Fence laws in Texas City, Texas
What the Texas City municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Texas City sets no rule of its own, the Texas rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Texas City, Texas, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- On a Texas City corner lot the side yard facing the street is held to the same depth as the front, unless the zoning district asks for more. The figure is 20 feet, for minimum side yard on a corner lot beside a street nothing fronts.
- How tall
- Eight feet in a Texas City back yard, and the answer turns on whether the fence is in the back yard or the front, and whether the lot is a corner lot. The figure is 8 feet, for back yard fence.
- Permits
- Three things trigger a Texas City fence permit: a new fence, moving an existing one, or changing its height.
- 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
- Texas City has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Texas City draws the front yard limit as a line rather than a number. The figure is 2.5 feet, for height of the baseline at the front walk.
- Corner lots
- Texas City leaves corner clearance to the commissioners court of each county, for intersections on county roads outside city limits.
- Retaining walls
- Every retaining wall in Texas City needs a permit, with no height floor at all.
- Materials
- Texas only says what a fence has to be made of inside a county or area that has voted to stop animals roaming loose. The figure is 3 strands, for a sufficient barbed wire fence. It reaches counties or areas that have voted to stop animals running at large only.
- 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 Texas City?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Texas City answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
On a Texas City corner lot the side yard facing the street is held to the same depth as the front, unless the zoning district asks for more. Where the side street is a segment that nothing fronts onto, the minimum side yard drops to twenty feet or to the depth of the front building setback, whichever is less, and the rule may not be read so as to leave a corner lot of record narrower than twenty feet to build on.
Unless a greater side yard is required by zoning district regulations, on corner lots, the side yard on the street shall be the same as the requirement for the front
20 ftminimum side yard on a corner lot beside a street nothing fronts
Also on fences on the property line in Texas City
- 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 Texas City?
Compare fence height across all 50 states
Texas City answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence is in the back yard or the front, and whether the lot is a corner lot.
Eight feet in a Texas City back yard. In front the limit for an opaque fence is thirty inches, which is among the lowest in this state, and a fence taken all the way to the front property line is held to the sloping baseline the ordinance draws. A corner lot whose side street counts as a front yard follows the front yard rule along that side as well, and the City Commission may by special ordinance allow a fence there up to eight feet that reaches no more than five feet into the required side yard setback.
For back yard fences, the maximum height is 8'.
The answer turns on whether the fence is in the back yard or the front, and whether the lot is a corner lot.
- a back yard
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- an opaque fence in the front yard
- Thirty inches. 30 in
- a corner lot side street, by special ordinance of the City Commission
- Up to eight feet, reaching no more than five feet into the side yard setback. 8 ft
Also on fence height in Texas City
- 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 Texas City?
Compare permits across all 50 states
Texas City answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Three things trigger a Texas City fence permit: a new fence, moving an existing one, or changing its height. Anything else counts as a repair and needs nothing. The applicant has to be registered with the city, which means proof of a homestead exemption filed with the Galveston County Appraisal District and a driving license, and the property survey has to be stamped within the last ten years. A permit cannot be issued for vacant property at all, so a screening fence across a house lot and two empty lots means replatting the three into one first.
A FENCE PERMIT CANNOT BE OBTAINED FOR VACANT PROPERTY.
Also on permits in Texas City
- 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 Texas City
Compare pool barriers across all 50 states
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 Texas City 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 Texas City
Compare spite fences across all 50 states
Texas City 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 Texas City 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 Texas City
Compare how height is measured across all 50 states
Texas City answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Texas City draws the front yard limit as a line rather than a number. A fence, wall, hedge or shrubbery may project into the required front yard as long as it stays under a baseline running from two and a half feet above the front walk grade to six feet above walk grade at the depth of the front yard. The allowed height therefore rises steadily as the fence moves away from the footpath. A single trunk tree pruned to seven feet above walk grade is allowed through it.
Any fence, wall, hedge, shrubbery and the like, no higher than a baseline extending from a point two and one-half feet above front walk grade to a point six feet above walk grade at the depth of the front yard
2.5 ftheight of the baseline at the front walk
Also on how height is measured in Texas City
- 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 Texas City
Compare corner visibility across all 50 states
Texas City 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 Texas City 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 Texas City
Compare retaining walls across all 50 states
Texas City answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Every retaining wall in Texas City needs a permit, with no height floor at all. Only McKinney takes the same line among the Texas cities read for this site, where four feet is the usual trigger, so a low garden wall that needs nothing in most of the state is permitted work here.
The City of Texas City requires a permit for any retaining wall, regardless of height.
Also on retaining walls in Texas City
- 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 Texas City
Compare materials across all 50 states
Texas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Texas 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.
This one is Texas law, not Texas City law. All Texas findings
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
3 strandsa sufficient barbed wire fence
Livestock and boundary fence law in Texas City
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 Texas City 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 Texas City
- 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 Texas City itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Texas LegislatureTexas Agriculture Code, Chapter 143, Subchapter F, Removal of Adjoining Fences
- City of Texas CityResidential Fence Permit Guidelines
- 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 Texas City 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