You may get more responses if you post this in the tree forum. tj

nice property! i have extensive experience in screening out nosy neighbors.... Norway Spruce (picea abies). Planed 12ft apart in sawtooth pattern. Juniperus Virginiana Burkii. planted 8ft apart in soldier row or sawtooth. Autumn Blaze Maple - 20ft apart. Pin Oak (or one of the Oak varieties that holds its leaves all winter) - 20ft apart. White Pine - 25ft apart. Put the conifers in groups in the sight line of the neighbor houses, put the deciduous in between. Avoid: Blue Spruce (Picea Pungens) - grows too slow, can't handle midwest humidity, will lose all its lower branches after 15 years. Many Pine species don't do well in midwest either. suffer tip blight, etc. look around your place to see which ones do well. Silver Maple - while it grows super fast it's a trash tree that you'll be sorry you planted after 15 years.

i agree with jakkom. Rhamnus "John Edwards" trained as a column from 5 gallon can, will grow quite fast. Acca sellowiana Pineapple Guava, especially if you buy it already trained as a standard . I have Prunus compacta as well, and it was been much slower growing than rhamnus. Pittosporum heterophyllum, or tobira. Arbutus grows slow unless you start with specimen sizes, you might be waiting for screening for a while. If you are willing to wait, there is also manzanita, arctostaphylos "Dr. Hurd."

Just throwing some options for consideration, hopefully others can comment on their suitability since I don't have a lot of experience: I'm also in zone 9 NorCal and I have a similar need for screening trees lining a fence. I've planted an edible fig and a 'Natchez' crape myrtle. (Note that these are both deciduous because I have a south facing yard and I'm willing to forego the screening for some winter sun.) They can both grow up to 30 ft, are quite tough, heat loving, can take hard pruning and shaping, and won't mind being a bit unbalanced so that the branches stay on my side of the fence. The fruit from fig is a plus although it will be harder to harvest once the tree reaches its intended screening height. For evergreen screening you could consider bamboo. Running bamboo is more convenient but you'll have to contain the roots to prevent its escaping and invading other areas. I also often see pencil Italian cypresses planted in such situations. They're planted every 3 ft or so and line the whole fence. I don't know if I personally like that look but it's very common. I also see birches planted for narrow screening but they might have issues with borers and unsuitability to our climate. Finally, if you are willing to plant a tree in the middle of your yard as a shade tree, a Chinese elm can grow 40+ft, and with its weeping branches can single-handedly screen everything. And its canopy can be raised quite high so you have a usable shaded space under it. I think it's semi-evergreen in our climate. This will be a very long project though and won't fulfill the screening purpose for a long time.