FENCE RULES – KENDALL (COUNTY), TEXAS

OVERVIEW

This page covers residential fencing in unincorporated Kendall County, Texas. Property inside an incorporated municipality falls outside this county guide. County development, floodplain and county-road programs have their own territorial limits; state-highway access and rights-of-way are administered separately by the Texas Department of Transportation.

Kendall County has no zoning regulations in its unincorporated areas and has not adopted building codes for single-family residential developments. Its Development Rules expressly exclude a wooden fence from the definition of a structure, while the county also administers development, floodplain, drainage and road approvals. Ordinary yard fences have no published countywide front, side or rear height limit or numeric property-line setback. Wood, vinyl/PVC and chain-link therefore need to be considered alongside the actual site conditions: driveway gates, drainage and utility easements, floodways, private restrictions and agricultural uses can change the project. Updated November 2026.

Quick question	Kendall County answer
Permit or approval	A development permit is required for fence installation that changes the site, including post-hole excavation. Single-family lots with no mapped 100-year floodplain use the minor residential process; lots with any mapped floodplain use the residential process. Wooden fences are excluded from the structure definition, but associated land changes remain covered.
Typical fence height	No ordinary residential front, side or rear fence maximum or general height-measurement method is published by the county.
Placement & property lines	No ordinary fence-specific numeric property-line setback is published. Locate the legal boundary, road right-of-way and recorded easements; preserve drainage, maintenance access and driveway visibility.
Common fence materials	Wood: expressly excluded from the Development Rules’ definition of a structure. Vinyl/PVC: no ordinary material-specific county standard is published. Chain-link: no ordinary-lot countywide material restriction is published.
Important local conditions	Fence rules may be further affected by floodplain or floodway location, drainage and utility easements, county-road or state-highway access, driveway-gate vehicle clearance, agricultural uses and livestock, and private covenants.
Official local resource	Kendall County development forms and documents

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 Kendall County Development Management or the responsible office identified for that issue.

GOVERNANCE

The Kendall County Commissioners Court adopts the county’s development, road and floodplain requirements under the authority applicable to each program. The county affirmatively states that it does not regulate land use through zoning in unincorporated areas and has not adopted building codes for single-family residential developments.

Beginning October 1, 2026, Development Management administers the Kendall County Development Rules and amendments. References to the County Engineer in those rules and associated orders mean Development Management. That office handles the relevant development, floodplain, county-road driveway and right-of-way questions. The Fire Code Official administers the county’s separately adopted fire-code program, whose ordinary building scope concerns public, commercial and qualifying multifamily buildings.

TxDOT controls state-highway access and its rights-of-way. A municipality controls its own municipal programs and roads; subdivision or plat authority in an extraterritorial area is a separate function from ordinary yard-fence regulation. The Railroad Commission of Texas administers underground-pipeline damage-prevention rules. Utility operators address their facilities and easements, while the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality administers applicable construction-stormwater requirements. Private association review is separate from these public functions.

PERMIT AND APPROVAL REQUIREMENTS

• Ordinary residential fences: Section 3.4.B.1 requires a Development Permit for any man-made change to improved or unimproved property in county jurisdiction. This covers fence installation involving excavation, grading, filling or other site changes, including new post holes or footings. The county’s March 4, 2026 permitting verification letter confirms that site improvements are covered inside and outside the floodplain. Section 1.8.B.125 excludes a wooden fence from the definition of a structure; it does not exempt associated excavation or other land changes from the separate development rule. Obtain the applicable permit from Development Management before covered work. Confirm treatment of repair without site changes.

• Projects subject to development review: For a single-family project governed by section 3.4, the residential/major process applies when any part of the lot lies in the mapped 100-year floodplain; the minor residential process applies when none does. Applications call for an application and fee, deed, plat or survey or applicable land-location document, written project description, and a site plan showing existing and proposed improvements and setbacks. Floodplain sites must show the floodplain and may require additional applicable information. Development Management may waive inapplicable submissions.

• Meetings for a development application: Current department guidance describes preapplication meetings as highly encouraged but not required. The adopted major-development procedure contains a meeting requirement 7 days to 3 months before application, with an administrative waiver; minor residential applications are exempt from that requirement. Confirm the applicable process or waiver with Development Management for a project entering that review.

• Floodplain and floodway work: Flood Damage Prevention Order No. 10-24-2022 applies in special flood hazard areas within county jurisdiction, using the December 17, 2010 flood study and maps and their revisions. Development governed by the order requires a Development Permit before work begins. A fence, wall, fill or associated excavation affecting those areas needs site-specific floodplain review. Floodway encroachments are subject to the order’s allowable-encroachment, velocity and hydraulic conditions; approval involves more than a no-rise showing alone.

• County-road right-of-way work: Signed Order O-20250908-3, effective September 8, 2025, requires a permit for construction or other activity within a county-maintained road’s right-of-way. State and municipal rights-of-way have their own administrators.

• Development and county right-of-way permit terms: Development permits under section 3.4 and county right-of-way permits under section 3.7 of the Development Rules cover the approved plans and work and last one year. Request renewal at least 30 days before expiration; renewal requires no significant project changes, adequate progress and compliance, and may last no more than one year. A right-of-way renewal also requires an updated construction schedule. Substantial changes require a new application and approval before the changed work begins. Driveway, mapped-floodplain, on-site sewage and other separately regulated work remain subject to their own approvals.

• Driveway changes: Constructing, reconstructing or modifying a driveway accessing a county road requires a Driveway Permit from Development Management. For a road maintained by another agency, obtain the access approval from that agency.

• Relief from an applicable Development Rule: Submit a Request for Relief before or with the affected plat or permit application. The adopted procedure calls for a meeting, unless waived, no more than 3 months before submission, a written request, fee, proof of ownership and explanatory exhibits. Development Management gives a completeness determination within 14 days. Commissioners Court considers special circumstances affecting reasonable property use, preservation of a substantial property right, public and neighboring-property impacts, and safe, orderly development. Financial hardship alone is insufficient. Confirm current meeting handling with Development Management.

• Private swimming pools: The county has not adopted a single-family residential building code or published a numeric barrier standard for an ordinary private single-family pool. Pool use and classification matter: common, rental and public pools have distinct state requirements. The private-association enclosure protections discussed below also have their own definition and conditions.

FENCE PLACEMENT RULES

• Property boundaries: Kendall County does not publish an ordinary fence-specific numeric setback from a private property line. Use the survey and recorded documents to locate the boundary and easements. Existing fencing, mowing lines, ditches, curbs and approximate mapping may differ from the legal boundary. Ownership, permission to attach to another fence, and private agreements require separate attention.

• Driveway gates: Where fenced property accesses a state highway, county road, or another road or easement subject to Commissioners Court regulation, set the driveway gate far enough back for a vehicle entering or leaving to stop while the gate is opened or closed without any part of the vehicle extending into the road or highway right-of-way. The county rule uses that vehicle-clearance test rather than a universal numeric gate setback.

• Road access and visibility: Locate the road right-of-way before placing a fence or gate, and maintain usable driveway sight distance and access. A fence project involving county-road right-of-way activity needs the applicable permit. State-highway access and encroachments must be addressed with TxDOT.

• Drainage and easements: Recorded drainage easements require attention to their actual limits, maintenance access and clearance from fences. Fence footings, walls and grading must preserve the applicable drainage function. Altering an existing channel or waterway requires Development Management approval under the Development Rules. Water Code section 11.086 prohibits diverting or impounding natural surface water in a way that damages another’s property by overflow, subject to the statute’s qualifications.

• Large land-disturbance projects: Construction disturbing at least 1 acre, including disturbance that is part of a larger common plan reaching that threshold, can require TCEQ construction-stormwater coverage. Determine the applicable coverage before extensive clearing or grading associated with a fence project.

• Pipeline easements: Health and Safety Code chapter 756 separately governs construction, repair, replacement or maintenance on, across, over or under a pipeline easement, or work physically affecting a pipeline. Subject to contrary written agreements and the statute’s exceptions, notify the operator and satisfy the applicable no-increased-risk determination, documented protective-work payment before construction, or existing written-agreement route. A locate ticket and the easement’s construction requirements are separate obligations.

• Joint or attached fences: Agriculture Code chapter 143, section 143.121, limits removal of a separating or dividing fence in which the person is a joint owner, or a fence attached to one another person owns or controls, without mutual consent or the statutory process. Under section 143.122, a person owning an interest in an attached fence may physically withdraw that person’s fence after 6 months’ written notice to the owner of the fence to which it is attached, or that owner’s agent, attorney or lessee. Under section 143.123, the owner of a fence wholly on that owner’s land may require an attached fence to be disconnected or withdrawn after 6 months’ written notice to the attached-fence owner or that owner’s agent, attorney or lessee.

• Powered post digging and utility notice: Request a locate through Texas811’s locate service before digging fence posts. Utilities Code chapter 251 covers explosives and powered or mechanized excavation, including an auger, disturbing soil 16 or more inches deep. Ordinary notice is due no earlier than the 14th day before excavation and no later than the 48th hour before excavation, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays. For a statutory Saturday notification made before 11:59 a.m., the special start time is the following Tuesday at 11:59 a.m., or Wednesday at 11:59 a.m. if the intervening Monday is a holiday. Follow the ticket’s lawful start time and applicable response process.

• Pipeline digging, responses and ticket life: Railroad Commission rules can also cover manual excavation deeper than 16 inches near regulated underground pipelines. Before digging, have a valid locate ticket and check the location, white-lining, marks and visible evidence of unmarked pipelines. Resolve missing, unclear or conflicting responses through the current ticket process. The default pipeline ticket lasts 14 working days from the original notification unless a signed, dated written agreement establishes longer validity. Refresh the unfinished area as required and retain required tickets and positive-response records for at least 4 years.

• Protecting underground lines: The pipeline rule defines its tolerance zone as half the nominal pipeline diameter plus a minimum of 18 inches on either side of the outside edge of the pipeline on a horizontal plane. Preserve marks and exercise reasonable care within that zone, using hand digging, soft digging, vacuum excavation or appropriate operator-approved methods as applicable. Private irrigation, pool, outbuilding and other owner-installed lines may need separate locating. Chapter 251 facility classifications, exclusions and specific emergency or agricultural exceptions depend on their actual conditions. Follow the applicable notice and damage-prevention duties even when work is on your own land.

• Damage during excavation: Immediately report utility damage to the operator, using the notification center if its identity is uncertain; authorized personnel handle repairs. Delay nearby backfill until the operator has been notified and the excavator and operator have mutually agreed to a repair schedule, and keep ignition sources away when escaping flammable material endangers life, health or property. For covered pipeline damage, notify through the notification center as soon as practicable and within 1 hour, obtain operator approval before covering the damaged pipeline, and submit the required Railroad Commission damage report within 30 working days under the chapter’s time-calculation rule. If the damage releases flammable, toxic or corrosive gas, hazardous liquid or carbon dioxide, promptly call 911.

Before any post digging, request the Texas811 locate, wait for the lawful start time, check the responses and marks, and resolve missing or conflicting information through the applicable ticket process. Arrange separate locating for private services when needed and dig carefully around the identified facilities.

FENCE HEIGHT AND VISIBILITY RULES

Kendall County does not publish ordinary residential front, side or rear fence maximums, a general fence-height measurement method, a post or column allowance, or a retaining-wall-and-fence combination formula. Driveway visibility, right-of-way limits, drainage and floodway conditions still affect the location and design. Private covenants may establish applicable height or appearance requirements, subject to Texas law.

• Cleared land in cultivation: Agriculture Code section 143.001 requires a gardener or farmer to provide a sufficient fence around cleared cultivated land at least 5 feet high and capable of preventing hog passage, except as the chapter provides for areas with an adopted local-option stock law. Stock-law provisions depend on the territory and animal class involved. This cultivated-land standard is distinct from ordinary residential yard-fence height.

• Long cultivated-land fence runs: A fence around cleared cultivated land running more than 3 lineal miles in the same general direction must have an unlocked gate at least 10 feet wide under section 143.002. Consider the actual agricultural use and stock-law context when planning fencing on residential acreage.

MATERIAL AND CONSTRUCTION LIMITS

• Ordinary residential materials: Wood is expressly recognized through the Development Rules’ wooden-fence structural exclusion. The county does not publish an ordinary material-specific vinyl/PVC standard or an ordinary-lot countywide chain-link restriction. No ordinary county approved/prohibited material list is published for composite, other metal, masonry, brick, stone, bamboo or scrap fencing, or for barbed-wire, razor-wire or electric fencing. The county also does not publish an ordinary residential fence specification for opacity, finished-side orientation, pickets, caps or columns. Applicable easements, floodway conditions and private restrictions must be considered when selecting construction.

• Rural residences and agricultural operations: Agriculture Code chapter 251 protects qualifying agricultural operations and improvements under its actual conditions. A non-city governmental requirement generally applies when the operation’s established date is after the requirement’s effective date and does not apply when the operation predates it; requirements already effective and applicable before the chapter’s effective date retain their statutory treatment. City governmental requirements do not apply to agricultural operations outside city corporate boundaries.

• Qualifying agricultural fences: Section 251.006 addresses improvements on agricultural land, including fences designed for sheltering, restricting or feeding animal or aquatic life, storing produce or feed, or supporting management implements and necessary agricultural equipment. A qualifying improvement receives the section’s liability, nuisance, suit and injunction protections when construction is not expressly prohibited by statute or a governmental requirement validly adopted under section 251.005 and effective when the improvement is constructed. State and federal statutes remain enforceable. Apply these conditions to the actual agricultural improvement and use.

• Livestock containment near highways: Agriculture Code chapter 143’s highway provisions prohibit knowingly allowing covered livestock to roam unattended on the right-of-way of a covered U.S. or state highway. The statutory highway definition excludes numbered farm-to-market roads; other applicable stock and road laws still require separate attention. Fence type and sufficiency depend on the actual livestock and applicable stock-law territory.

PRIVATE RESTRICTIONS

Deed restrictions, subdivision covenants, architectural requirements, private easements, conservation restrictions and boundary or maintenance agreements can affect a fence independently of public approval. Review the recorded instruments and any association process before choosing the height, material, location or replacement design. Ownership, maintenance duties and cost sharing depend on the applicable ownership and agreements.

• Association security-fence protection: Texas Property Code sections 202.022 and 202.023 limit association restrictions. Section 202.023 generally protects security measures, including perimeter fencing, subject to retained association powers. It excludes condominiums governed by chapters 81 or 82 and master mixed-use associations subject to chapter 215.

• Retained association controls: An association may regulate fencing type and prohibit fencing that obstructs a license area defined by agreement or plat, a public or community sidewalk, or a drainage easement or drainage area. It may require a driveway gate at least 10 feet from the right-of-way where the driveway intersects a laned roadway. A restrictive covenant may prohibit fencing in front of the dwelling’s front-most building line.

• Existing and enhanced-security exceptions: The current statute allows an owner to maintain perimeter fencing or fencing in front of the dwelling’s front-most building line installed or constructed before September 1, 2025, notwithstanding those retained controls. The front-building-line prohibition also yields when the owner’s residential address is exempt from public disclosure under state or federal law, or the owner supplies law-enforcement documentation of a need for enhanced security measures. The existing-fence provision addresses maintenance; replacement or expansion requires its own assessment.

• Protected water-feature enclosure: Section 202.022 protects a defined nonclimbable enclosure of transparent mesh or clear panels set in metal frames, no more than 6 feet high and conforming to applicable state and local safety requirements. An association may regulate appearance and colors but may not prohibit the qualifying black transparent-mesh enclosure in metal frames. The 6-foot dimension defines this protected enclosure class; the pool’s actual safety requirements and the yard fence’s other applicable rules remain separate.

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 approvals: Development work governed by the county rules, floodplain or floodway impacts, county-road right-of-way activity, and driveway construction or modification.

• Placement and site impacts: Road access and visibility, drainage obstruction, easement maintenance access, and work affecting underground utilities or pipeline easements.

• Rural and ownership conditions: Applicable agricultural fencing, livestock containment, and the statutory conditions for removing or disconnecting joint or attached fences.

Association architectural review and private ownership, boundary, maintenance or cost disputes follow their own governing instruments and legal processes. Public permit approval and private approval address different responsibilities.

USING THIS INFORMATION

This page provides general orientation on how residential fence rules are structured and applied within unincorporated Kendall 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 Kendall County Development Management 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.