Fence laws in San Angelo, Texas
What the San Angelo municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where San Angelo sets no rule of its own, the Texas rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in San Angelo, 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
- Eight feet in a San Angelo residential district, and ten for a substantially open fence, meaning the solid part is no more than a quarter of the open part, and the answer turns on the district, whether the fence is in a required front yard, and how open it is. The figure is 8 feet, for fence in a residential district.
- 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
- San Angelo has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- San Angelo measures a fence as the average of what each neighbor sees.
- Corner lots
- On a San Angelo corner lot nothing within thirty feet of where the two street property lines meet may stand above three feet, and the three feet counts the ground itself, measured from the top of the street curb, or where there is no raised curb from three and a half feet above the center of the pavement. The figure is 30 feet, for distance from the corner within which nothing exceeds three feet.
- Retaining walls
- San Angelo 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
- Where San Angelo requires a fence rather than merely permitting one, it sets a floor instead of a ceiling. The figure is 7 feet, for minimum fence height around a telecommunication tower.
- 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 San Angelo?
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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 San Angelo 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 San Angelo?
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San Angelo answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district, whether the fence is in a required front yard, and how open it is.
Eight feet in a San Angelo residential district, and ten for a substantially open fence, meaning the solid part is no more than a quarter of the open part. A fence reaching into a required front yard stops at four feet, with the CH, CBD, ML and MH districts exempt, along with screening for manufactured housing developments and approved campgrounds and RV parks. A school campus may exceed four feet in the front yard for safety reasons but not pass eight. In the R&E district a substantially open fence gets six feet in the front yard.
No portion of any fence or enclosure in any residential district, excluding an R&E district, shall exceed a height of 8 feet.
The answer turns on the district, whether the fence is in a required front yard, and how open it is.
- a residential district other than R&E
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- a substantially open fence, solid to open no more than one to four
- Ten feet. 10 ft
- a fence reaching into a required front yard
- Four feet. 4 ft
- a public or private school campus front yard, for safety
- Up to eight feet. 8 ft
Also on fence height in San Angelo
- 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 San Angelo?
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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 San Angelo 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 San Angelo
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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 San Angelo 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 San Angelo
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San Angelo 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 San Angelo 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 San Angelo
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San Angelo answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
San Angelo measures a fence as the average of what each neighbor sees. At every point along the run, the height is the average distance from the top of the fence to the ground on the two sides of it. Where the ground is level the two readings are the same and the rule changes nothing. Where one side sits lower, neither owner carries the whole of the difference, which is the opposite of the highest adjacent grade rule used in Arlington, Odessa and Killeen.
Fence Height. At every point along the run of a fence, the average distance between the top of the fence and the immediately adjacent ground surface on the two sides of the fence.
Also on how height is measured in San Angelo
- 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 San Angelo
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San Angelo answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
On a San Angelo corner lot nothing within thirty feet of where the two street property lines meet may stand above three feet, and the three feet counts the ground itself, measured from the top of the street curb, or where there is no raised curb from three and a half feet above the center of the pavement. The code says plainly that the restricted area is a triangle and not an arc, which settles an argument other codes leave open.
any fence, structure, sign, tree or landscaping on a corner lot and situated within 30 feet of the intersection of the two street property lines shall not exceed a height of three feet, including topography, measured from the top of the street curb
30 ftdistance from the corner within which nothing exceeds three feet
Also on corner visibility in San Angelo
- 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 San Angelo
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San Angelo 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 San Angelo 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 San Angelo
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San Angelo answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Where San Angelo requires a fence rather than merely permitting one, it sets a floor instead of a ceiling. A telecommunication tower that is not on a roof has to be enclosed by a fence or wall of at least seven feet from finished grade. Outdoor storage that is allowed on a site has to be completely screened from view by a solid opaque wall or fence of at least six feet.
Unless the telecommunication tower is located on top of a building, a fence or wall not less than 7 feet in height from finished grade shall be constructed around each telecommunication tower.
7 ftminimum fence height around a telecommunication tower
Also on materials in San Angelo
- 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 San Angelo
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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 San Angelo 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 San Angelo
- 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 San Angelo 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 San AngeloCode of Ordinances, Chapter 12 Planning and Development, zoning ordinance
- 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 San Angelo 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