Fence laws in Bryan, Texas
What the Bryan municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Bryan sets no rule of its own, the Texas rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Bryan, Texas, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Where Bryan requires screening between a residential district and multifamily or nonresidential land, or between nonresidential development and single-family housing, the fence or wall is at least six feet and no more than eight, measured against the neighbor’s grade. The figure is 6 feet, for minimum height of a required screening fence or wall.
- How tall
- In a required front setback on a Bryan single-family, townhouse, duplex or patio home lot the limit turns on how close the fence is to the road, and the answer turns on how far the fence stands from the paved street surface. The figure is 36 inches, for fence within twenty five feet of the paved street. It reaches single-family, townhouse, duplex and patio home lots in any residential district only.
- Permits
- A screening fence required by Bryan carries a clock. The figure is 30 days, for time allowed to repair a required screening fence after notice.
- 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
- Bryan has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Bryan measures a fence from the ground next door rather than from the ground it stands on.
- Corner lots
- Bryan leaves corner clearance to the commissioners court of each county, for intersections on county roads outside city limits.
- Retaining walls
- Bryan 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
- Chain link fences and corrugated metal or fiberglass panels are prohibited in all locations in Bryan, which is a shorter and blunter ban than most cities manage.
- 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 Bryan?
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Bryan answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Where Bryan requires screening between a residential district and multifamily or nonresidential land, or between nonresidential development and single-family housing, the fence or wall is at least six feet and no more than eight, measured against the neighbor’s grade. The owner of the property required to screen builds it, and every gate in it matches the wall for height and screening. Between two nonresidential districts, and beside loading areas, outdoor storage and refuse areas, a uniform six foot screen is the minimum.
when screening is required to separate nonresidential development from single-family residential development, any fence or wall shall be not less than six feet or exceed eight feet in height above the grade of the adjacent property.
6 ftminimum height of a required screening fence or wall
Also on fences on the property line in Bryan
- 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 Bryan?
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Bryan answers this, but the answer changes depending on how far the fence stands from the paved street surface.
In a required front setback on a Bryan single-family, townhouse, duplex or patio home lot the limit turns on how close the fence is to the road. Within twenty five feet of the paved street surface, a fence, a screening wall, or a berm and fence together may not pass thirty six inches. Beyond twenty five feet the same combination may reach six feet. Behind the minimum required front setback line a fence may go to eight feet above the grade of the adjacent property.
Fencing, screening walls or the combination of berms and fences or screening walls shall not exceed 36 inches in height when placed a distance of 25 feet or less from the adjacent paved street surface.
The answer turns on how far the fence stands from the paved street surface.
- within twenty five feet of the paved street surface
- Thirty six inches. 36 in
- more than twenty five feet from the paved street surface
- Six feet. 6 ft
- behind the minimum required front setback line
- Eight feet above the grade of the adjacent property. 8 ft
Also on fence height in Bryan
- 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 Bryan?
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Bryan answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A screening fence required by Bryan carries a clock. Dead, loose, damaged or missing fencing material has to be replaced or repaired within thirty days of the zoning official giving notice. Putting a deadline in the ordinance rather than leaving maintenance as a general duty is what makes it enforceable without a fresh argument each time.
Any screening fence erected under the provisions of section 130-37 shall be maintained by replacing or repairing any dead, loose, damaged, or missing fencing materials within 30 days after notification by the zoning official.
30 daystime allowed to repair a required screening fence after notice
Also on permits in Bryan
- set in state lawTexas 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. Local Gov't Code 214.212(a)Texas · Statute
Pool fence requirements in Bryan
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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 Bryan 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 Bryan
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Bryan 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 Bryan 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 Bryan
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Bryan answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Bryan measures a fence from the ground next door rather than from the ground it stands on. Both the eight foot general limit and the six to eight foot screening range are read against the grade of the adjacent property, so a lot raised above its neighbor loses the difference and a lot sitting below it gains.
Where a fence is erected to the rear of the minimum required front setback line, the fence shall not exceed eight feet in height above the grade of the adjacent property.
Also on how height is measured in Bryan
- 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 Bryan
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Bryan 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 Bryan 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 Bryan
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Bryan 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 Bryan 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 Bryan
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Bryan answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Chain link fences and corrugated metal or fiberglass panels are prohibited in all locations in Bryan, which is a shorter and blunter ban than most cities manage. Where a fence uses solid wood, the wood run may not exceed twenty feet before it is broken up, and except for fencing made entirely of brick, masonry columns two feet square go in at no more than twenty five feet on center.
Chainlink fences and corrugated metal or fiberglass panels are prohibited in all locations.
Also on materials in Bryan
- 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 Bryan
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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 Bryan 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 Bryan
- 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
6 documents, of which 1 was published by Bryan itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Texas LegislatureTexas Agriculture Code, Chapter 143, Subchapter F, Removal of Adjoining Fences
- City of BryanCode of Ordinances, Chapter 130 Zoning, Section 130-37, screening and fences
- Texas LegislatureTexas Local Government Code, Chapter 214, Municipal Regulation of Housing and Other Structures
- 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 Bryan 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