FENCE RULES – BORGER (CITY), TEXAS

OVERVIEW

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

Borger allows residential fences in required setbacks but limits the street and exterior-side setback portions to 42 inches. Other ordinary residential fencing may reach eight feet, with a five-foot transition where a tall fence crosses the setback line. Corners have an additional openness restriction. The adopted residential code exempts fences not over seven feet from its building permit, but the City’s permit page and fee schedule describe the threshold inconsistently, especially at exactly seven feet. Material rules prohibit used lumber and residential corrugated metal, restrict salvaged material and preserve narrow agricultural wire-fence exceptions. Updated November 2026.

Quick question	Borger answer
Permit or approval	The adopted residential code exempts fences not over 7 feet. City permit guidance and fees differ at the boundary; resolve the actual project with Planning and Development before work.
Typical fence height	42 inches within required street/exterior-side setbacks; 8 feet otherwise. A 5-foot transition and corner-opacity conditions apply.
Placement & property lines	Fences may occupy required setbacks subject to height and openness. An existing subdivision without platted building setback lines uses 20 feet for the street/exterior-side transition rule.
Common fence materials	Wood: used lumber is prohibited. Vinyl/PVC: not specifically addressed. Chain-link: not separately approved as an ordinary yard-fence material. Other material restrictions apply below.
Important local conditions	Fence rules may be further affected by corner opacity, setback transitions, existing subdivision conditions, pool use, easements, drainage and agricultural or grazing use.
Official local resource	Borger permit requirements

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 the City of Borger Planning and Development Department or the responsible office identified for that issue.

GOVERNANCE

The City of Borger administers its adopted Code of Ordinances within incorporated city limits. The City of Borger Planning and Development Department handles the fence-related zoning and construction questions described here. Unified Land Development Ordinance Section 14.01.305(e) applies to residentially zoned or used property, excluding apartments. The Building Official administers applicable construction and material approvals. Section 3.10 adopts the 2018 International Residential Code with local amendments.

• 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, the statutory limits on boundary vegetation-height rules, 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 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.

PERMIT AND APPROVAL REQUIREMENTS

• Residential building-permit exemption: The adopted 2018 International Residential Code, Section R105.2, exempts fences not over 7 feet high from its building permit. Height, visibility, pool barriers and separately applicable city approvals remain subject to their own requirements. Present work outside the exemption to the Building Official for the applicable permit process.

• Published permit threshold conflict: The City’s specific permit list says fences over 7 feet, while its introductory prose says fences require a permit. The posted fee schedule labels the fee category “7 Foot and Up” and shows no cost below seven feet. These descriptions differ at exactly seven feet. Have Planning and Development confirm the applicable process and fee for the actual height and work before construction.

• Where a permit is required: Submit the applicable residential site plan. Contractors must register with the City before working within city limits.

• Pool and retaining-wall projects: The permit guidance lists in-ground and aboveground pools over 24 inches deep, and retaining walls over 4 feet, as permit-requiring work. A retaining wall combined with fence construction needs its own applicable assessment.

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.

• Required setbacks: Fences and walls are permitted within required setbacks subject to the lower height and corner-opacity rules.

• Easements required under Subsection 14.03.207: Structures and permanent encroachments are prohibited within an easement required by this subsection. The benefiting City or utility provider may remove a fence or other encroachment without restoring or replacing it, although disturbed ground must be reseeded. The City may charge the landowner the cost of removing an unauthorized improvement, including placing a lien on the property. Apply this rule to the actual easement affecting the parcel.

• Crossing a street or exterior-side setback line: Provide a 5-foot transition between the eight-foot and three-and-one-half-foot sections, centered on the minimum required setback line. In an existing subdivision without platted building setback lines, use a 20-foot setback for this rule.

• Exterior-side fence outside the setback: A fence parallel to and outside the exterior-side setback may reach 8 feet without an opacity requirement under this provision.

• 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

• Fence-height measurement: Subsection 14.01.401 measures height vertically from the grade on the portion of the parcel immediately abutting the fence or wall to its highest point. Apply this measurement to the 42-inch and eight-foot limits below.

• Street and exterior-side setback portions: Maximum 42 inches within the required street or exterior-side setback.

• Other residential fences and walls: Maximum 8 feet, subject to the applicable transition and corner conditions. These ordinary residential provisions exclude apartments.

• Corner-lot opacity: A corner-lot fence or wall with more than 50 percent opacity may not encroach into the street or exterior-side setback. This restriction applies in addition to the 42-inch height limit.

MATERIAL AND CONSTRUCTION LIMITS

• Wood, vinyl/PVC and chain-link: Used lumber is prohibited. The ordinary fence provisions do not separately classify new wood or chain-link as approved systems and do not specifically address vinyl/PVC.

• Other prohibited or conditional materials: Corrugated metal is prohibited in residential zoning districts. Fiberglass requires one good primer coat and two coats of neutral paint. Used or salvaged material requires plans specifically identifying it and the Building Official’s approval. The separate used-lumber prohibition remains.

• Barbed, razor and electric wire: These are prohibited except for the stated fencing exceptions. Barbed wire is permitted on property used for agriculture or grazing.

• Electrical fencing for agricultural or grazing use: Electrical fences must follow the adopted National Electrical Code, be used only for their designed purpose and be Underwriters Laboratories approved. They may be used only for agricultural or grazing purposes and not in or adjacent to a residential district.

• Fence serving a private pool: A pool-barrier design must satisfy the requirements applicable under the adopted residential-code framework. Have Planning and Development confirm the exact barrier height, openings, climb resistance, gate and latch arrangement, and any house-wall or cover alternative for the proposed pool. The ordinary 42-inch street fence allowance is not a pool-barrier approval.

• 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.

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:

• Permit and local design: Whether required permits and approvals are in place and the fence meets the applicable height, material, placement and visibility rules described above.

• Site and safety conditions: Whether easements, drainage, pool-barrier use and applicable agricultural conditions affect the design, and whether utility and pipeline procedures have been followed.

• 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 Borger, 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 City of Borger Planning and Development 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.