Fence laws in Abilene, Texas
What the Abilene municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Abilene sets no rule of its own, the Texas rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Abilene, Texas, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- An Abilene fence stands on private property and at least ten feet back from the curb or the edge of the pavement, whichever is nearer, on every street. The figure is 10 feet, for minimum distance from the curb or edge of pavement.
- How tall
- Seven feet is the Abilene residential figure, and it applies in the rear yard, the interior yard and the exterior yard alike, anywhere between the property line and the building setback line, and the answer turns on whether the zoning is residential or multifamily and nonresidential. The figure is 7 feet, for fence in a residential rear, interior or exterior yard. It reaches all residential zoning districts except MF only.
- Permits
- Texas has no fence permit rule of its own.
- Pool barriers
- Texas requires a 48 inch fence around some pools, measured from the ground on the outside of the fence. The figure is 48 inches, for pool yard enclosure at a multiunit rental complex or property owners association pool.
- Spite fences
- Abilene has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- In an Abilene front yard the limit is a diagonal rather than a ceiling, and the answer turns on whether the fence is opaque or non-opaque, and how far it stands from the front property line. The figure is 2.5 feet, for opaque fence at the front property line.
- Corner lots
- Abilene leaves corner clearance to the commissioners court of each county, for intersections on county roads outside city limits.
- Retaining walls
- Abilene leaves retaining walls to the International Residential Code as it existed on May 1, 2012, published by the International Code Council, plus any local amendment a city adopts by ordinance.
- Materials
- Razor wire, barbed wire and anything like them are out of residential zoning altogether except for agricultural use, and out of a nonresidential front yard setback and out of side and rear setbacks next to housing, except in heavy commercial and industrial districts.
- Livestock
- Texas says what a farm fence has to look like. The figure is 4 feet, for minimum height of a sufficient fence under the stock law. It reaches counties and areas that have adopted the local option stock law under Subchapter B only.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Abilene?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Abilene answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
An Abilene fence stands on private property and at least ten feet back from the curb or the edge of the pavement, whichever is nearer, on every street. The measurement starts at the road rather than at the property line, so a lot with a narrow parkway loses fence room the deeper the street sits. A vehicle gate beside a street carries its own setback from the driveway rules in Chapter 3.
Fences must be at least 10 feet from the curb or edge of pavement on all streets and out of the public right-of-way.
Fences, Walls, and Hedges in Residential Areas
10 ftminimum distance from the curb or edge of pavement
Also on fences on the property line in Abilene
- set in state lawTexas sets no statewide rule for splitting the cost of a fence on a boundary. What the Agriculture Code does say is that a joint owner of a dividing fence cannot pull it out without the other owner agreeing, and that a person who wants to detach a fence from a neighbor fence has to give six months of written notice first. The notice goes to the owner of the attached fence or to that person's agent, attorney, or lessee. Agric. Code 143.122Texas · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Abilene?
Compare fence height across all 50 states
Abilene answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the zoning is residential or multifamily and nonresidential.
Seven feet is the Abilene residential figure, and it applies in the rear yard, the interior yard and the exterior yard alike, anywhere between the property line and the building setback line. Multifamily and nonresidential zoning goes to ten. A lot with streets on more than two sides, or a reverse frontage lot, is held to the same rule on every yard that faces a street, except where the lot backs onto an arterial street or a freeway.
Fences, walls and hedges are permitted in all residential zoning districts, except MF zoning, in rear yards, interior yards, and exterior yards, and shall not exceed seven feet (7′) in height between the property line and the building setback line.
The answer turns on whether the zoning is residential or multifamily and nonresidential.
- a rear, interior or exterior yard in a residential district
- Seven feet. 7 ft
- multifamily or nonresidential zoning
- Ten feet. 10 ft
Also on fence height in Abilene
- no rule, documents checkedTexas does not limit how tall a fence at a house can be. The only heights in state law are for farm fences, such as the five foot fence required around cropland. For a fence at a house, the city sets the limit. Agric. Code ch. 143Texas · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Abilene?
Compare permits across all 50 states
Texas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Texas has no fence permit rule of its own. Instead it made one national code, the International Residential Code as it stood on May 1, 2012, the building code for every city in the state. So the permit rule for a fence comes from that code and not from a Texas statute. Cities can then change it, which is why the answer differs from one city to the next.
This one is Texas law, not Abilene law. All Texas findings
To protect the public health, safety, and welfare, the International Residential Code, as it existed on May 1, 2012, is adopted as a municipal residential building code in this state.
Pool fence requirements in Abilene
Compare pool barriers across all 50 states
Texas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Texas requires a 48 inch fence around some pools, measured from the ground on the outside of the fence. It does not cover most homes. Section 757.002 applies the law only to a pool run by the owner of an apartment complex or by a property owners association. A pool at a single family home is not covered, and the city rule applies there instead.
This one is Texas law, not Abilene law. All Texas findings
The height of the pool yard enclosure must be at least 48 inches as measured from the ground on the side away from the pool.
Health & Safety Code 757.003(b)
48 inpool yard enclosure at a multiunit rental complex or property owners association pool
Spite fence laws in Abilene
Compare spite fences across all 50 states
Abilene law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Texas has no law about spite fences. Both chapters that could hold one were read start to finish. The fence chapter of the Agriculture Code covers livestock and farm land. The building chapter of the Local Government Code covers permits. Neither one mentions a fence built to bother a neighbor. That leaves a nuisance lawsuit or a city ordinance.
This one is Texas law, not Abilene law. All Texas findings
Documents read before writing that:
- Agric. Code ch. 143Texas Legislature
- Local Gov't Code ch. 214Texas Legislature
How fence height is measured in Abilene
Compare how height is measured across all 50 states
Abilene answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence is opaque or non-opaque, and how far it stands from the front property line.
In an Abilene front yard the limit is a diagonal rather than a ceiling. An opaque fence has to stay under a line drawn from seven feet at the building line down to two and a half feet at the front property line, and nothing on the front property line itself may pass two and a half feet. A non-opaque fence, meaning chain link or anything whose members sit at least four inches apart, is measured against a line from seven feet at the building line to four feet at a seven foot setback, and the four foot part may run all the way to the front line. So in both cases moving the fence back buys height by the foot.
Opaque fences, walls and hedges are permitted in the required front yard of any lot in all residential zoning districts, except MF zoning, only if the height of such fence, wall or hedge does not exceed the height represented by a line connecting a height of seven feet (7′) at the building line with a height of two and one-half feet (2-½′) at the front property line.
The answer turns on whether the fence is opaque or non-opaque, and how far it stands from the front property line.
- an opaque fence at the front property line
- Two and a half feet, rising to seven at the building line. 2.5 ft
- a non-opaque fence at the front property line
- Four feet, rising to seven at the building line. 4 ft
- either kind, at the building line
- Seven feet. 7 ft
Also on how height is measured in Abilene
- left to the townTexas gives two fence heights and never says where to measure from. A farm fence around cropland has to be five feet tall. A farm fence under the stock law has to be four feet. The word ground does not appear anywhere in that chapter. For a fence at a house, Chapter 211 of the Local Government Code lets the city set the height rule, so the city decides how it is measured too. Tex. Loc. Gov't Code 211.003(a)(1)Texas · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Abilene
Compare corner visibility across all 50 states
Abilene does not set this. It leaves it to the commissioners court of each county, for intersections on county roads outside city limits.
Texas has a whole chapter about seeing around corners, and it does not reach fences. Chapter 255 lets a county set the sight distance at an intersection on a county road outside city limits, and ban anything that blocks the view. But that ban covers plants, loose dirt and other items, not a building or structure fixed to the ground. A fence is fixed to the ground, so a county order under this chapter does not apply to it. Inside a city, the city decides.
This one is Texas law, not Abilene law. All Texas findings
The commissioners court may: (1) define the appropriate sight distance; (2) prohibit an obstruction of the sight distance by any vegetation, loose earth, or other item except a building or other structure affixed to the ground, if the obstruction is a traffic hazard; and (3) provide for the removal and disposition of an obstruction maintained in violation of an order adopted under this section.
The code hands this to the commissioners court of each county, for intersections on county roads outside city limits, which is not published in the code itself.
Retaining wall rules in Abilene
Compare retaining walls across all 50 states
Abilene does not set this. It leaves it to the International Residential Code as it existed on May 1, 2012, published by the International Code Council, plus any local amendment a city adopts by ordinance.
Texas has no rule of its own for a wall that holds back earth. It made the International Residential Code, as that code stood on May 1, 2012, the building code for every city in the state, and it does not print any of that code's text. So whatever that edition says about a retaining wall is what applies in Texas. Cities can change it after a public hearing, which is why the rule differs from one city to the next.
This one is Texas law, not Abilene law. All Texas findings
To protect the public health, safety, and welfare, the International Residential Code, as it existed on May 1, 2012, is adopted as a municipal residential building code in this state.
Tex. Loc. Gov't Code 214.212(a)
The code hands this to the International Residential Code as it existed on May 1, 2012, published by the International Code Council, plus any local amendment a city adopts by ordinance, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence materials allowed in Abilene
Compare materials across all 50 states
Abilene answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Razor wire, barbed wire and anything like them are out of residential zoning altogether except for agricultural use, and out of a nonresidential front yard setback and out of side and rear setbacks next to housing, except in heavy commercial and industrial districts. A new or replacement fence also has to be built of standard fencing material, which rules out scrap metal and plywood, and where a fence is visible from a street other than an alley the finished side should face the street.
New or replacement fences must be constructed of standard fencing materials and may not be constructed of scrap metal, plywood, or other non-standard fencing materials.
Also on materials in Abilene
- set in state lawTexas only says what a fence has to be made of inside a county or area that has voted to stop animals roaming loose. There a fence works if it keeps out the animals that are still allowed to roam, and the law gives four ways to build one. Barbed wire takes three wires on posts no more than thirty feet apart, with a stay between each pair. Pickets go no more than six inches apart. Boards take three boards. Rails take four. All four have to stand at least four feet tall. Barbed wire is allowed outright, and voters in an area can decide that three barbed wires on their own are enough. Tex. Agric. Code 143.028Texas · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Abilene
Compare agricultural fencing across all 50 states
Texas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Texas says what a farm fence has to look like. It has to be at least four feet tall, and there are four ways to build one. Barbed wire takes three wires on posts no more than thirty feet apart, with at least one stay between each pair of posts. Pickets have to be no more than six inches apart. Boards take three boards, each at least five inches wide and one inch thick. Rails take four rails.
This one is Texas law, not Abilene law. All Texas findings
In order to be sufficient, a fence must be at least four feet high and comply with the following requirements: (1) a barbed wire fence must consist of three wires on posts no more than 30 feet apart, with one or more stays between every two posts; (2) a picket fence must consist of pickets that are not more than six inches apart;
4 ftminimum height of a sufficient fence under the stock law
Also on agricultural fencing in Abilene
- depends, see the pageTexas has no single answer for who has to build the fence. Each county votes on it, and an area inside a county can vote on its own. The vote decides whether the animals it names are allowed to roam loose, and it only applies where the vote was held. Agric. Code 143.024(a)Texas · Statute
- set in state lawIn a county that has not voted, the farmer builds the fence, not the animal owner. Anyone farming or gardening cleared land has to put up a fence at least five feet tall that hogs cannot get through. Agric. Code 143.001Texas · Statute
Documents behind this page
7 documents, of which 2 were published by Abilene itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Texas LegislatureTexas Agriculture Code, Chapter 143, Subchapter F, Removal of Adjoining Fences
- City of Abilene, Development Service CenterFences, Walls, and Hedges in Residential Areas
- Texas LegislatureTexas Local Government Code, Chapter 214, Municipal Regulation of Housing and Other Structures
- City of AbileneLand Development Code, Chapter 4 Site Development Regulations, Section 4.2.4.1 Fences, Walls and Hedges
- Texas LegislatureTexas Health and Safety Code, Chapter 757, Pool Yard Enclosures
- Texas LegislatureTexas Local Government Code, Title 7, Chapter 211, Municipal Zoning Authority
- Texas LegislatureTexas Transportation Code, Title 6, Subtitle C, Chapter 255, County Regulation of Sight Distances
What this page does not cover
A city ordinance is not the only rule that reaches a fence. The zoning district a parcel sits in can change the height allowed on it, and so can an overlay district, a recorded easement, a fire hazard severity zone or a coastal zone. A homeowner association can be stricter than the city and nothing in the municipal code will say so. None of those appear here.
The rules above are the ones Abilene publishes, plus the Texas rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Texas has the state layer in full.
This is general information drawn from published government documents. It is not legal advice, ordinances are amended, and the date beside each finding is the date the document was read. How findings are made · What the terms mean