FENCE RULES – HIGHLAND VILLAGE (CITY), TEXAS

OVERVIEW

These rules concern residential fences within the City of Highland Village, Texas, in Denton County. City fence, zoning, pool, plat and environmental requirements have distinct roles.

Highland Village requires permits for fences and generally limits fences behind the required front-yard line to 8 feet. Front and street-adjacent yards have more restrictive placement rules and a limited split-rail-style exception. The code’s unusual front-fence opening language should be confirmed for the proposed design rather than reversed by assumption. Pool enclosures have a local 6-foot minimum, even though the adopted residential appendix contains a lower model baseline. Corner visibility, recorded easements and retaining-wall or floodplain work may require additional review. Updated November 2026.

Quick question	Highland Village answer
Permit or approval	All fences require a permit. The city describes a limited gate-only replacement exception when posts and the permitted design remain unchanged.
Typical fence height	8 feet above grade behind the required front-yard line. Front/street-adjacent yard restrictions apply separately. Outdoor pool enclosures: 6 feet minimum.
Placement & property lines	Check required yards, the neighboring lot orientation, corner visibility, future right-of-way lines and recorded plat/easement conditions.
Common fence materials	Wood and metal: recognized by city guidance, with design limits. Vinyl/PVC: not specifically named. Chain-link and woven wire: prohibited.
Important local conditions	Fence rules may be further affected by pools, overlapping farm/ranch exceptions, retaining walls, required development screening, flood hazards, erosion controls and private restrictions.
Official local resource	Highland Village permit information and requirements

This table is a quick reference. Read the applicable sections and official sources before buying materials or beginning construction, and confirm site-specific requirements with the responsible offices.

GOVERNANCE

The City Council adopts Highland Village’s ordinances. Building Inspections administers fence and construction permits; the city’s zoning and plat administrators apply development and recorded-plat conditions. Public Works and the Floodplain Administrator address their respective drainage, erosion and floodplain functions.

The zoning development standards contain fence, required-yard and visibility rules. Highland Village has adopted the 2015 International Residential Code with local amendments that direct residential pool barriers to the locally codified Appendix Q. The separate local pool-enclosure article controls irreconcilable differences, including its 6-foot enclosure minimum. Subdivision plats and special required-screening provisions operate separately from an ordinary backyard fence.

PERMIT AND APPROVAL REQUIREMENTS

• Fence permit: All fences require a city permit under §35.3(D). Submit two stamped surveys showing the fence location and height, total linear footage and the required digital PDF. The general building-code exemption is not a substitute for this independent fence-permit rule.

• Replacing a gate: City guidance generally does not require a permit for a gate-only replacement unless the posts are replaced. Keep the originally permitted location, height and materials, and preserve applicable pool-safety requirements; the guidance is not a general replacement-fence exemption.

• Retaining walls: City guidance requires a permit for a retaining wall over 2 feet, including the footing. The permit requirements call for engineered plans and a completion letter at 4 feet and above. The permit and engineering thresholds are different.

• Pool enclosure timing: Install the required enclosure before adding water or using the pool. The local article exempts an indoor pool fully enclosed by a building from its outdoor-enclosure requirement, but Appendix Q still regulates the indoor pool’s surrounding-wall protection.

• Floodplain development: A separate development permit is required for covered man-made development in mapped special flood-hazard areas, including applicable land alteration. A floodway encroachment needs the prescribed engineered demonstration of no increase in flood levels unless the ordinance’s federal map-revision alternative is satisfied.

• Erosion and runoff: Construction sites must use the applicable sediment-control best management practices, and owners/builders are responsible for prohibited off-site soil accumulation and nuisance conditions. The ordinance preserves its stated agricultural-cultivation defense. A full stormwater pollution prevention plan is tied to the actual small- or large-construction permit coverage; it is not automatically required for a few fence post holes. Post-construction requirements likewise follow their specified TCEQ construction coverage, exemptions or waivers, with maintenance duties for regulated private erosion devices.

FENCE PLACEMENT RULES

• Front and street-adjacent yards: Ordinary fences are prohibited in front of single-family or duplex residences and in required front or street-adjacent side yards, except for the code’s stated branches. The split-rail or similar front-fence exception requires city approval; chain-link and woven wire do not qualify.

• Literal front-fence opening standard: Section 35.3(C) describes split-rail or similar fencing with openings covering “not more than 50 percent” of the fence area. That is the published upper-bound wording, not a stated minimum of 50% openness. City approval of the proposed design remains required under that published upper-bound wording.

• Neighboring lot orientation: Where a rear yard abuts the neighboring rear yard, the fence may extend to the side and rear property lines. Where it abuts the neighbor’s side or front yard, the fence may extend only to the applicable building line.

• Corner and double-frontage lots: Both street exposures are front yards unless an approved plat establishes a side or rear building line. For a one- or two-family corner lot, the designated street-side-yard exception requires an alley separating it from the adjacent lot and an approved plat showing a side building line of at least 15 feet; the dwelling may not face that designated side yard and adjacent setbacks must be consistent. For official lots of record predating the ordinance, the street-side minimum follows the respective district’s minimum side yard. These building-line branches determine the applicable yard, rather than a universal fence setback. Where a future right-of-way line is established, use that line under the applicable yard provision.

• Plats and easements: Review the actual recorded plat. Required dedication language prohibits fences across easements subject to the stated landscape exception and preserves utility removal, entry and maintenance rights. Visibility-access-maintenance areas must remain free of fences or growth that interfere with visibility, and fire lanes must stay clear. Maintain drainage-easement access and protect creek and drainage conveyance.

• Water and retaining structures: Do not block swales or damage another property by diverting or impounding natural surface water. Owners must maintain applicable retaining walls; required developer retaining-wall locations and engineered screening-wall standards do not automatically apply to every ordinary fence replacement.

• Existing attached or jointly owned fences: Agriculture Code §§143.121–.123 restrict removal of a dividing fence in which another person has a joint interest, or a fence attached to another’s fence, except through the applicable statutory process or mutual consent. Specified withdrawal or disconnection situations require six months’ written notice. That period does not apply to every removal of a fence wholly owned by one person.

• Texas811 before digging: Request a Texas811 locate before post digging. Utilities Code Chapter 251 covers specified powered or mechanized excavation to 16 inches or more. For covered work, give notice no earlier than the 14th day before the start date and no later than 48 hours before the start time, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays. A Saturday notification has the statutory Tuesday 11:59 a.m. start rule, shifted to Wednesday 11:59 a.m. if the intervening Monday is a holiday. Follow the ticket’s actual start instructions, check responses and markings, resolve missing or conflicting information through the current process, protect marks and dig carefully. Private facilities may need separate locating.

• Excavation exceptions and pipeline rules: Chapter 251 has specific exceptions, including private-property agricultural operations as statutorily defined and an owner/lessee or mineral-interest holder who operates all underground facilities at the excavation site. A routine homeowner project is not automatically exempt. Emergency work has separate reasonable-care and prompt-notice duties. Railroad Commission pipeline rules apply independently: deeper hand digging can be covered, and the default pipeline ticket life is 14 working days unless the prescribed written agreement extends it. A Chapter 251 exception does not automatically exempt pipeline work. A locate ticket or compliance with excavation law does not grant property rights or replace permits.

• Construction affecting a pipeline easement: Health and Safety Code §§756.122–.123 separately address building, repairing, replacing or maintaining construction on, across, over or under a pipeline easement/right-of-way or physically affecting or creating risk to the facility. The statutory applicability is subject to a contrary written agreement. It excludes construction by a municipality on municipally owned property unless for private commercial use, and construction, repair, replacement or maintenance on property owned by a navigation district or port authority created or operating under Texas Constitution Article III §52 or Article XVI §59. For covered work, notify the operator and satisfy the applicable route: the operator determines there is no increased risk; required protective changes are paid for at their reasonable, necessary and documented cost before proceeding; the work is conducted under an existing written agreement; or the stated prompt natural-disaster work by a regulated utility applies. An 811 ticket alone does not satisfy this process.

FENCE HEIGHT AND VISIBILITY RULES

• Ordinary height: Behind the minimum required front-yard line, the maximum fence height is 8 feet above grade. The limited front-fence exception does not state a separate numerical front-height maximum in the cited provision; its location and design conditions still govern.

• Intersection and approach visibility: A fence, wall, screen, mound or landscaping 3 feet or higher above the street centerline may not obstruct drivers approaching a street, alley or driveway intersection. At street intersections, the visibility area extends 25 feet from the property corner in each direction; at alley intersections the stated distance is 10 feet. Hedges and shrubs no higher than 3 feet have the stated allowance. The provision does not state an identical triangle-leg dimension at every driveway.

• Pool enclosure minimum and openings: The local outdoor-pool enclosure must be at least 6 feet high, permanently anchored, with openings no more than 4 inches in any dimension. The local 6-foot requirement controls over Appendix Q’s 48-inch baseline. Appendix Q limits clearance beneath the barrier to 2 inches measured on the side away from the pool; a barrier mounted above the pool structure may have at most a 4-inch gap above that structure. Barriers must not be positioned so permanent structures, equipment or similar objects provide a climbing route.

MATERIAL AND CONSTRUCTION LIMITS

• Ordinary fence materials: The city’s guidance recognizes wood and metal and prohibits chain-link and woven wire. Vinyl/PVC is not specifically named; obtain approval for the proposed product and design rather than assuming permission or a blanket ban.

• Barbed and electric exceptions: The general fence provision excludes barbed and electric fencing except for farm/ranch use on undeveloped land over 1 acre. The applicable residential-district provisions separately describe a farm-animal perimeter exception on 1 acre or larger. These are different published conditions. The parcel’s district, use and applicable fence provision determine the exception; neither formulation establishes an automatic residential-acreage exemption. Texas agricultural-operation protections are separately conditioned.

• Conditional required screening: Required development screening walls generally must be 6 to 8 feet and equally finished on both sides. For a proposed new residential use adjacent to an existing nonresidential use, the City Council may waive screening or require the proposed new use to install it under the stated provision. That conditional development requirement does not impose a two-finished-sides rule on every ordinary backyard fence.

• Pool enclosure materials: The local pool article allows wood, metal, concrete, brick or masonry, but excludes barbed wire and chain-link. Use a substantial, permanently anchored enclosure. The appendix’s chain-link geometry does not override the local prohibition.

• Pool climbability and member spacing: Solid barriers cannot have prohibited indentations or protrusions beyond normal tolerances and tooled masonry joints. Openings cannot pass a 4-inch sphere. If horizontal member tops are less than 45 inches apart, place the members on the pool side and limit vertical gaps and decorative cutouts to 1¾ inches. At 45 inches or more, vertical gaps may reach 4 inches, but cutouts remain limited to 1¾ inches. Diagonal-member openings may not exceed 1¾ inches.

• Pool gates and hardware: Local gates must be substantial, self-closing, self-latching and securely closed when not used, with the latch in the upper quarter on the inside. Appendix Q also requires locking-device capacity and outward-opening pedestrian gates; other access gates must be self-latching. Where a self-latching release is below 54 inches from the gate bottom, locate it on the pool side at least 3 inches below the top, with no opening over ½ inch within 18 inches. Apply the local upper-quarter/inside condition as well.

• Dwelling-wall and indoor protection: A dwelling wall serving as part of the barrier must use an ASTM F1346 powered safety cover, UL 2017 door/screen alarms with deactivation switches at least 54 inches above the door threshold, or governing-body-approved equivalent protection. The local article does not require the dwelling door itself to be self-closing, but that does not remove the appendix’s protection alternatives. Indoor-pool surrounding walls must meet that same Appendix Q item 9 protection.

• Above-ground pools and spas: Where the pool structure or a barrier above it serves as the enclosure, secure, lock or remove the access ladder/steps or enclose them with a compliant barrier. Any opening created by securing, locking or removing them must not pass a 4-inch sphere. Appendix Q exempts a spa or hot tub with a qualifying ASTM F1346 safety cover from that appendix, subject to the separate local article’s applicable pool definition and requirements.

• Texas agricultural-operation protections: A qualifying agricultural operation within city limits is subject to the limits in Agriculture Code §§251.005 and 251.0055. City requirements may apply only with clear and convincing evidence that less restrictive means cannot address the purpose and that the requirement is necessary to protect nearby residents or people on public property in the immediate vicinity from the specified imminent dangers. A contagious-disease danger must be identified and directly attributable to the agricultural operation. Before its required public-health finding by resolution, the Council must obtain and review a city health officer’s or consultant’s report identifying hazard evidence, the necessity and manner of regulation, whether each proposed manner restricts or prohibits a listed generally accepted agricultural practice, and, if applicable, why a restriction is recommended for a practice the statutory manual says does not threaten public health. The requirement must not otherwise be prohibited by §251.0055. A city governmental requirement does not apply to an agricultural operation outside its corporate limits. Section 251.006 separately protects qualifying agricultural improvements, including specified animal-containment fences, when construction is not expressly prohibited by statute or a governmental requirement adopted in accordance with §251.005 and in effect when built. The qualifying owner, lessee or occupant is protected from the specified liability, nuisance claim, suit or injunction for that construction or maintenance; state and federal statutes remain enforceable. These protections depend on the actual operation and improvement, rather than a large yard or zoning label alone.

PRIVATE RESTRICTIONS

Recorded deed restrictions, association rules, architectural requirements, private easements and fence ownership, maintenance or cost agreements are separate from city approval. Review the actual instruments before replacing or attaching to a shared fence. A permit does not establish ownership or require a neighbor to share costs.

• Security and perimeter fences: Property Code §202.023 limits covered property owners’ associations from prohibiting security measures, including perimeter fencing, but excludes specified condominium and master mixed-use associations. Associations may regulate fence type, prohibit obstruction of license areas, public or community sidewalks and drainage easements or areas, require a driveway gate to be set back at least 10 feet from the right-of-way where the driveway intersects a qualifying laned roadway, and enforce a covenant prohibiting fencing in front of the dwelling’s front-most building line. The gate provision authorizes an association requirement; it is not a citywide gate setback.

• 2025 protections and exceptions: The statute protects maintenance of perimeter or front-building-line fencing installed before September 1, 2025, notwithstanding those listed restrictions. The front-building-line prohibition also has specified enhanced-security exceptions for an address exempt from disclosure under state or federal law or documented law-enforcement need. These protections do not waive public ordinances, easements or pool safety.

• Protected pool enclosures: Property Code §202.022 protects a qualifying nonclimbable enclosure made of transparent mesh or clear panels in metal frames, no more than 6 feet high, that meets applicable safety requirements. An association may regulate appearance and colors but cannot prohibit the protected black transparent-mesh and metal-frame form. This definition is neither a universal pool minimum nor permission to disregard controlling safety requirements.

REVIEW AND ENFORCEMENT CONTEXT

Fence issues are typically reviewed during permit or approval review when required, and through complaint-based code enforcement. Examples include:

• Permits and location: Fence permits, the limited gate-replacement guidance, front and street-side placement, neighbor orientation, plat and easement conditions and retaining-wall thresholds.

• Height, design and visibility: The rear height limit, literal front-fence opening provision, intersection visibility, applicable agricultural exceptions and conditional required screening.

• Pool and environmental work: The local 6-foot pool enclosure, gate and dwelling-wall protection, installation timing, flood development, drainage and applicable erosion controls.

Private restrictions and ownership or attached-fence disputes are separate from city enforcement.

USING THIS INFORMATION

This page provides general orientation on how residential fence rules are structured and applied within the City of Highland Village. Updated November 2026.

In addition to local fence rules, certain Texas laws apply statewide. See Statewide Fence Laws in Texas.

It is not legal advice and does not replace official statutes, ordinances, orders, permits, certificates, development approvals, applicable building-code requirements, surveys, recorded documents or professional guidance. Rules and interpretations may change, and application may vary with municipal or unincorporated location, applicable extraterritorial authority, zoning or special-area status, code adoption and amendments, site conditions, subdivision or plat conditions, easements, rights-of-way, drainage and floodplain requirements, historic or design districts, pool use, agricultural operations and stock laws, fence ownership or attachment, coastal or public-access conditions, utility and pipeline excavation requirements, and private restrictions subject to Texas law. Before purchasing materials or beginning construction, confirm current requirements and site-specific limitations with Building Inspections, Public Works and the Floodplain Administrator and the responsible office for each applicable issue, and review applicable private agreements. If this page conflicts with controlling law, adopted regulations or official requirements, the controlling authorities govern. For legal advice or legal interpretation, consult a licensed attorney.