FENCE RULES – TOM GREEN (COUNTY), TEXAS

OVERVIEW

This page covers residential fencing in unincorporated Tom Green County. Incorporated municipal territory is outside this county guide. Floodplain administration, county and state roads, utility and pipeline protections, recorded property conditions, and private restrictions have their own coverage. Municipal extraterritorial subdivision functions are separate from ordinary county fence regulation.

Tom Green County’s published requirements do not communicate a general permit, ordinary yard-height maximum, or material-specific standard for a residential fence on an existing lot. Fence location still depends on the legal boundary, road rights-of-way, easements and drainage. Mapped floodplain property has a separate county development-review program. Rural residences with cultivated acreage or livestock can have conditional agricultural duties and protections. State law also governs shared or attached fence removal and limits certain HOA restrictions. A special fence-and-cover duty applies to pools on abandoned, unoccupied neighborhood property. Updated November 2026.

Quick question	Tom Green County answer
Permit or approval	The county’s published requirements do not communicate a general fence-permit requirement or exemption for an ordinary residential fence. Floodplain development, driveway or road-cut work, and pipeline-easement construction have separate conditions.
Typical fence height	The county’s published requirements do not communicate an ordinary front-, side- or rear-yard fence-height maximum. Agricultural fence sufficiency and special pool protection use separate, conditional standards.
Placement & property lines	The county’s published requirements do not communicate a general numeric fence-to-property-line setback. Legal boundaries, public rights-of-way, recorded easements, drainage and applicable site conditions remain separate constraints.
Common fence materials	Wood: the county’s published requirements do not communicate an ordinary material-specific standard. Vinyl/PVC: the county’s published requirements do not communicate an ordinary material-specific standard. Chain-link: the county’s published requirements do not communicate an ordinary material-specific standard. Private restrictions and special-use requirements can affect material choice.
Important local conditions	Fence rules may be further affected by mapped floodplain development, drainage easements, county or state road rights-of-way, pipeline easements, underground services, shared or attached fences, agricultural use, private restrictions and the special abandoned-property pool condition.
Official local resource	Tom Green County Environmental Health publishes the county’s floodplain, septic and subdivision-review functions.

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 Tom Green County Environmental Health or the responsible office identified for the issue.

GOVERNANCE

The Tom Green County Commissioners Court adopts county regulations within the authority granted by Texas law. The county’s published programs address particular functions rather than a single comprehensive residential fence code. Its published requirements do not communicate a general county fence-zoning program.

• Floodplain and environmental administration: Tom Green County Environmental Health administers its published mapped floodplain program, septic-system permitting and inspections, and subdivision lot review for septic and floodplain matters. These functions have separate project conditions.

• County roads and access: The respective Precinct Commissioner and county road personnel administer the published driveway-access and road-cut approval process. The County Clerk Real Estate Section receives the application and payment and maintains the related records.

• Neighborhood nuisances: The county nuisance-abatement administrator and Constables administer the published county nuisance program in unincorporated territory. Applicable state nuisance duties concerning drainage easements and abandoned-property pools are described below.

• Other authorities: The Texas Department of Transportation administers state-highway right-of-way matters. Utility operators and the Railroad Commission of Texas have distinct underground-facility and pipeline responsibilities. Private easement holders and property owners associations have separate rights subject to their instruments and Texas law.

• Municipal and ETJ functions: Municipal corporate territory has its own applicable local framework. A municipality’s extraterritorial jurisdiction, or ETJ, can involve subdivision and related functions outside its limits. This county guide makes no parcel-specific ETJ allocation or municipal fence-code determination.

PERMIT AND APPROVAL REQUIREMENTS

• Ordinary existing-lot fence: The county’s published requirements do not communicate a general fence-permit requirement or express exemption for installing or replacing an ordinary residential fence.

• Mapped floodplain development: Environmental Health administers county review of new development and substantial improvements in regulated mapped floodplains. Fence-related work on such property can require review under the applicable development requirements. Environmental Health is the responsible office for a project-specific determination.

• Driveway access or county road cuts: A fence project that includes new driveway access or a county road cut must address the separate county approval process for that work. The published permit route involves the respective Precinct Commissioner or designee and County Clerk Real Estate Section. It is distinct from ordinary yard fencing.

• Pipeline-easement construction: Covered construction on, across, over or under a pipeline easement or right-of-way, or construction that physically affects or creates a risk to a pipeline facility, has a separate statutory operator-notice process. Its conditions are detailed under FENCE PLACEMENT RULES.

• Private review: An applicable HOA or architectural-review requirement is separate from governmental approval and operates within the statutory limitations described under PRIVATE RESTRICTIONS.

FENCE PLACEMENT RULES

• Property lines: The county’s published requirements do not communicate a general numeric fence-to-property-line setback for ordinary residential fencing. A legal boundary is distinct from a recorded easement, public right-of-way, drainage feature or private building line. Existing fences, tax or GIS lines, curbs, ditches and mowing lines are not conclusive legal-boundary determinations. Fence age alone does not settle ownership or title.

• County and state road rights-of-way: Texas law requires public roads to remain clear of obstructions. Identify the actual right-of-way and responsible road authority when planning a road-edge fence or gate. The county’s published requirements do not communicate a general fence distance measured from pavement, a ditch, a utility pole or an existing fence. Driveway-access and road-cut work has its own county process; state-highway right-of-way matters fall under the Texas Department of Transportation.

• Drainage easements in unincorporated territory: Health and Safety Code Section 343.011 prohibits filling or blocking a drainage easement, failing to maintain it, allowing it to become clogged with debris, sediment or vegetation, or violating a county agreement to improve or maintain it. Fence placement and construction must account for these duties where they apply. This section excludes agricultural land qualifying for tax appraisal under Subchapter C or D of Tax Code Chapter 23, and the specified sites or facilities permitted and regulated by a state agency, or licensed or permitted under Health and Safety Code Chapter 361, for the activity in question. These exceptions concern this nuisance provision; other applicable water, easement, floodplain and road duties remain separate.

• Natural surface-water flow: Water Code Section 11.086 prohibits diverting or impounding natural surface water, or allowing one’s diversion or impoundment to continue, in a manner that damages another property by overflow. Walls, footings and associated grading must account for that duty. The statute retains qualifications concerning authorized flood-control and irrigation improvements and specified filling of gullies or sloughs at river or creek banks; it does not authorize obstruction of a well-defined natural drainage by a canal, lateral canal or ditch.

• Mapped floodplain property: The county’s development-review program is separate from ordinary property-line placement. Environmental Health administers the applicable review for regulated mapped floodplains and substantial improvements.

• Recorded property conditions: A recorded plat or easement can impose a continuing condition on the particular lot. Public access, utility and drainage rights must be distinguished from private subdivision restrictions. This guide does not assign a universal easement width or a countywide fence setback to those instruments.

• Jointly owned or attached fences: Agriculture Code Section 143.121 restricts removal of a separating or dividing fence in which the person is a joint owner, or a fence attached to one owned or controlled by another, except through the statutory process or mutual consent. Under Section 143.122, a person owning an interest in a fence attached to a fence owned wholly or partly by another may withdraw their fence after six months’ written notice of intended separation to the other owner or that person’s agent, attorney or lessee. Under Section 143.123, an owner whose fence is wholly on their own land may require an attached fence’s disconnection after six months’ written notice to its owner or that person’s agent, attorney or lessee. These conditions concern ownership and attachment, rather than every fence replacement.

• Construction affecting a pipeline easement: Health and Safety Code Sections 756.121–756.123 apply to covered construction, repair, replacement and maintenance. Subject to the statutory written-agreement and other applicability exceptions, the pipeline operator must receive notice. Work must meet the applicable statutory branch: the operator determines that it will not increase risk; or, where increased risk is determined, the constructor pays the reasonable, necessary and documented cost of the protective changes needed for the public or pipeline before proceeding with construction; or work proceeds under an existing written agreement; or the specified prompt regulated-utility work is required because of a natural disaster. A contrary written agreement, including an applicable transportation right-of-way agreement, can govern under Section 756.122. That section also excludes the specified municipal-owned-property and navigation-district or port-authority work. This process is separate from an 811 locate and supplies no universal numeric pipeline fence setback.

• Agricultural and owner excavation exceptions: Utilities Code Section 251.156 excepts the specified activities on private property in connection with agricultural operations, defined by Tax Code Section 23.51(2). Its separate owner-related exception applies to excavation by or for a person who owns, leases or holds a mineral leasehold interest in the property and operates all underground facilities at the excavation site. Ownership alone is not that exception. Practical advance utility-location precautions remain useful, and the separate pipeline rules have their own coverage and exceptions.

• Separate pipeline digging rules: Railroad Commission Chapter 18 can cover manual digging deeper than 16 inches near covered underground pipelines. Movement of earth not exceeding 16 inches is excluded under that rule. Its default locate-ticket life is 14 working days, subject to a written longer-life agreement signed and dated by excavator and operator. Refresh unfinished work for the remaining excavation area and retain required locate-ticket and positive-response records for at least four years. Missing or inconsistent pipeline responses have a specified second-notice process; resolve them through the applicable ticket procedure before relying on a response.

• Texas811 before post digging: Request a locate through Texas811’s digging-safety service before digging fence posts. Utilities Code Chapter 251 covers specified powered or mechanized excavation, including augers, disturbing soil to 16 or more inches. Subject to its exceptions, notice must be given no earlier than the fourteenth day and no later than the forty-eighth hour before excavation, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays. Follow the applicable lawful start and ticket instructions, check responses against site markings, resolve missing or conflicting information through the current process, protect marks and dig carefully. Private services and some facilities may need separate location; an 811 request does not replace permits, property permission or easement rights.

FENCE HEIGHT AND VISIBILITY RULES

• Ordinary yard fences: The county’s published requirements do not communicate ordinary front-, side- or rear-yard fence-height maximums, a general fence-height measurement method, or a countywide fence sight-triangle dimension. Road rights-of-way, drainage, recorded site conditions and applicable private restrictions still affect the usable location and design.

• Abandoned and unoccupied neighborhood-property pools: The special statutory protection described under MATERIAL AND CONSTRUCTION LIMITS uses a minimum fence height of four feet. It is not an ordinary residential fence-height maximum.

• Cultivated acreage and livestock contexts: The agricultural sufficient-fence heights below operate under their own use and local-stock-law conditions. They are separate from ordinary yard-fence height limits.

MATERIAL AND CONSTRUCTION LIMITS

• Wood, vinyl/PVC and chain-link: The county’s published requirements do not communicate an ordinary material-specific residential standard for wood, vinyl/PVC or chain-link. The county’s published requirements also do not communicate an ordinary fence-specific opacity, finished-side, barbed-wire, razor-wire or electric-fence standard. Applicable private restrictions and special-use conditions remain separate.

• Pool on abandoned and unoccupied neighborhood property: Health and Safety Code Section 343.011(c)(6) identifies a nuisance when such a pool lacks the prescribed protection: a fence at least four feet high with a latched and locked gate and a cover over the entire pool that a child cannot remove. For this provision, a neighborhood is a platted subdivision or property contiguous to and within 300 feet of one; a platted subdivision includes an approved or unapproved plat recorded with the county clerk. The agricultural-land and specified state-regulated/permitted-facility exceptions described under FENCE PLACEMENT RULES apply to this section as well.

• County pool-form discrepancy: The county’s nuisance complaint form describes an alternative of a four-foot fence with a gate a child cannot open or a child-resistant full-pool cover. The state statute and the county’s published policy use the fence-with-locked-gate and cover formulation for abandoned and unoccupied neighborhood property. The complaint-form alternative does not waive the statutory fence-and-cover duty.

• Ordinary private-home versus common pools: Health and Safety Code Chapter 757 concerns its defined multiunit and association pools; its multiunit definition excludes ordinary single-family homes that are not part of a condominium project. Public or common-pool enclosure standards and this abandoned-property nuisance condition are separate from an occupied home’s ordinary yard-fence dimensions.

• Cleared land in cultivation: Agriculture Code Chapter 143 contains agricultural fence-sufficiency rules. Section 143.001 requires each gardener or farmer to make a sufficient fence around cleared cultivated land at least five feet high that prevents hog passage, subject to the chapter’s treatment of areas with adopted local-option stock laws. Section 143.002 prohibits more than three lineal miles of fence running in the same general direction around cleared cultivated land without an unlocked gate at least ten feet wide.

• Adopted-stock-law sufficient-fence branch: Sections 143.024(b) and 143.074(b) limit the succeeding provisions to the county or area adopting the respective subchapter. Within Section 143.028’s applicable branch, a person need not fence against animals prohibited from running at large; sufficiency concerns keeping out ordinary livestock permitted to run at large. Its specifications include a height of at least four feet; three barbed wires on posts no more than 30 feet apart with one or more stays between posts; pickets no more than six inches apart; three boards at least five inches wide and one inch thick; or four rails, according to fence type. The section also provides a local election concerning three barbed wires without a board. Section 143.077 uses its separate animal-class test. Actual animal class, location and adopted law control the applicable branch; these are not ordinary countywide residential material permissions.

• Livestock and highways: Section 143.102 prohibits knowingly permitting a horse, mule, donkey, cow, bull, steer, hog, sheep or goat to traverse or roam unattended on the right-of-way of a highway as defined in that subchapter. Its definition covers U.S. and state highways and excludes numbered farm-to-market roads. Other applicable stock and road duties remain separate.

• Qualifying agricultural operations: Agriculture Code Section 251.005 distinguishes the operation’s established date from a governmental requirement’s effective date in that geographic area. A noncity political subdivision’s requirement applies where the operation began after the requirement; does not apply where the operation began before it; and applies where the requirement was already in effect and applicable to the operation before the chapter’s effective date. Recodifying an ordinance does not change the effective date of unchanged requirements. A city’s governmental requirement does not apply to an agricultural operation outside its corporate boundaries. Qualifying agricultural operations include the activities defined by Section 251.002; acreage or a residential label alone does not determine that status.

• Qualifying agricultural fence improvements: Under Agriculture Code Section 251.006, an owner, lessee or occupant of agricultural land is not liable to the state, a governmental unit, or the owner, lessee or occupant of other agricultural land for construction or maintenance of an agricultural improvement when its construction is not expressly prohibited by statute or by a governmental requirement adopted in accordance with Section 251.005 and in effect when the improvement is constructed. The qualifying improvement does not constitute a nuisance and is not otherwise subject to suit or injunction under that provision. Agricultural improvements include fences designed to shelter, restrict or feed animal or aquatic life, to store produce or feed, or to store or maintain implements used for management functions or equipment necessary for agricultural operations. Agricultural land includes qualifying agricultural-appraisal land and other land on which agricultural operations exist or may take place. State and federal statutory enforcement remains applicable.

PRIVATE RESTRICTIONS

HOA and architectural covenants, deed restrictions, private easements, boundary agreements and maintenance or cost agreements operate separately from county approval. Their application is subject to Texas statutory limits. A governmental approval does not determine ownership of a fence or an adjoining owner’s contribution.

• HOA security and perimeter fencing: Property Code Section 202.023 protects specified security measures, including perimeter fences, subject to retained controls. It excludes condominiums under Chapters 81 or 82 and master mixed-use associations under Chapter 215.

• Retained HOA controls: An association may regulate fence type; prohibit obstruction of a license area, public or community sidewalk, drainage easement or drainage area; require a driveway gate to be at least ten feet from the right-of-way where the driveway intersects a statutorily defined laned roadway; and, when a restrictive covenant provides it, prohibit installation in front of a dwelling’s front-most building line. The gate distance is a permitted HOA requirement rather than a universal public setback or a maximum an association may require.

• Existing fencing and enhanced-security cases: Notwithstanding those retained controls, Section 202.023(d) allows maintenance of qualifying perimeter or front-building-line fencing installed or constructed before September 1, 2025. The front-building-line prohibition also has the statutory exception for an owner whose residential address is exempt from public disclosure or who supplies law-enforcement documentation of a need for enhanced security. These provisions do not grant automatic approval to expand or replace every existing fence.

• Protected water-feature enclosures: Property Code Section 202.022 concerns a nonclimbable fence surrounding a water feature, made of transparent mesh or clear panels in metal frames and no more than six feet high. An association may not prohibit or restrict a qualifying enclosure conforming to applicable state or local safety requirements. Appearance and color controls remain within the statute, including protection for the black transparent-mesh/metal-frame form. Six feet defines this protection; it is not a general county fence maximum or pool-barrier minimum.

REVIEW AND ENFORCEMENT CONTEXT

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

• Floodplain and access review: Applicable mapped floodplain development, new driveway access and county road cuts have their separate responsible offices and project conditions.

• Roads, drainage and easements: Obstruction of public roads or drainage easements, damaging diversion of surface water, and interference with recorded access or utility rights can affect fence placement.

• Special pool conditions: The abandoned-and-unoccupied neighborhood-property pool duty has its own enclosure, gate and cover requirements and statutory exceptions. The county complaint form’s different wording is an administrative discrepancy.

• Utility and pipeline work: Covered post digging, ticket responses, pipeline-easement construction and protective work have duties independent of ordinary county fence-permit treatment.

• Rural and shared-fence conditions: Applicable agricultural standards and protections, livestock-road duties, and ownership or attachment conditions for removal can change the project.

• Private review: HOA or architectural review and private boundary, ownership or cost disputes are distinct from public enforcement and remain subject to Texas law.

USING THIS INFORMATION

This page provides general orientation on how residential fence rules are structured and applied within unincorporated Tom Green 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 Tom Green County Environmental Health 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.