a finished leaf.

For the visit, have the opening width, which way the drive falls, where power sits, and your lot area from the parcel record. Lot area matters here because 20,000 square feet is where the front setback rules change, including how far back a vehicle gate sits.

This work runs out of our shop on Division Street in Lancaster. Read the full driveway gates details, or call (818) 220-8704 and we will come out.