Fence laws in Port Arthur, Texas
What the Port Arthur municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Port Arthur sets no rule of its own, the Texas rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Port Arthur, Texas, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Port Arthur allows a fence across a rear yard easement and then puts the whole risk on the owner.
- How tall
- Eight feet above the adjacent grade along a Port Arthur side property line behind the required front yard, or in the rear yard, and the answer turns on whether the fence is in front of the required front yard, and how open it is. The figure is 8 feet, for fence behind the required front yard. It reaches residential zoning districts only.
- Permits
- Any fence in Port Arthur needs a permit from the office of the building inspector first, with no height floor and no exemption for a small one.
- Pool barriers
- Port Arthur starts the pool barrier rule at eighteen inches of depth, which is shallow enough to catch a large portable pool. The figure is 18 inches, for depth of water at which a pool has to be fenced.
- Spite fences
- Port Arthur has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Port Arthur leaves the measuring rule to the governing body of a municipality.
- Corner lots
- Port Arthur clears a triangle twenty feet back along each property line from the corner, and where the corner is rounded off the measurement runs from where the lines would have met. The figure is 20 feet, for leg of the clear vision triangle along each property line.
- Retaining walls
- Port Arthur 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
- Sheet metal, metal roofing and similar material may not be used for a fence in a Port Arthur residential district unless the building official accepts it as an alternate material.
- 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 Port Arthur?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Port Arthur answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Port Arthur allows a fence across a rear yard easement and then puts the whole risk on the owner. If somebody entitled to use the easement damages, destroys or removes the fence while repairing, installing or replacing utilities, the owner repairs or replaces it. Most codes either ban the fence or leave the question unanswered; this one permits it and says plainly who pays. On public land, a street, a right of way, an alley, a sidewalk, a park or any public ground, no private fence may be built at all, or be allowed to protrude over it.
Fences are permitted across rear yard easements. However, if such fences are damaged, destroyed or removed by persons having the right to use the easement for repair, installation or replacement of any utilities, the property owner is responsible for repair or replacement of such fences.
Also on fences on the property line in Port Arthur
- 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 Port Arthur?
Compare fence height across all 50 states
Port Arthur answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence is in front of the required front yard, and how open it is.
Eight feet above the adjacent grade along a Port Arthur side property line behind the required front yard, or in the rear yard. In front of the required front yard, or across the front of the lot, the limit falls to four feet. One more foot is available for an open fence, and the code measures open as a ratio rather than a percentage: the open part of the fence has to beat the solid part by at least six to one.
Any fence or wall located along the side property line and in front of the minimum required front yard or across the front of the lot shall not exceed four feet in height above the adjacent grade; except that an open fence may be erected to a height of five feet above the adjacent grade, provided that the ratio of open portion of the fence to the solid portion of the fence is not less than six to one.
The answer turns on whether the fence is in front of the required front yard, and how open it is.
- behind the required front yard, or in the rear yard
- Eight feet above the adjacent grade. 8 ft
- in front of the required front yard, solid
- Four feet. 4 ft
- in front of the required front yard, open at six to one or better
- Five feet. 5 ft
Also on fence height in Port Arthur
- 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 Port Arthur?
Compare permits across all 50 states
Port Arthur answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Any fence in Port Arthur needs a permit from the office of the building inspector first, with no height floor and no exemption for a small one. The fee is not a fence fee. It is the same fee the city charges for a permit on any other structure, graded the same way, so a fence is priced as construction rather than as a yard improvement.
It shall be unlawful for any person to construct any fence without first having obtained a permit therefor and paid the fee charged therefor from the office of the building inspector.
Also on permits in Port Arthur
- 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 Port Arthur
Compare pool barriers across all 50 states
Port Arthur answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Port Arthur starts the pool barrier rule at eighteen inches of depth, which is shallow enough to catch a large portable pool. Any outdoor public, semipublic or family pool deeper than that is completely surrounded at six feet, with no opening, hole or gap larger than four inches in any dimension, and on a picket fence the four inches is measured horizontally. A house or an accessory building may form part of the enclosure. At a public pool a four foot fence still has to stand between the pool and any opening to a public area. Gates are self closing and self latching, except the door of a house forming part of a family pool enclosure.
All outdoor public, semipublic or family swimming pools, with a depth greater than 18 inches, shall be completely surrounded by a fence or wall so constructed as not to have openings, holes or gaps larger than four inches in any dimension other than for doors and gates; except that if a wooden (picket) fence is erected and maintained, the horizontal dimension shall not exceed four inches.
18 indepth of water at which a pool has to be fenced
Also on pool barriers in Port Arthur
- set in state lawTexas 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. Health & Safety Code 757.003(b)Texas · Statute
Spite fence laws in Port Arthur
Compare spite fences across all 50 states
Port Arthur 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 Port Arthur 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 Port Arthur
Compare how height is measured across all 50 states
Port Arthur 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 Port Arthur 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 Port Arthur
Compare corner visibility across all 50 states
Port Arthur answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Port Arthur clears a triangle twenty feet back along each property line from the corner, and where the corner is rounded off the measurement runs from where the lines would have met. The rule catches a tree, shrubbery, a screen, a wall or a sign on the same terms as a fence, and it states no height band, so anything that blocks a driver’s view of the intersection is caught whatever its height.
At all street intersections clear vision shall be maintained within a triangular area formed by the intersection of a line with a point a distance of 20 feet back on each property line from an existing property corner, or from a projected property corner along both intersecting streets.
20 ftleg of the clear vision triangle along each property line
Also on corner visibility in Port Arthur
- 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 Port Arthur
Compare retaining walls across all 50 states
Port Arthur 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 Port Arthur 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 Port Arthur
Compare materials across all 50 states
Port Arthur answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Sheet metal, metal roofing and similar material may not be used for a fence in a Port Arthur residential district unless the building official accepts it as an alternate material. Electric fencing is prohibited across the whole city with no exception for farm land. Where the code requires screening, the wall or fence is masonry or another permanent material with no more than forty square inches of opening in each square foot, and a junkyard or auto salvage yard is enclosed at eight feet with no openings at all. A borrow pit gets its own specification: chain link at six feet with a three strand barbed wire anticlimb top within two hundred feet of public land, and field and pasture fabric topped with four strands of barbed wire everywhere else.
No fence located in a residential zoning district may be constructed of sheet metal, metal roofing or other similar materials unless approved by building official as an alternate material.
Also on materials in Port Arthur
- 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 Port Arthur
Compare agricultural fencing across all 50 states
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 Port Arthur 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 Port Arthur
- 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 Port Arthur itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Texas LegislatureTexas Agriculture Code, Chapter 143, Subchapter F, Removal of Adjoining Fences
- City of Port ArthurCode of Ordinances, Chapter 18 Buildings, Article X Fences and Walls
- 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 Port Arthur 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