Fence laws in Plano, Texas
What the Plano municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Plano sets no rule of its own, the Texas rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Plano, Texas, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Plano will not have two fences running side by side on one lot. The figure is 3 feet, for distance within which a parallel fence forces the old one to be removed.
- How tall
- Eight feet is the ceiling anywhere on a Plano lot, and the answer turns on whether the fence stands in the required front yard. The figure is 8 feet, for maximum fence height on a residential lot.
- Permits
- Plano measures the repair exemption by area and puts a clock on it. The figure is 25 percent, for area of a fence that can be repaired without a permit in twelve months.
- 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
- Plano has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Plano fixes where the fence line sits before it fixes how tall the fence is.
- Corner lots
- Plano leaves corner clearance to the sight visibility clip diagrams attached to the handout and the Plano zoning ordinance.
- Retaining walls
- A retaining wall over four feet in Plano needs an engineer, not just a permit. The figure is 4 feet, for retaining wall height above which an engineer has to seal the drawings.
- Materials
- Plano bans a category rather than a list.
- 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 Plano?
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Plano answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Plano will not have two fences running side by side on one lot. A new fence parallel to an existing one and within three feet of it means the existing fence comes down. The gap between two fences is where trash and vermin collect and where neither owner can reach to maintain either side, and this is the only city read for this site that writes the problem out of the code.
When installing a new fence parallel to and within three feet of an existing fence on the same lot, the existing fence shall be removed.
3 ftdistance within which a parallel fence forces the old one to be removed
Also on fences on the property line in Plano
- 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 Plano?
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Plano answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence stands in the required front yard.
Eight feet is the ceiling anywhere on a Plano lot. In the required front yard it drops to forty inches, and the fence there also has to be at least fifty percent open, so a solid forty inch fence fails the front yard test even though it is under the height. The Estate Development and General Residential districts carry their own fence rules in the zoning ordinance on top of these.
The maximum height of a fence in the required front yard shall not exceed 40" in height and shall be at least 50% open.
The answer turns on whether the fence stands in the required front yard.
- anywhere on the lot
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- in the required front yard
- Forty inches. 40 in
- in the required front yard, on how much of it has to be see through
- At least fifty percent open. 50%
Also on fence height in Plano
- 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 Plano?
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Plano answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Plano measures the repair exemption by area and puts a clock on it. Repairs to an existing fence are exempt up to twenty five percent of the area of the fence in any twelve month period, so a fence cannot be rebuilt a quarter at a time across four permits worth of work in one year. A footing inspection where footings apply and a final inspection are both required once a permit is pulled.
A permit is not required for repairs to existing fences not exceeding 25% of the area of the fence in a 12-month period.
25%area of a fence that can be repaired without a permit in twelve months
Also on permits in Plano
- 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 Plano
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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 Plano 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 Plano
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Plano 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 Plano 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 Plano
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Plano answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Plano fixes where the fence line sits before it fixes how tall the fence is. A sliding gate goes inside the fence line rather than on the alley side, and no fence or gate may reach into the city right of way. A fence with a rolling gate also has to leave the trash service a pad, either ten feet by four or two spaces of five by four, set four feet back from the edge of the alley.
Sliding gates shall be installed inside the fence line and not on the alley side. Fence/gates are prohibited from encroaching city right of way.
Necessary Drawings and Documents, item 4
Also on how height is measured in Plano
- 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 Plano
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Plano does not set this. It leaves it to the sight visibility clip diagrams attached to the handout and the Plano zoning ordinance.
Plano calls the corner cut a sight visibility clip and does not put a number on it in the fence handout. The dimensions are in diagrams attached to the handout and in the zoning ordinance, so the figure that decides how close a corner fence may come to the intersection is not in the text that states the rule.
Fences enclosing corner lot properties must comply with sight visibility clips.
The code hands this to the sight visibility clip diagrams attached to the handout and the Plano zoning ordinance, which is not published in the code itself.
Also on corner visibility in Plano
- 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 Plano
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Plano answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A retaining wall over four feet in Plano needs an engineer, not just a permit. The drawings have to be dated, designed, signed and sealed by a Texas registered engineer, with an original seal on every set, and the same requirement covers masonry fences and brick columns of any height. Below four feet a retaining wall needs no permit at all unless it is holding back a surcharge or impounding flammable liquids. A retaining wall inside an electric easement also needs written approval from the utility.
Masonry fences, brick columns, and retaining walls (over 4'-0" in height measured from the grade to the top) shall be dated, designed, signed and sealed by a State of Texas Registered Engineer.
4 ftretaining wall height above which an engineer has to seal the drawings
Also on retaining walls in Plano
- left to the townTexas 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. Tex. Loc. Gov't Code 214.212(a)Texas · Statute
Fence materials allowed in Plano
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Plano answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Plano bans a category rather than a list. Products manufactured for some other use are not fencing material, and the handout names plywood, corrugated steel, barbed wire and fiberglass panels as the examples. The test is what the product was made for, so the list is open ended in a way a closed list of banned materials is not.
Products manufactured for other uses as plywood, corrugated steel, barbed wire or fiberglass panels are prohibited as allowed fencing materials.
Also on materials in Plano
- 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 Plano
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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 Plano 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 Plano
- 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 Plano itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Texas LegislatureTexas Agriculture Code, Chapter 143, Subchapter F, Removal of Adjoining Fences
- City of Plano, Building Inspection DepartmentResidential Fence Permit Requirements, revised 25 August 2025
- 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 Plano 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