Gate Safety Certification in Marin County, CA
It depends on which jurisdiction your address is in. Two Marin cities, San Rafael and Tiburon, require a written gate safety certification signed by a qualified inspector and renewed at least every five years. Unincorporated Marin County has a different kind of requirement. The rest of California has none.
Serving Marin County from the Golden Gate to Petaluma · California contractor license #1034958
Last updated: August 2026
Does your gate need a safety certification in Marin County?
If you are in San Rafael or Tiburon and your gate is a vehicular gate, or is more than 48 inches wide or 84 inches tall, the certification requirement applies to you, whether or not the gate is automated. Gates that already existed when the rules took effect were due to be certified by July 1, 2025. That deadline has passed.
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What applies where is set out below. Each one includes the building department's own phone number, so you can confirm any of this without taking our word for it.
San Rafael: Municipal Code Chapter 12.350, "Gate Safeguards"
In effect since January 1, 2023. What it requires: written certification for all vehicular gates, plus any gate more than 48 inches wide or 84 inches tall, automated or not. Existing gates were due July 1, 2025. Re-certification at least every five years, and the owner keeps the current certificate and produces it on request. Confirm it yourself: City of San Rafael Building Division, (415) 485-3367.
Tiburon: Ordinance 601 N.S.
What it requires: written safety certification for any gate intended for automation, or any gate over 48 inches wide or 84 inches tall, manual gates included. Existing gates were due July 1, 2025. Re-certification every five years. Confirm it yourself: Town of Tiburon Building Division, 415-435-7380.
Unincorporated Marin County: County Code Title 19, Chapter 19.13 "Gate Safeguards"
A different model. Rather than a private five-year certification, the county's chapter sets requirements verified by county building inspectors. If your address is in unincorporated Marin, confirm the current text and what it asks of you directly with the county before assuming either way. Confirm it yourself: Marin County Community Development Agency, Building and Safety.
Everywhere else in California: California Building Code Section 3110
No certification requirement. What the code does require: vehicular gates intended for automation must comply with ASTM F2200, and gate openers must be listed to UL 325. This is a construction standard, not a certification regime. Confirm it yourself: your local building department.
Not sure which one you are in? A Novato, Mill Valley, Larkspur, Corte Madera, Sausalito, Fairfax, San Anselmo or Ross address is inside an incorporated town, and we have found no gate certification ordinance in any of them. A San Rafael or Tiburon mailing address does not always mean you are inside the city limits. If you are unsure, the building department above will tell you in one phone call.
How to tell whether your gate is in scope, in 60 seconds
You need two measurements and one question.
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1. Measure the width. More than 48 inches across the opening?
2. Measure the height. More than 84 inches tall, which is 7 feet?
3. Is it a vehicular gate, meaning cars drive through it?
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In San Rafael, yes to any one of the three puts the gate in scope of Chapter 12.350. In Tiburon, the same measurements apply, plus any gate intended for automation.
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Two things people are usually surprised by. First, the gate does not have to be automatic. A heavy manual rolling or swing gate is exactly the kind these ordinances were written about. Second, the rule applies to the gate you already have, not just to new ones. There was no grandfather clause, only a deadline, and that deadline was July 1, 2025.
What the standards actually require
The ordinances do not invent their own engineering. They point at published standards, and it is worth knowing what those standards are actually about, because they are the reason your gate has, or should have, certain hardware on it.
UL 325
The safety standard for gate operators, the motor and control system that opens the gate. It is where entrapment protection comes from: the photo eyes that see something in the gate's path, and the sensors or edges that make the gate stop or reverse instead of closing on a car, a pet, or a child. An opener that is not listed to UL 325 does not meet the standard, in San Rafael, in Tiburon, or anywhere else in California.
What are pedestrian photo eyes?
Photo eyes are safety sensors mounted on a gate that detect a person, pet, or vehicle in the gate's path and automatically stop or reverse the gate to prevent injury. They are the main entrapment-protection device required under the UL 325 standard for automatic gates, and the part most older gates in Marin are missing.
ASTM F2200
The standard for the gate itself when it is intended for automation: how it is built, how it is guided, how it is stopped, and how the gaps and edges are handled so a person cannot be caught in them.
ASTM F1184
Covers industrial and commercial swing gates, and San Rafael's Chapter 12.350.040 names it alongside Section 3110 of the city's adopted building code.
What we usually find
Most non-compliant gates fail on the same short list: no photo eyes, photo eyes installed but no longer aligned or working, no positive stop at the end of travel, a rolling gate with no restraint against coming off its track, or an operator old enough that it predates the current UL 325 listing.
What has to be on the certificate
San Rafael spells this out in Section 12.350.020(3). The written certification has to be signed or stamped by a gate inspector attesting to an in-person inspection, and it has to record:
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the date of the inspection
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the address of the site
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the name of the property owner
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the inspector's contact information
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the inspector's signature, stamp, or both
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The property owner keeps the most recent certificate and produces it to the building official on request. A certificate is good for five years.
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Who is allowed to sign it. San Rafael Section 12.350.020(2) defines a gate inspector as "any licensed fence installer, licensed automatic system installer, ICC certified building inspector, licensed architect, or licensed engineer." Tiburon's Ordinance 601 N.S. uses the same set of qualifications. Note what is not on that list: a general handyman, a landscaper, or a gate company without one of those licenses cannot sign a valid certificate, no matter how good their work is.
What a gate safety inspection involves
1. In-person inspection
We check the operator and its listing, the entrapment protection, the travel stops and restraints, the hardware, and the gate structure itself, against UL 325, ASTM F2200, and whichever ordinance applies at your address. If the gate already complies, we say so.
2. A specific list, not a vague fail
If something does not meet the standard you get told exactly what, what it involves, and what is required versus optional. Photo eyes, entrapment protection, travel stops, restraints, operator replacement. You are free to have anyone do that work.
3. Written certification
Gary is a qualified gate inspector in both jurisdictions that require certification. In San Rafael he qualifies under Section 12.350.020(2) as a licensed automatic system installer (California contractor license #1034958); in Tiburon, under Ordinance 601 N.S. So the person who inspects your gate is the person who signs its certificate, in one visit, instead of you hiring an inspector and a gate company separately.
Planning a new gate? Every gate we install includes pedestrian photo eyes automatically, so a new gate from us is compliant from day one. In San Rafael and Tiburon, a new gate has to be certified immediately on installation, not at the next five-year cycle.
Check any of this yourself
We would rather you verified this than took our word for it. Every fact on this page comes from one of these.
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San Rafael: Municipal Code Chapter 12.350, "Gate Safeguards" · City of San Rafael Building Division, (415) 485-3367 · building@cityofsanrafael.org
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Tiburon: Regulations on Gate Safeguards, Ordinance 601 N.S. · Town of Tiburon Building Division, 415-435-7380 · Building@townoftiburon.org
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Unincorporated Marin County: Marin County Code Title 19, Chapter 19.13 · Marin County Community Development Agency, Building and Safety
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Statewide: California Building Code Section 3110
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Ordinance details last verified: August 2026
Why Marin property owners call us for this
We can sign the certificate San Rafael and Tiburon require. Licensed automatic system installer, California contractor license #1034958, qualified under SRMC 12.350.020(2) and Tiburon Ordinance 601 N.S.
The person who inspects your gate can repair it. Most inspection routes end with a list and a referral. We are a gate company first, so the diagnosis and the fix do not need two companies and two visits.
California contractor license #1034958. Verifiable on the CSLB website, which is where you should check any contractor before you let them near your property.
1,800+ gates serviced in Marin County. Servicing Marin since 1980, owned by Julie and Gary since 2007, with their son Cody in the shop.
We source, install and repair Ditec and Came operators, the premium Italian motors, alongside the common US brands. That often decides whether a gate that fails inspection gets repaired or replaced, which is not a small difference.
You reach the owners, not a call center.
Gate safety certification: common questions
Is gate safety certification required everywhere in Marin County?
No. There is no county-wide gate certification ordinance, and there cannot be one in the form people expect, because a California county's building authority covers unincorporated land only, not incorporated cities and towns. San Rafael and Tiburon each adopted their own ordinance. Unincorporated Marin County has its own separate chapter with a different approach. The other Marin towns, as far as we have been able to establish, have no gate certification ordinance at all.
Is gate safety certification required in San Rafael?
Yes. San Rafael Municipal Code Chapter 12.350 took effect January 1, 2023 and requires a written safety certification for all vehicular gates and any gate more than 48 inches wide or more than 84 inches tall. Gates existing at that date were due to be certified by July 1, 2025, and every gate must be re-certified at least once every five years. You can read the chapter in the San Rafael Municipal Code or call the Building Division at (415) 485-3367.
Does Tiburon have the same rule as San Rafael?
Substantially, yes. Tiburon's Ordinance 601 N.S. requires a written safety certification signed by a qualified inspector, uses the same 48 inch and 84 inch thresholds, applies to manual gates as well as automated ones, had the same July 1, 2025 deadline for existing gates, and runs on the same five-year cycle. The two ordinances are close enough that a gate that satisfies one will normally satisfy the other. Tiburon Building Division: 415-435-7380.
Does the rule apply to a manual gate?
Yes. Neither ordinance is limited to automatic gates. In San Rafael, Chapter 12.350 applies to all vehicular gates and to any gate over 48 inches wide or 84 inches tall, automated or not. The extra requirements, UL 325 listing and ASTM F2200, apply on top of that to gates fitted with an operator.
I missed the July 1, 2025 deadline. What happens now?
Get the gate inspected and certified. The deadline was the date by which existing gates had to be certified, not a window that closed. The requirement is ongoing, and the five-year re-certification clock runs from the date on your certificate. Being late is a fixable problem; the practical risk of leaving it is that an uncertified, non-compliant gate is exactly the one that hurts someone or that surfaces at the worst possible moment in a transaction.
Who is allowed to sign a gate safety certificate?
San Rafael Section 12.350.020(2) defines a gate inspector as any licensed fence installer, licensed automatic system installer, ICC certified building inspector, licensed architect, or licensed engineer. Tiburon uses the same qualification list. The certificate has to attest to an in-person inspection and carry the inspector's signature or stamp, the inspection date, the site address, the owner's name, and the inspector's contact details.
Can you sign the gate safety certificate San Rafael requires?
Yes. San Rafael Section 12.350.020(2) lists a licensed automatic system installer as a qualified gate inspector, and Associated Electronics & Ironworks holds California contractor license #1034958. We inspect the gate, tell you what does and does not meet the standard, do the work if you want us to, and sign the certificate. The same applies in Tiburon under Ordinance 601 N.S.
How often does a gate need to be re-certified?
At least once every five years in both San Rafael and Tiburon, and immediately on installation for a new gate. The property owner is responsible for keeping the most recent certificate and producing it to the building official on request.
What are UL 325 and ASTM F2200?
UL 325 is the safety standard that gate operators are listed to, and it is where entrapment protection comes from, including the photo eyes that stop a gate closing on a vehicle or a person. ASTM F2200 is the construction standard for gates intended for automation. California Building Code Section 3110 requires both statewide: automation-intended vehicular gates must comply with ASTM F2200, and gate openers must be listed to UL 325. That is true in Novato and Mill Valley as much as in San Rafael, even though those towns have no certification requirement.
Is there a statewide California gate certification law?
No. A bill that would have created one, AB 2149, the Alex Quanbeck Gate Safety Act, was introduced by Assemblymember Damon Connolly of San Rafael after a fatal gate accident at a Marin County school in 2019. The bill stalled in the Senate Appropriations suspense file and was reported without further action on November 30, 2024. It never became law. What does apply statewide is the construction standard in California Building Code Section 3110, not a certification requirement.
My gate is fine. Do I still need a certificate?
If you are in San Rafael or Tiburon and the gate is in scope, yes. The certification is a document, and a compliant gate still needs one on file. If the gate already meets the standard, the inspection is short and the certificate says so.