FENCE RULES – MAVERICK (COUNTY), TEXAS

OVERVIEW

This guide covers residential fences in county-administered unincorporated Maverick County, Texas. It excludes property inside Eagle Pass and land within the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas Reservation. Recorded subdivision conditions, easements and the authority responsible for a particular road, utility or water facility can affect an individual property.

Maverick County does not publish a general fence-specific permit requirement or ordinary front, side and rear yard height limits. Its published requirements also do not specify ordinary wood, vinyl/PVC or chain-link fence standards. For a homeowner, the proposed location matters: a boundary survey, road right-of-way, utility easement or drainage route can determine where construction can proceed. Floodplain approval is a separate consideration, and pool use, private covenants and agricultural activities can change the applicable requirements. A country home with cultivated acreage or livestock needs the agricultural and utility provisions as well as the ordinary yard-fence information. Updated November 2026.

Quick question	Maverick County answer
Permit or approval	The county does not publish a fence-specific local permit requirement or exemption for standard residential fences. Floodplain approval and other site-specific duties require separate consideration.
Typical fence height	The county does not publish ordinary front, side or rear yard fence maximums or a general fence-height measurement rule.
Placement & property lines	No numeric ordinary fence-to-property-line setback is published. Locate the legal boundary and applicable road, drainage, utility and other easements before choosing the fence line.
Common fence materials	Wood: no material-specific county standard is published. Vinyl/PVC: not specifically addressed. Chain-link: no material-specific county standard is published.
Important local conditions	Fence rules may be further affected by flood-prone land and drainage, recorded subdivision or canal easements, road rights-of-way, pipeline facilities, pool use, private restrictions and agricultural or livestock activities on residential acreage.
Official local resource	Maverick County Planning Department

The table above is for quick reference; the corresponding sections below explain additional fence-rule details. 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 the Maverick County Planning Department or the responsible office identified for the issue.

GOVERNANCE

Maverick County Commissioners Court acts within the powers granted to counties by Texas law. The county does not publish an ordinary residential fence zoning code. The Maverick County Planning Department is a starting point for development and site questions. The county also identifies a Building Inspector and a Code Enforcement office; a fence proposal’s particular requirements should be distinguished from those offices’ other functions.

Maverick County Road & Bridge is the county road contact. State highway right-of-way questions belong with the Texas Department of Transportation. Floodplain questions need to be directed through county planning to the office responsible for the site’s floodplain administration. The Maverick County Water Control and Improvement District and other facility or easement holders have separate interests where their land, canals or recorded rights affect the proposed fence.

Municipal rules apply within their governing territory. Outside Eagle Pass, subdivision or plat review can involve county and municipal functions, but that review does not itself establish an ordinary city fence standard for an unincorporated residential lot. Use the recorded plat and applicable instruments for the property. Tribal reservation land has a separate governing framework.

PERMIT AND APPROVAL REQUIREMENTS

For standard residential fences, Maverick County does not publish a fence-specific local permit requirement or an express fence-permit exemption. Confirm the proposed location and construction with the Maverick County Planning Department before ordering materials, including whether the Building Inspector or another office must address a particular part of the work.

• Floodplain approval: Treat floodplain approval separately from the ordinary fence-permit question. For work on flood-prone land or work that could affect drainage or flood conveyance, confirm the proposed fence and site conditions with county planning and the responsible floodplain office before construction.

• Clearing and grading: A project involving substantial land disturbance can raise construction-stormwater requirements. TCEQ guidance identifies construction disturbing one or more acres, including disturbance counted as part of a larger common plan of development. Work disturbing less than one acre outside such a common plan does not require that construction-stormwater permit coverage. Consider the total clearing and grading involved in an acreage-fence project.

• Pool use: A private residential pool serving no more than two resident families and their guests is treated differently from a public, multiunit or association pool. Confirm the safety requirements applicable to the actual use before installing or replacing a pool barrier. The county does not publish a private-home pool-barrier dimensional standard; a change to shared or public use calls for separate review.

• Agricultural operations: Agriculture Code Section 251.005 makes the operation’s established date and the requirement’s effective date important. A noncity political subdivision’s requirement applies to an agricultural operation established after the requirement, does not apply to an operation established before it, and retains requirements that were already in effect and applicable before the chapter’s effective date. City governmental requirements do not apply to agricultural operations outside city corporate boundaries. These protections depend on a qualifying operation and the statutory conditions.

Agriculture Code Section 251.006 addresses construction or maintenance of agricultural improvements by an owner, lessee or occupant of agricultural land. Qualifying improvements include fences designed to shelter, restrict or feed animal or aquatic life; store produce or feed; or store or maintain management implements or agricultural equipment. The protection applies when construction is not expressly prohibited by statute or by a governmental requirement adopted in accordance with Section 251.005 and in effect when constructed. It protects against liability to the state, a governmental unit or the owner, lessee or occupant of other agricultural land; the qualifying improvement is not a nuisance or otherwise subject to suit or injunction. Enforcement of state and federal statutes remains available. A rural residence with acreage should evaluate its actual agricultural use and improvement.

FENCE PLACEMENT RULES

Maverick County does not publish a numeric ordinary residential fence setback from a private property line. Establish the legal boundary from a survey and recorded documents, and locate any separate setback, easement or right-of-way affecting the proposed line. An existing fence, tax-map line, ditch, mowing edge or pavement edge does not establish the legal boundary.

• Recorded corridors and access: Check continuing conditions in the recorded plat, deed and easement instruments. Road, utility, drainage and canal rights may occupy land within a residential parcel. Where district or canal land is involved, confirm the applicable instrument and access needs with the district or rights holder.

• Roads and entrances: Texas Transportation Code Section 251.008 requires public roads to be clear of obstructions. Locate the actual right-of-way and keep the fence and gate arrangement consistent with the applicable road and access rights. Discuss county road questions with Maverick County Road & Bridge and state highway questions with TxDOT. No general county fence offset measured from pavement or a ditch is published.

• Drainage: Water Code Section 11.086 prohibits diverting or impounding the natural flow of surface water in a way that damages another’s property by overflow. Its qualifications preserve specified flood-control improvements and authorized canals, but do not authorize a canal, lateral canal or ditch obstructing well-defined natural drainage. Where a gully or slough cuts or intersects a river or creek bank and permits floodwater to overflow nearby land, the flooded-land owner may fill its mouth up to the adjoining bank’s height without liability to other property owners. Check the effect of a solid fence, wall, fill or altered ground level on drainage and the site’s separate floodplain requirements.

• Long agricultural fences: Agriculture Code Section 143.002 prohibits building, joining or maintaining more than three lineal miles of fence running in the same general direction around cleared land in cultivation without an unlocked gate at least 10 feet wide.

• Livestock near roads: Agriculture Code Sections 143.101–143.102 prohibit a person responsible for a horse, mule, donkey, cow, bull, steer, hog, sheep or goat from knowingly allowing it to traverse or roam unattended on the right-of-way of a covered U.S. or state highway. That definition excludes numbered farm-to-market roads. Section 143.003 separately provides that cattle on a county road are not considered running at large when the road separates two tracts under common ownership or lease and contains an authorized cattle guard serving as part of their fencing.

Before removing or replacing a shared or physically attached fence, apply the ownership and attachment conditions in Agriculture Code Chapter 143:

• Joint or attached fences: Section 143.121 prohibits removing a separating or dividing fence in which the person is a joint owner, or a fence attached to one owned or controlled by another person, except by mutual consent or the subchapter’s process.

• Withdrawing an owned attached fence: Under Section 143.122, a person owning an interest in a fence physically attached to a fence owned in whole or in part by someone else may withdraw their fence from the other fence after six months’ written notice of the intended separation. Give notice to the owner of the attached fence or that person’s agent, attorney or lessee.

• Requiring disconnection: Under Section 143.123, the owner of a fence wholly on their own land may require the owner of an attached fence to disconnect and withdraw it after six months’ written notice. Give notice to the attached-fence owner or that person’s agent, attorney or lessee.

Construction affecting a pipeline easement or right-of-way has duties separate from a utility locate. Health and Safety Code Sections 756.121–756.123 cover construction physically on, across, over or under a pipeline easement or right-of-way, or construction that physically impacts or creates a risk to a pipeline facility, subject to a contrary written agreement. For a covered homeowner project on private property, notify the operator before work and satisfy the applicable statutory route: an operator determination that the construction does not increase risk to the public or pipeline facility; payment before construction of reasonable, necessary and documented protective-work costs when risk increases; or work under an existing written agreement.

Before digging fence posts, distinguish the general utility-notice law from the separate pipeline rules:

• Utility notice: Utilities Code Chapter 251 covers explosives and powered or mechanized digging, including augers, disturbing soil to 16 or more inches. Unless a statutory exception applies, notify a notification center no earlier than the 14th day before excavation and no later than 48 hours before it, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays. For Saturday notice given before 11:59 a.m., work may begin the following Tuesday at 11:59 a.m., or Wednesday at 11:59 a.m. if the intervening Monday is a holiday. Follow the applicable ticket/start instructions.

• Agricultural and property-owner exceptions: Section 251.156 excepts private-property agricultural operations as defined through Tax Code Section 23.51(2). It also excepts digging by or for a person who owns, leases or has a mineral leasehold interest in the land and operates all underground facilities at the site. A qualifying agricultural person who elects to comply is protected from liability to the facility owner for facility damage if the operator fails to comply. These notice exceptions do not themselves excuse compliance with the separate pipeline rules.

• Pipeline coverage and tickets: Railroad Commission Chapter 18 underground-pipeline damage-prevention rules can cover manual post holes and other earth movement deeper than 16 inches near covered gas, hazardous-liquid or carbon-dioxide pipelines, subject to their own exemptions. Keep a valid ticket available; its default life is 14 working days from the original notice. Refresh the unfinished area before continuing after expiration. A longer life requires a signed, dated written agreement retained by both excavator and operator. Keep required tickets and positive-response records for at least four years.

• Care near pipelines: Check the actual site for unmarked pipeline evidence and white-line work that cannot be clearly described. The pipeline tolerance zone is half the nominal diameter plus at least 18 inches on either side of the outside edge horizontally. Use reasonable care, considering hand, soft or vacuum digging or pneumatic hand tools; other mechanical or technical methods require operator approval. Pavement removal is excepted from hand-digging or noninvasive-method requirements.

• If damage occurs: Immediately notify the utility operator, or the notification center if the operator is uncertain. Only the operator or someone it authorizes may repair the facility; delay backfilling the immediate area until damage is reported and a repair schedule is agreed. Keep ignition sources away from flammable danger. For pipeline damage, notify the operator through the center as soon as practical, no later than one hour; obtain operator approval before covering the exposed pipeline and file the required Railroad Commission excavator damage report. Promptly call 911 for a release of covered hazardous substances.

• Texas811 before post digging: Request a Texas811 locate, wait the applicable period and follow ticket/start instructions. Compare responses with site markings; resolve missing, erroneous or conflicting information through the current ticket process, including any required second notice. Protect marks and dig carefully. Private owner-only lines and other exempt or nonparticipating facilities may need separate locating. A locate does not replace permits, property permission, easement rights, pipeline-construction notice or private approval.

FENCE HEIGHT AND VISIBILITY RULES

Maverick County does not publish ordinary residential front, side or rear yard fence maximums, a general height-measurement method, separate post or column allowances, or a fence-and-retaining-wall height calculation.

The county also does not publish a numerical ordinary corner-lot, driveway or alley sight triangle or a general gate-swing measurement. Road right-of-way, access, recorded conditions and any site-specific requirements still need to be addressed when choosing the height and location near an entrance or intersection.

For a rural residence with cultivated acreage, Agriculture Code Section 143.001 requires each gardener or farmer to provide a sufficient fence around cleared land in cultivation that is at least five feet high and prevents hogs from passing through, except as the chapter provides for an area with an adopted local-option stock law. Livestock and agricultural-fence obligations depend on the applicable local stock law, its territory and animals, and the property involved. Confirm those conditions before selecting an agricultural enclosure. The five-foot cultivated-land standard is a conditional agricultural requirement.

MATERIAL AND CONSTRUCTION LIMITS

• Wood: Maverick County does not publish a material-specific standard for ordinary residential wood fences.

• Vinyl/PVC: The county’s published ordinary residential fence requirements do not specifically address vinyl/PVC.

• Chain-link: The county does not publish a material-specific standard for ordinary residential chain-link fences.

The county does not publish a general ordinary residential fence construction schedule addressing other materials, opacity, finished-side orientation, post or gate spacing, wall combinations or fence maintenance. Select the proposed construction in light of the property’s recorded restrictions and applicable drainage, floodplain, road, utility and agricultural conditions.

A pool enclosure needs to satisfy the safety requirements applicable to the pool’s actual use and location. A fence chosen for an ordinary yard can require different design or hardware when it serves as a pool barrier. The statutory protection for certain HOA pool enclosures, explained below, is a separate private-restriction rule.

PRIVATE RESTRICTIONS

Recorded deed restrictions, subdivision covenants, architectural requirements, private easements and boundary or maintenance agreements can affect fence placement, materials and replacement. Check the actual instruments and any required association application before construction. Public approval does not resolve private ownership or cost allocation.

Texas Property Code Sections 202.022–202.023 limit certain association restrictions:

• Security and perimeter fencing: Section 202.023 generally prevents a property owners’ association from enforcing a restrictive covenant that prevents security measures, including a perimeter fence, subject to the section’s retained powers. It excludes condominiums under Chapters 81 or 82 and master mixed-use associations subject to Chapter 215.

• Association controls that remain: An association may regulate fence type and prohibit fencing that obstructs a license area defined by agreement or plat, a public or community sidewalk, or a drainage easement or area. It may require a driveway gate to be at least 10 feet from the right-of-way when the driveway intersects a laned roadway as statutorily defined. If a restrictive covenant provides for it, the association may prohibit fencing in front of the dwelling’s front-most building line.

• Existing fencing and enhanced security: Notwithstanding those retained powers, Section 202.023(d) protects maintenance of perimeter fencing or fencing in front of the front-most building line installed or constructed before September 1, 2025. Under subsection (e), the front-building-line prohibition cannot bar the stated perimeter or front fencing when the owner’s residential address is exempt from public disclosure under state or federal law, or the owner gives the association law-enforcement documentation of a need for enhanced security measures. Evaluate replacement or expansion separately from maintenance of the protected existing fence.

• Protected pool enclosures: Section 202.022 protects an enclosure surrounding a pool, spa or other water feature when it consists of transparent mesh or clear panels in metal frames, is no more than six feet high, is designed not to be climbable, and conforms to applicable state or local safety requirements. An association may regulate appearance and colors but cannot prohibit the qualifying black transparent-mesh enclosure in metal frames. The six-foot dimension defines this protection.

For a shared fence, review any ownership, repair and cost agreement as well as the statutory removal and physical-attachment rules in FENCE PLACEMENT RULES. A fence on or near a boundary does not by itself establish an automatic equal-cost obligation.

REVIEW AND ENFORCEMENT CONTEXT

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

• County and site questions: The proposed fence’s relationship to applicable development or floodplain approval, drainage and recorded subdivision conditions.

• Road and corridor conflicts: Obstruction of a road right-of-way, interference with an applicable easement, or fence placement affecting access.

• Excavation and pipelines: Locate notices and responses, safe digging, pipeline-easement construction duties and damage reporting.

• Agricultural and shared fences: Applicable cultivated-land or livestock conditions and the ownership, physical attachment, consent and notice rules governing removal.

• Pool and private review: Safety requirements based on pool use, and separately, association or private-agreement requirements subject to Texas law.

County code enforcement, road administration and other public functions are distinct from association review and private boundary, ownership or cost disputes. Direct each question to the office or rights holder responsible for that issue.

USING THIS INFORMATION

This page provides general orientation on how residential fence rules are structured and applied within county-administered unincorporated Maverick County, 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 the Maverick County Planning 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.