Fence laws in Cedar Park, Texas
What the Cedar Park municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Cedar Park sets no rule of its own, the Texas rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Cedar Park, Texas, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Texas sets no statewide rule for splitting the cost of a fence on a boundary.
- How tall
- A privacy fence on a Cedar Park single family lot stops at six feet above grade, and where it may start is measured from the house rather than from the street: ten feet behind the front elevation of the principal building. The figure is 6 feet, for privacy fence on a single family residential lot. It reaches privacy fences on single-family residential lots only.
- Permits
- Cedar Park amends the work exempt from permit list in both the building code and the residential code to the same figure: a fence not over eight feet needs no building permit. The figure is 8 feet, for height up to which a fence is exempt from a building permit.
- 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
- Cedar Park has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- What Cedar Park allows in a front yard is ornamental metal fencing and a retaining wall, and the four foot limit on both is measured above the sidewalk rather than above the ground at the fence. The figure is 4 feet, for ornamental fence or retaining wall in a front yard, above the sidewalk.
- Corner lots
- Cedar Park leaves corner clearance to the commissioners court of each county, for intersections on county roads outside city limits.
- Retaining walls
- Cedar Park 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
- On nonresidential land Cedar Park ties the fence to the building it serves.
- 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 Cedar Park?
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Texas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Texas 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.
This one is Texas law, not Cedar Park law. All Texas findings
A person who owns an interest in a fence attached to a fence owned in whole or in part by another person is entitled to withdraw his or her fence from the other fence after giving six months' notice of the intended separation.
How tall can a fence be in Cedar Park?
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Cedar Park answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A privacy fence on a Cedar Park single family lot stops at six feet above grade, and where it may start is measured from the house rather than from the street: ten feet behind the front elevation of the principal building. Six feet is low by Texas standards, where eight is the usual figure, and the ten foot offset keeps the solid fence out of the view of the front of the house from the street.
Privacy fences on single-family residential lots shall be located 10 feet behind the front elevation of the principal building and shall not exceed six (6) feet in height above grade.
Division 2, Residential Uses, Fences
6 ftprivacy fence on a single family residential lot
Also on fence height in Cedar Park
- 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 Cedar Park?
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Cedar Park answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Cedar Park amends the work exempt from permit list in both the building code and the residential code to the same figure: a fence not over eight feet needs no building permit. The zoning rules still apply, so a fence can be exempt from the permit and still be the wrong height or in the wrong place.
Fences not over 8 feet (2438 mm) high.
Section 105.2 and R105.2, work exempt from permit
8 ftheight up to which a fence is exempt from a building permit
Also on permits in Cedar Park
- 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 Cedar Park
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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 Cedar Park 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 Cedar Park
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Cedar Park 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 Cedar Park 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 Cedar Park
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Cedar Park answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
What Cedar Park allows in a front yard is ornamental metal fencing and a retaining wall, and the four foot limit on both is measured above the sidewalk rather than above the ground at the fence. On a lot that sits above the footpath that costs the owner the difference, and on one that sits below it the owner gains.
The front yard may contain ornamental metal fencing and retaining walls not more than four (4) feet in height above the sidewalk.
4 ftornamental fence or retaining wall in a front yard, above the sidewalk
Also on how height is measured in Cedar Park
- 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 Cedar Park
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Cedar Park 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 Cedar Park 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 Cedar Park
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Cedar Park 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 Cedar Park 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 Cedar Park
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Cedar Park answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
On nonresidential land Cedar Park ties the fence to the building it serves. Loading sides and similar areas are screened from the right of way with planting or masonry fencing of the same materials as the principal structure, and walls or fences separating seasonal storage have to keep to the common design of that structure. Utility equipment on a wall in public view is enclosed, screened by opaque fencing or landscaping, or painted to match the facade.
areas shall be screened from public rights-of-way using vegetation or masonry fencing of the same materials as the principal structure.
Also on materials in Cedar Park
- 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 Cedar Park
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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 Cedar Park 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 Cedar Park
- 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 Cedar Park itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Texas LegislatureTexas Agriculture Code, Chapter 143, Subchapter F, Removal of Adjoining Fences
- Texas LegislatureTexas Local Government Code, Chapter 214, Municipal Regulation of Housing and Other Structures
- City of Cedar ParkCode of Ordinances, Chapter 11 Development Code, Division 6 Design Standards
- City of Cedar ParkCode of Ordinances, Article 3.01 Building Code
- 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 Cedar Park 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