Fence laws in Mission, Texas
What the Mission municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Mission sets no rule of its own, the Texas rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Mission, Texas, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Mission can ask for planting as well as a fence on a shared boundary. The figure is 6 feet, for height of a complementary hedge or landscape buffer.
- How tall
- The one fence height in the Mission zoning appendix is a floor the city can impose rather than a ceiling on a homeowner. The figure is 8 feet, for minimum buffer fence the city may require around a public building.
- Permits
- Block fencing in Mission needs a building permit, priced from the cost of construction on the city fee schedule, with a thirty five dollar reinspection fee if it comes to that. The figure is 6 feet, for height above which a block or concrete wall has to be engineered.
- 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
- Mission has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Mission leaves the measuring rule to the governing body of a municipality.
- Corner lots
- Mission leaves corner clearance to the commissioners court of each county, for intersections on county roads outside city limits.
- Retaining walls
- Mission 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
- Mission writes the reinforcement of a block fence into the ordinance. The figure is 12 feet, for maximum spacing of upright structural rebar along the run of a block fence.
- 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 Mission?
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Mission answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Mission can ask for planting as well as a fence on a shared boundary. A complementary hedge or landscape buffer of six feet, kept by the owners it affects, may be required in addition to the usual wood fence or masonry buffer. An owner who objects appeals to the planning and zoning commission, and the appeal costs twenty five dollars.
six feet to be maintained by the affected owner(s) in addition to typical wood fence and/or masonry buffers. Any appeal to such complementary hedge or landscape buffering shall be to the planning and zoning commission for final disposition.
Code of Ordinances, Appendix A, Zoning
6 ftheight of a complementary hedge or landscape buffer
Also on fences on the property line in Mission
- 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 Mission?
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Mission answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
The one fence height in the Mission zoning appendix is a floor the city can impose rather than a ceiling on a homeowner. Where a public building or facility sits next to a residential area, Mission may require a fence of at least eight feet as a buffer, and it does so during the permit process rather than by right. There is no general residential fence height in the appendix at all.
The City of Mission shall have the right to impose a minimum eight-foot fence buffering requirement of public buildings and/or facilities during the permit process when adjacent to residential areas.
Code of Ordinances, Appendix A, Zoning
8 ftminimum buffer fence the city may require around a public building
Also on fence height in Mission
- 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 Mission?
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Mission answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Block fencing in Mission needs a building permit, priced from the cost of construction on the city fee schedule, with a thirty five dollar reinspection fee if it comes to that. A block or concrete wall over six feet has to be designed by an engineer and the drawings signed and sealed. A water sealant has to be applied to the finished block.
Block fencing will require the acquisition of a building permit.
6 ftheight above which a block or concrete wall has to be engineered
Also on permits in Mission
- 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 Mission
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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 Mission 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 Mission
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Mission 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 Mission 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 Mission
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Mission does not set this. It leaves it to the governing body of a municipality.
Texas 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.
This one is Texas law, not Mission law. All Texas findings
The governing body of a municipality may regulate: (1) the height, number of stories, and size of buildings and other structures;
Tex. Loc. Gov't Code 211.003(a)(1)
The code hands this to the governing body of a municipality, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence rules for corner lots in Mission
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Mission 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 Mission 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 Mission
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Mission 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 Mission 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 Mission
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Mission answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Mission writes the reinforcement of a block fence into the ordinance. The foundation is at least twelve inches by twenty four with four number four bars and stirrups no more than thirty six inches apart. A twenty four inch corner bar goes in at every corner. Upright number four bar goes at every corner and then every twelve feet of run, L bent at least eighteen inches into the foundation beam and carried to the top of the fence, where more L sections are tied in and bedded eighteen inches into the top U block. Every cell holding an upright is poured solid.
Block fence foundations will be required to have a minimum of 12 inches × 24 inches foundation with four no. 4 rebar. Stirrups required with spacing of maximum of 36 inches.
12 ftmaximum spacing of upright structural rebar along the run of a block fence
Also on materials in Mission
- 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 Mission
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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 Mission 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 Mission
- 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 Mission itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Texas LegislatureTexas Agriculture Code, Chapter 143, Subchapter F, Removal of Adjoining Fences
- City of MissionCode of Ordinances, Appendix A, Zoning
- Texas LegislatureTexas Local Government Code, Chapter 214, Municipal Regulation of Housing and Other Structures
- City of MissionCode of Ordinances, Chapter 18 Buildings and Building Regulations, Article II Building Codes
- 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 Mission 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