Fence laws in Pflugerville, Texas
What the Pflugerville municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Pflugerville sets no rule of its own, the Texas rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Pflugerville, Texas, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- A fence around the edge of a Pflugerville residential subdivision does not sit on the back of somebody’s garden.
- How tall
- Six feet is the Pflugerville limit for a fence or wall in any district and for any use, which is low by Texas standards, and the answer turns on where the fence stands and whether the Administrator has approved extra height. The figure is 6 feet, for general fence and wall height limit.
- 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
- Pflugerville has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- No Pflugerville fence or wall runs more than a hundred feet in one unbroken plane. The figure is 100 feet, for longest run of fence allowed without a break.
- Corner lots
- Pflugerville leaves corner clearance to the sight triangle standards elsewhere in the Pflugerville Unified Development Code.
- Retaining walls
- Pflugerville 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
- Pflugerville asks for high quality materials and then sets out a table by land use. The figure is 100 feet, for setback from the right of way where industrial chain link is allowed.
- 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 Pflugerville?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Pflugerville answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A fence around the edge of a Pflugerville residential subdivision does not sit on the back of somebody’s garden. It goes inside a landscape lot or a landscape easement set aside on the plat, and the homeowners association owns and maintains it. A masonry entry sign may be combined with it at the main entrance, also inside that lot and outside the vision clearance triangle.
Fences located along the perimeter of a residential subdivision shall be located within a landscape lot or landscape easement, as required in Subchapter 15, to be owned and maintained by the Homeowner's Association.
Also on fences on the property line in Pflugerville
- 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 Pflugerville?
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Pflugerville answers this, but the answer changes depending on where the fence stands and whether the Administrator has approved extra height.
Six feet is the Pflugerville limit for a fence or wall in any district and for any use, which is low by Texas standards. The Administrator may allow a seventh foot where the ground or some other site constraint calls for it. A front yard fence on a single family lot stops at three feet and has to sit outside the sight triangle. A perimeter fence around a residential subdivision, if it is decorative or capped stained cedar, goes to eight. And a sound barrier required by state or federal rules may exceed six feet if the Administrator agrees.
Except as otherwise allowed in this Subchapter, fences and walls shall not be taller than six (6) feet in height unless otherwise approved by the Administrator, to a maximum of 7 feet, when topographic or other site constraints exist.
The answer turns on where the fence stands and whether the Administrator has approved extra height.
- any fence or wall, in any district
- Six feet. 6 ft
- where topography or another site constraint justifies it
- Seven feet, with the Administrator’s approval. 7 ft
- a front yard on a single family lot
- Three feet, outside the sight triangle. 3 ft
- a decorative or capped stained cedar subdivision perimeter fence
- Eight feet. 8 ft
Also on fence height in Pflugerville
- 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 Pflugerville?
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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 Pflugerville 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 Pflugerville
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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 Pflugerville 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 Pflugerville
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Pflugerville 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 Pflugerville 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 Pflugerville
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Pflugerville answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
No Pflugerville fence or wall runs more than a hundred feet in one unbroken plane. The break has to be real: a natural stone or brick column, a planted area, a transparent section, or a change of material. A perimeter fence goes further and takes stone or brick columns about every hundred and twenty feet along arterial and collector streets, plus staggers or other visual breaks to relieve the monotony.
Except as otherwise required in this Subchapter, the maximum length of a continuous, uninterrupted fence or wall plane is 100 feet. Breaks shall be provided through the use of natural stone or brick columns, landscaped areas, transparent sections or a change in material.
100 ftlongest run of fence allowed without a break
Also on how height is measured in Pflugerville
- 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 Pflugerville
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Pflugerville does not set this. It leaves it to the sight triangle standards elsewhere in the Pflugerville Unified Development Code.
Pflugerville names the sight triangle twice in the fence standards and prints no dimension for it. Fencing and walls may not be placed inside one, and a front yard fence on a single family lot has to stand outside it as well. The figures live elsewhere in the Unified Development Code, so the distance that decides how close a corner fence may come to the intersection is not with the heights.
Fencing and walls shall not be placed within a sight triangle.
The code hands this to the sight triangle standards elsewhere in the Pflugerville Unified Development Code, which is not published in the code itself.
Also on corner visibility in Pflugerville
- left to the townTexas 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. Tex. Transp. Code 255.002Texas · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in Pflugerville
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Pflugerville 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 Pflugerville 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 Pflugerville
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Pflugerville answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Pflugerville asks for high quality materials and then sets out a table by land use. Chain link is prohibited for every use except light and general industrial, and there only where it is not visible from a public right of way and stands at least a hundred feet back from the right of way line. Wood is permitted for single family detached, limited to four foot decorative fencing for single family attached, and prohibited for multifamily, commercial and the CI industrial district except as a split rail feature within a landscape. Wrought iron and masonry are permitted everywhere.
Fences and walls shall be constructed of high quality materials, such as brick, stone, masonry fencing, stained cedar wood, and wrought iron.
100 ftsetback from the right of way where industrial chain link is allowed
Also on materials in Pflugerville
- 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 Pflugerville
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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 Pflugerville 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 Pflugerville
- 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 Pflugerville itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Texas LegislatureTexas Agriculture Code, Chapter 143, Subchapter F, Removal of Adjoining Fences
- City of PflugervilleUnified Development Code, Subchapter 11 Landscaping and Screening Standards, Section 11.9 Fence and Wall Standards
- 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 Pflugerville 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