FENCE RULES – BONHAM (CITY), TEXAS

OVERVIEW

This page covers ordinary residential fences within the incorporated City of Bonham, Texas.

Bonham requires fence-plan approval and deletes the ordinary model-code fence permit exemption. Residential front fences face a three-foot cap, with separate thirty-inch corner and key-lot areas and a specified eight-foot corner arrangement. The city’s wood-fence design schedule also uses six to eight feet, so its general wording needs to be reconciled with the property’s actual frontage and residential scope. Chain-link is recognized on single-family lots but prohibited in the Heritage Architectural Overlay. Lake Bonham lease land, including The Meadows’ no-fence provision, has additional controls. Private pools require a six-foot enclosure and self-enclosing, self-latching entrance gates. Updated November 2026.

Quick question	Bonham answer
Permit or approval	A fence permit and approved site plan are required. The city deletes the 2024 residential-code fence permit exemption.
Typical fence height	3 feet in a required residential front yard; 30 inches in specified corner/key-lot areas; 96 inches in the identified opposing-rear-line corner arrangement. The general 6–8-foot design clause has separate scope.
Placement & property lines	No general numerical private-line fence setback is specified. Rights-of-way, sight and drainage easements, building-line conditions and Lake Bonham rules can restrict placement.
Common fence materials	Wood: treated-wood design published, but combustible fences prohibited in the Heritage Architectural Overlay. Vinyl/PVC: vinyl listed in general design, with scope/overlay limits. Chain-link: allowed on single-family lots, prohibited in the Heritage Architectural Overlay.
Important local conditions	Fence rules may be further affected by corner/key-lot geometry, Heritage or planned districts, Lake Bonham lease and subdivision rules, sight/drainage easements, flood hazards and private-pool use.
Official local resource	Bonham Fence Permit Application

The table above is for quick reference. Additional fence-rule details appear in the corresponding sections below. Before purchasing materials or beginning construction, read the sections that apply to the property, review the linked official sources, and confirm site-specific questions with Building Inspection Department or the responsible office identified for that issue.

GOVERNANCE

Bonham is an incorporated home-rule city in Fannin County. The City Council adopts the Bonham Code of Ordinances and zoning regulations. The Building Official reviews fence plans before permit issuance through the Building Inspection Department. The Director, Planning and Zoning Commission and Board of Adjustment have the respective zoning review and variance functions stated in the code. The City Manager is floodplain administrator, and the City Engineer reviews the stated easement and drainage matters.

The Heritage Architectural Review Committee and Planning and Zoning Director administer the Heritage Architectural Overlay’s approval process. Development Services or Building Inspection initiates approvals on applicable city-owned/city-jurisdiction Lake Bonham land. These lake rules do not cover every Bonham mailing address.

Bonham adopts the 2024 International Residential Code, with the fence item expressly removed from Section R105.2’s building exemptions. The local private-pool rule in Section 11.08 independently supplies the six-foot enclosure requirement described below.

PERMIT AND APPROVAL REQUIREMENTS

• Fence application and fee: The city application covers new, repair and replacement fences. Submit a site plan showing property lines, house, streets and proposed fence, plus material/type, front/back height, valuation and work description. The Building Official reviews and approves before issuance. The published fee schedule lists a $50 fence permit; other project charges remain separate.

• Residential design scope and front-line review: Section 8.08 generally excludes single-family, two-family and zero-lot-line houses unless otherwise specified, while later clauses expressly address residential districts/lots. Its screening subsection prohibits a fence beyond the front building line absent a Board of Adjustment variance, yet the residential front-fence branch and current permit form state a three-foot front limit. Have the Building Official apply these provisions to the proposed front fence during plan review; neither the general design clause nor the three-foot cap alone settles all front-yard approvals.

• Heritage Architectural Overlay approval: Within the Heritage District Architectural Overlay, all fences need Director or Heritage Architectural Review Committee approval and a city permit before installation. A Certificate of Appropriateness precedes any building permit and is additional to other approvals. Apply to the Planning and Zoning Director with location and adjacent-property photographs, a work description, elevation drawings and any further information needed to visualize it.

• Heritage decision and appeal procedure: On a complete application, evidenced by the Director’s written receipt, the Director must approve, conditionally approve or schedule committee review within 10 days. The ordinance provides automatic approval if neither Director nor committee acts within that period; committee action requires at least three members. A person contesting committee conditions may request reconsideration or Planning and Zoning Commission review in writing within 21 days; a further appeal goes to City Council.

• Lake Bonham work: On the city-owned/city-jurisdiction land governed by the Lake Bonham Rules and Regulations, obtain the city’s written permit before any fence, wall, pool or other covered improvement. Initiate approval with Development Services or Building Inspection before work. Written case-specific variance procedures apply to the stated lake placement restrictions.

• Floodplain and drainage approvals: Covered development, including fill, grading and excavation, in a mapped special flood hazard area needs the floodplain-development permit through the City Manager, with the required scaled proposal/site information. Regulatory-floodway encroachment needs the specified no-rise certification unless the authorized conditional FEMA revision route applies. City Engineer approval is required for an applicable retaining wall or screen interfering with utility/drainage easements.

• Pool permit: Section 11.08 requires a swimming-pool building permit before construction or use, with compliant sanitary facilities and water supply. The enclosure requirements below are additional to the fence application.

FENCE PLACEMENT RULES

• Property boundaries and recorded rights: Use the deed, recorded plat and appropriate survey information to establish the proposed location. An existing fence, tax map, GIS line, tree line or mowing line is not a conclusive property boundary. Utility, access, drainage and other easements can restrict fencing or require continued access even where no general fence setback is published. The terms and location of the actual easement or plat condition matter.

• Rights-of-way and frontage: No fence may occupy required right-of-way or conflict with sight visibility. Section 8.08 does not specify a general private-line fence setback. Fences and retaining walls are excluded from the zoning definition of structure, so ordinary building-yard dimensions are not the fence-offset schedule.

• Front-yard opacity: The fence section prohibits solid fences in required front yards, except its A1/A2 multifamily branches with at least 20 feet setback along right-of-way frontage. Its residential applicability and front-building-line provisions must also be applied as described above.

• Actual subdivision sight easements: Within the applicable dedicated visibility areas, fences, walls and fixed objects are limited to 30 inches. Triangle legs are 40 feet at arterial/arterial intersections, 25 feet for collector/local entry onto an arterial and local/collector intersections, and 20 feet at alley/alley intersections. Preserve cross-visibility in the specified 30-inch-to-10-foot band, trim tree limbs, and keep non-grass landscaping at least 3 feet from pavement edges.

• Larger-intersection sight areas: Subdivision Diagram C uses a 15-foot approach offset and 5-foot roadway-side offsets. Table 9’s total sight distances are 310 feet at 30 mph, 380 feet at 35 mph, 475 feet at 40 mph, 565 feet at 45 mph, and 665 feet at 50 mph. These are actual subdivision roadway/visibility-area dimensions, not a universal setback measured from every property line.

• Drainage easements and excess stormwater: Keep actual drainage easements clear of fences, buildings, trees, shrubs or improvements that endanger or interfere with drainage-system construction, operation or maintenance. Do not obstruct excess stormwater passage or reduce drainage capacity; Section 3.12.065 provides for removal at the responsible party’s cost.

• Lake Bonham placement and The Meadows: On applicable lake land, a privacy fence more than 3 feet high cannot stand between the residence and public road. Side/rear improvements must preserve reasonable adjoining lake views. Lake drainage ditches, culverts, dams and other flow obstructions require prior written city permission, and lease lots reserve city utility easements. The Meadows Subdivision entry for Lots 1–22 and 26–32 states “no fences” and directs owners to its recorded covenants.

• Required subdivision screens: An existing required subdivision perimeter screen and its maintenance easement remain distinct from an optional yard fence. Preserve the required at-least-5-foot private-side maintenance easement; do not place wood/privacy fencing immediately behind or abutting the specified living, berm, retaining-wall or open alternative screens. Damaged required screens must be repaired/replaced with matching material and appearance, with HOA or public-improvement-district responsibility as applicable.

• Drainage and surface water: Water Code Section 11.086 prohibits diverting or impounding the natural flow of surface water in a manner that damages another property by overflow. Fence walls, footings, fill and grading need to preserve the drainage rights and restrictions affecting the site. The statute has separate provisions for lawful flood-control and irrigation improvements and specified bank repairs; it establishes no general fence-to-property-line distance.

• Replacing a joint or attached fence: Agriculture Code Sections 143.121–143.123 prohibit removal of a jointly owned separating fence or a fence attached to another person’s fence except by mutual consent or the statutory process. An owner of an interest in an attached fence may withdraw it after 6 months’ written notice to the other fence’s owner or that person’s agent, attorney or lessee. An owner whose fence is wholly on their land may require an attached fence’s disconnection after the same notice to its owner or that person’s agent, attorney or lessee. These rules concern ownership and attachment, rather than every fence replacement.

• Construction affecting a pipeline corridor: Health and Safety Code Sections 756.121–756.123 address construction on, across, over or under a pipeline easement or right-of-way, or physically affecting a pipeline’s risk. Subject to the statute’s contrary-written-agreement exclusion, its exclusion for municipal work on municipally owned land other than private commercial use, and its exclusion for property of qualifying navigation districts or port authorities, give notice to the operator and satisfy the applicable route: an operator determination of no increased risk; payment of reasonable, necessary, documented protective-work costs before proceeding; work under an existing written agreement; or prompt work by a regulated utility because of a natural disaster. This construction process is separate from an 811 locate request.

• Post-hole excavation under the Utilities Code: Utilities Code Chapter 251 covers explosives or powered or mechanized equipment, including augers, that disturbs soil to 16 or more inches. Ordinary notice must be given not earlier than the 14th day before excavation or later than 48 hours before it, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays. For a Saturday notice given before 11:59 a.m., the statutory start is the following Tuesday at 11:59 a.m., or Wednesday at 11:59 a.m. if Monday is a holiday. Use the ticket’s lawful start information.

• Limited excavation exceptions: Emergency work may begin immediately when the statutory emergency conditions exist, with reasonable care and notice as promptly as practicably possible. Section 251.156 also has exceptions for activities on private property connected with defined agricultural operations, and for excavation by or for an owner or lessee who operates all underground facilities at the excavation site. Yard ownership alone is not that latter exception. Separate pipeline rules can still apply.

• Digging near covered underground pipelines: Railroad Commission Chapter 18 can cover manual post-hole digging deeper than 16 inches near the covered gas, hazardous-liquid or carbon-dioxide pipelines. Its default locate-ticket life is 14 working days, unless the excavator and operator make a longer written, signed and dated agreement. Refresh unfinished work for the remaining excavation area. Keep the required locate-ticket and positive-response records for at least 4 years. Check the site, ticket and markings and use the required second-notice process for missing, incorrect or inconsistent pipeline responses.

• Utility safety before digging: Request a Texas811 locate before digging fence posts, wait the applicable lawful period, check ticket responses and site markings, resolve missing or conflicting information through the current ticket process, protect the marks and excavate carefully. Private irrigation, pool, outbuilding and other owner-operated lines may need separate locating; an 811 request does not assure that every private service or water and sewer line is marked. Locate compliance does not replace permits, property permission, easement rights or pipeline construction notice.

FENCE HEIGHT AND VISIBILITY RULES

• Residential front yard: Section 8.08 expressly limits a required residential front-yard fence to 3 feet; the current application repeats a 36-inch front maximum. The screening/front-building-line issue remains subject to the plan-review qualification above.

• Corner lots with opposing rear lines: For the specific residential corner-lot arrangement with opposing rear lot lines, fences may reach 96 inches along the side and rear lines shown in the code’s diagram. This is not an eight-foot allowance for every front fence.

• Corner near an alley: Where a residential corner lot’s rear line opposes another lot’s side line across an alley, the diagram’s street-side strip is limited to 30 inches: the area within the street-adjacent side yard beyond the side building line by more than the minimum side-yard requirement.

• Key lots: A corner key lot has its exterior side yard adjoining another lot’s front yard. It has front building lines on both streets unless a dedicated street/alley separates it from the other lots. Where its lines oppose the adjoining side line, fencing between the front building lines and the abutting lot’s side-yard line is limited to 30 inches.

• General wood/design height: The general design clause and application’s Wood Fence Design Requirements state a minimum 6 feet from average lot grade and maximum 8 feet. This clause has the residential-scope tension described above and does not replace the specific three-foot or thirty-inch frontage limits. The Building Official must settle the applicable design during permit review.

• Required screen dimensions: For an existing required subdivision screen, the specified span is generally 6–8 feet; decorative features may reach 10 feet when no more than 10 percent of total wall length, with taller features needing Commission/Council approval. These are required subdivision-screen conditions rather than a universal yard-fence allowance.

MATERIAL AND CONSTRUCTION LIMITS

• Wood, vinyl/PVC and chain-link: Bonham publishes a treated-wood design and lists brick, stone, masonry and vinyl in its general design clause; vinyl cannot be used in multifamily areas. Chain-link is allowed only on single-family residential lots and industrial sites, subject to the Heritage prohibition below. Section 8.08’s single-/two-family/zero-lot-line applicability qualification remains relevant to the general construction schedule.

• Published wood construction schedule: The design clause specifies treated lumber attached with galvanized screws to 2⅜-inch-diameter galvanized poles, placed in 8-inch-diameter holes at least 2½ feet deep with 2 feet of premixed concrete. Cap every post. The application repeats the principal wood footing/post conditions.

• Masonry and vinyl design schedule: The general schedule calls for masonry columns every 8 feet, at least 18 inches wide and the fence’s vertical length, with its brick/stone/masonry/vinyl or combined materials. Thin-wall masonry, defined as 6 inches or less wide, must use approved brick/stone/masonry units supported by angle iron and masonry columns on piers; plans must be engineer-sealed and city-approved.

• Wrought-iron design schedule: Its minimums are 2 × 2 × 3/16-inch square steel tube posts at no more than 8 feet spacing, cast-iron C-1 pyramid finials with stainless set screws, ⅝-inch solid square pickets spaced 3–10 inches apart, and a ¾ × ¾ × ⅛-inch channel horizontal rail near the upper half.

• Heritage Architectural Overlay materials: Within the designated overlay, chain-link and combustible fencing are prohibited, along with materials prohibited in residential areas. The overlay includes its detailed Sixth/Chestnut/Third/Willow boundaries and the designated Main/Center (SH78) corridor from Third Street south to the railroad; it is not the whole city or automatically every similarly named zoning corridor.

• Residential hazardous materials and agricultural branch: Residential areas prohibit barbed wire, razor wire, electrified fencing and other hazardous material. The section separately allows barbed wire with permitted agricultural/related activities and limits current-conducting fences to agricultural zoning or correctional uses. A residential acreage proposal must meet the actual district/use and residential restrictions; acreage alone does not establish the agricultural exception.

• Enclosure gates and maintenance: Every enclosure constructed under Section 8.08 must have at least one perimeter gate. Maintain section-governed fences; the Director may order repair/removal when more than 5 percent damaged or leaning 10 degrees from vertical. Repairs must comply with the section.

• Required screens beside a home: The more intensive adjoining use generally supplies and maintains its required screen. Where an existing residential fence would abut a new nonresidential/multifamily/townhouse screen, the required living screen has a stated exception when at least 5 feet separates the devices for maintenance. The city’s required-screen materials, equal-finish and gate standards have that screening context, not every optional yard fence.

• Other special districts: A planned-development granting ordinance may impose site-specific screening/design. The Highway 121 overlay covers its SH56–US82 corridor and terminal 1,000-foot-radius areas for lots over 3 acres or with at least two buildings, subject to its actual approval and incompatibility exceptions. Check the property’s district instrument before substituting ordinary materials.

• Private-pool enclosure: Section 11.08 requires a wall/fence at least 6 feet high completely enclosing the pool area or surrounding yard, with self-enclosing and self-latching gates at every entrance. Pools cannot occupy a required front yard or street-abutting side yard; the private-pool definition separately specifies at least 8 feet from a property line for the pool, not an automatic fence offset. Obtain the Building Official’s determination for additional adopted-code hardware or a proposed alternative; a model cover alternative does not alone establish relief from the local six-foot enclosure.

• Detention-wall condition: The stormwater rule requires a safety fence for the specified dry-bottom storage vertical walls at least 3 feet high. This is a detention-facility condition rather than a general three-foot yard-wall rule.

• Cultivated acreage and livestock fencing: Agriculture Code Section 143.001 requires gardeners or farmers to fence cleared cultivated land at least 5 feet high and prevent hog passage, subject to Chapter 143’s local-option stock-law treatment. Section 143.002 requires an unlocked gate at least 10 feet wide when more than 3 lineal miles of fence run in the same general direction around cleared cultivated land. Other sufficient-fence and livestock duties depend on the applicable animal class and local stock-law territory. These agricultural rules are separate from ordinary residential height limits.

• A home with a qualifying agricultural operation: Agriculture Code Sections 251.005 and 251.0055 limit city requirements for actual agricultural operations. City requirements do not apply to an operation outside corporate limits. Inside the city, a requirement needs clear and convincing evidence that less restrictive means cannot address a specified imminent danger to residents or people on public property in the immediate vicinity, a qualifying health report, and a governing-body resolution that regulation is necessary to protect public health. The listed dangers include explosion, flooding, vermin or insects, physical injury, an identified contagious disease directly attributable to the operation, removal of lateral or subjacent support, water contamination, radiation, improper toxic-material storage, traffic hazards from crops or vegetation, and weapons discharge subject to its separate legal limits.

• Agricultural review and protected practices: The health officer’s or consultant’s report must identify the hazards, necessity and proposed manner of regulation, address interference with generally accepted agricultural practices, and explain any recommendation to restrict a practice identified as not threatening public health. The city cannot require agricultural tax appraisal as a condition of operation status. Protection of forage vegetation and necessary infestation control, and the exemption from a city requirement to mow, bale, shred or hoe adjacent public-road right-of-way material remain applicable within their stated conditions. A city vegetation-height maximum for an agricultural operation must be at least 12 inches and may apply only to vegetation within 10 feet of a property boundary adjacent to a public sidewalk, street or highway, or to another owner’s property containing an inhabited structure. A qualifying written wildlife-management plan may establish operation status; acreage alone does not.

• Agricultural fence improvements: Section 251.006 protects an owner, lessee or occupant of agricultural land from its specified liability, nuisance suits and injunctions for qualifying agricultural improvements, including fences for sheltering, restricting or feeding animal life, when construction is not expressly prohibited by statute or a properly adopted Section 251.005 requirement then in effect. State and federal statutes remain enforceable.

PRIVATE RESTRICTIONS

Deed restrictions, homeowners association rules, architectural-review requirements, private easements, and agreements about fence ownership, maintenance or costs can impose separate obligations, subject to Texas law. Public approval does not decide those private rights. Review the actual recorded documents and applicable association procedures before construction.

• HOA security and perimeter fencing: Under Property Code Section 202.023, an association generally cannot adopt or enforce a covenant preventing an owner from installing security measures, including perimeter fencing. The section excludes condominiums governed by Chapters 81 or 82 and master mixed-use associations subject to Chapter 215.

• Controls an HOA may retain: An association may regulate fence type and prohibit fencing that obstructs a license area, a public or community sidewalk, or a drainage easement or drainage area. It may require a driveway gate to be set back at least 10 feet from the right-of-way where the driveway intersects a laned roadway. If a restrictive covenant provides for it, the association may prohibit fencing in front of the dwelling’s front-most building line. The gate provision is an association power, not a general city fence setback.

• Existing fences and enhanced security: Notwithstanding those retained controls, owners may maintain perimeter or front-building-line fencing installed or constructed before September 1, 2025. The front-building-line prohibition also does not apply when the owner’s residential address is exempt from public disclosure under state or federal law, or the owner provides the association with law-enforcement documentation of a need for enhanced security measures.

• Protected pool enclosures: Property Code Section 202.022 protects a nonclimbable fence surrounding a water feature that consists of transparent mesh or clear panels in metal frames, is no more than 6 feet high, and conforms to applicable state or local safety requirements. An association may regulate appearance and color but cannot prohibit the protected black transparent-mesh enclosure in metal frames. The 6-foot figure defines this HOA protection; it is not a general pool-barrier minimum or ordinary fence-height limit.

REVIEW AND ENFORCEMENT CONTEXT

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

• Fence plans and frontages: Whether the permit, actual residential/district scope, corner geometry, front-building-line issue and material/construction schedule have been addressed.

• Special property conditions: Whether Heritage approvals, Lake Bonham/The Meadows rules, required screens, easements, drainage and floodplain requirements apply.

• Pool and excavation: Whether the six-foot pool enclosure, entrance gates and distinct utility/pipeline procedures are satisfied.

• Private and shared-fence matters: Association review, boundary disputes and ownership or cost agreements are separate from city approval. The joint or attached fence-removal conditions described above can affect replacement work.

USING THIS INFORMATION

This page provides general orientation on how residential fence rules are structured and applied within the City of Bonham, Texas. 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 Inspection Department 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.