FENCE RULES – BURKBURNETT (CITY), TEXAS

OVERVIEW

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

Burkburnett requires a permit for every fence and generally limits fencing behind the minimum front building line to 8 feet. The required front yard on single-family and duplex property has a narrower decorative-fence exception: no more than 36 inches high and at least 50% open. Street-side placement, vehicle gates and several independent visibility rules can further restrict a design. Public streets, sidewalks and alleys must remain unobstructed. Special conditions address farm-animal perimeter wire, pools, recorded screening easements, zero-lot-line maintenance access and flood-hazard development. Updated November 2026.

Quick question	Burkburnett answer
Permit or approval	A permit is required for all fences. The fee schedule lists fencing at $40 and a separate $50 issuance fee for all permits per location; applicable professional-service expenses may also apply.
Typical fence height	Behind the minimum front building line: 8 feet maximum. In a single-family or duplex required front yard: only the qualified decorative exception, no more than 36 inches high and at least 50% open.
Placement & property lines	Street-side and front-yard restrictions, a 20-foot vehicle-gate setback, corner visibility, recorded easements and the district’s front building line govern placement.
Common fence materials	Wood: no general ordinary-yard whitelist. Vinyl/PVC: not specifically classified. Chain-link: does not qualify as decorative fencing in the required front-yard exception.
Important local conditions	Fence rules may be further affected by zoning district and front building lines, corner and double-frontage lots, separate street-visibility frameworks, public ways, farm-wire exceptions, pool enclosure, recorded common screening or maintenance easements and flood hazards.
Official local resource	Burkburnett Planning Department

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 City Building Inspector, Planning Department, Building Inspections and Code Enforcement or the responsible office identified for that issue.

GOVERNANCE

The City Commission adopts Burkburnett’s zoning and construction regulations. The Burkburnett Code of Ordinances includes Appendix A, Section 30.3 for fences, Section 32 for lot, yard and visibility rules, Chapter 99 for public-place and traffic obstructions, Chapter 152 for flood-damage prevention and Chapter 156 for fees.

The City Building Inspector in the Planning Department’s Building Inspections and Code Enforcement service administers local construction permitting and inspections. The City Manager or designee is the floodplain administrator and has the separate traffic-obstruction notice role. Recorded plats, district requirements and applicable planned-development or specific-use approvals may affect the property.

Section 150.01 adopts the 2015 International Residential Code with local amendments. The independent zoning rule requires permits for all fences. Section 30.3(G) requires fences around swimming pools to comply with the Standard Swimming Pool Code and City codes and ordinances. The City Building Inspector is the specific local contact for the applicable pool construction and barrier design.

• 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

• All-fence permit: Section 30.3(D) requires a permit for all fences. Submit the proposed location, height, material and gates to the City Building Inspector before construction. The published all-fence rule does not establish an ordinary repair-percentage exemption.

• Published charges: Section 156.01 lists $40 for fencing, $100 for a private swimming pool and a separate $50 issuance fee for all permits per location. Applicable professional-service expenses may be charged. The $40 fence line is not the complete project total; confirm the charges applicable to the particular permit.

• Pool enclosure: Under Section 30.3(G), a fence around a swimming pool must comply with the Standard Swimming Pool Code and City codes and ordinances. Before constructing or changing the enclosure, confirm the applicable barrier dimensions, openings, gates, latch hardware and any wall or cover alternative with the City Building Inspector, Planning Department, Building Inspections and Code Enforcement.

• Floodplain development permit: Chapter 152 requires a floodplain development permit for covered development and land alteration in special flood hazard areas within City jurisdiction. The adopted study and maps are the February 3, 2010 Wichita County flood study and accompanying maps, with revisions. Development includes man-made changes, structures, fill, grading and excavation. Apply to the City Manager or designee. Plans may need scaled locations, dimensions and elevations of landscape alterations and existing or proposed structures and a description of watercourse or natural-drainage changes. Review considers flood and erosion danger, debris, access and flood behavior.

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 front and street-side yards: Section 30.3 prohibits a fence in a front yard or side yard adjacent to a public street except as the stated exceptions allow. For single-family and duplex property, the required front yard permits only the decorative design described below. Section 30.3(B) separately provides that no residential fence may be closer than 15 feet to a public street, except where the side or rear building lines of yards on continuous corner lots adjoin, allowing the fence to extend to the side-yard property line. The decorative front-yard exception does not expressly waive this separate street-distance rule; confirm their application to the proposed location with the City Building Inspector. This is a specific corner-lot condition, not a general permission to occupy a street right-of-way.

• Vehicle gates: A vehicular entrance gate must be set back at least 20 feet from the property line.

• Which front building line applies: Ordinary minimum front yards are 30 feet in AG, SF-15 and SF-10, 25 feet in SF-6, R-1 and R-2, and 30 feet on all street frontages in MF. Planned-development or specific-use conditions may establish a different applicable line. Required yards are measured from future right-of-way lines where the code requires that measurement.

• Corner, double-frontage and mixed-district lots: Section 32.2 generally treats both street frontages as front yards on corner and double-frontage lots unless the final plat specifies otherwise. Its single-family and duplex exception depends on a platted side or rear building line and at least 15 feet of physical separation from the adjacent lot by an alley, street right-of-way, creek/floodplain area or a similar feature. The most restrictive district front-yard requirement applies where a block contains multiple districts; a lot facing multiple streets must also observe the adjacent-lot alignment provisions. Every lot must have at least one front yard.

• Separate corner side-yard rule: Section 32.3 applies both front-yard requirements to one- and two-family corner lots platted after December 21, 1997, subject to its platted-line and 15-foot separation exception. Its separate treatment for lots of record before the ordinance’s effective date uses the applicable district street-side yard. Identify the lot’s actual plat and governing branch rather than treating every corner lot alike.

• Existing zero-lot-line maintenance access: The R-1 patio-home provisions call for a 6-foot maintenance easement on the adjacent lot along the zero-lot-line side. A fence must preserve the access rights established by the recorded easement; that dimension is not a universal fence setback.

• Existing common screening easement: Section 155.80(F) provides a 2-foot private screening easement for qualifying townhouse or condominium developments backing a public street or backing or siding single-family or undeveloped residential land. The homeowners’ association maintains the screening wall. Check the recorded common easement and association obligations before altering an existing wall; this provision does not require every individual owner to build a new screening wall.

• Public places: Section 99.16 prohibits an obstruction of any nature on a public sidewalk, street, alley or other public place. A lot-line allowance does not authorize obstructing public space.

• Flood and watercourse conditions: Preserve the carrying capacity of an altered or relocated watercourse. In adopted floodways, development and fill encroachments need the required hydrologic and hydraulic engineering demonstration of no increase in base-flood levels. The community’s 44 CFR 65.12 process is a separate exception. Where no floodway is designated in Zones A1–30 or AE, cumulative development may not increase the base-flood water surface more than 1 foot, subject to the specified community exception. More stringent applicable restrictions remain controlling.

• 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

• Behind the minimum front building line: The ordinary maximum fence height is 8 feet behind the minimum front building line.

• Decorative front-yard exception: On single-family and duplex property, a fence within the required front yard must be decorative, no more than 36 inches high and at least 50% open. Chain-link, woven wire and similar designs are not decorative for this exception. The separate visibility rules can require a lower or differently placed design.

• Zoning sight areas: Section 32.8 prohibits an obstruction 30 inches or higher above the street centerline in the required street-corner sight area. Measure 25 feet in each direction along the intersecting property lines; an alley intersection uses 10 feet. The rule also addresses driveways without establishing the same fixed corner measurement for every driveway. Shrubs must remain below 30 inches at maturity. Single trees may be used only with a clear single trunk branching at least 8 feet high and without creating a picket-fence effect.

• Separate 45-foot traffic-obstruction rule: Section 99.17 separately treats a fence, wall or obstruction that interferes with sight lines between 2 and 8 feet above the adjacent curb, within a triangle measured 45 feet along the curb lines, as prima facie a traffic obstruction. Where there is no curb, the average street grade supplies the reference. The City Manager may give written notice requiring removal within 10 days, after which the City may remove it at the owner’s expense. The provision exempts structures built in conformance with the building codes or requirements of the city. This curb-line rule and the 25-foot property-line zoning rule remain distinct.

• Special screening and pool fences: Required higher-intensity-use screening and private pool enclosure have the separate construction conditions below. A special screening height does not replace the ordinary yard rule for every residence.

MATERIAL AND CONSTRUCTION LIMITS

• Ordinary yard materials: Section 30.3 does not supply a general ordinary-yard whitelist for wood or vinyl/PVC. Chain-link, woven wire and similar fencing do not qualify for the required front-yard decorative exception. The applicable permit, height, openness and placement conditions remain controlling.

• Barbed wire and electric fencing: Section 30.3 generally prohibits barbed wire and electrical fencing, with an exception for farm or ranch land that is undeveloped and over 1 acre. District provisions for AG, SF-15, SF-10, SF-6 and R-1 separately allow perimeter wire for farm animals on 1 acre or more, without repeating the undeveloped condition. These published branches differ at exactly one acre and for developed property. Confirm the applicable farm-animal perimeter design with the City Building Inspector before relying on an exception; the district wording alone is not a general residential wire-fence permission.

• Tennis courts: Tennis-court fences are specifically permitted, subject to the applicable fence and site requirements. This provision does not establish an extra general residential height allowance.

• Screening beside a higher-intensity use: Where the code requires a higher-intensity use to screen adjacent residential property, the required solid brick or masonry screen is 6 to 8 feet high and is built and maintained by the owner of the higher-intensity property. Required screening walls must be finished on both sides, have no openings except matching gates, and use permanent masonry, concrete or an approved equal. These are specific required-screening duties, not an ordinary homeowner material mandate.

• Pool enclosure design: A fence around a swimming pool must comply with Section 30.3(G), the Standard Swimming Pool Code and City codes and ordinances. Obtain the applicable barrier and gate specifications from the City Building Inspector before buying components or changing the enclosure. The ordinary 8-foot yard maximum and decorative front-yard exception do not by themselves establish a compliant pool barrier.

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:

• Permits and charges: The all-fence permit, applicable charges, pool enclosure review and floodplain development permit.

• Height, yards and traffic visibility: The front building line, decorative front-yard exception, street-side placement, vehicle-gate setback and independent property-line and curb-line sight rules.

• Property-specific construction: Applicable farm-wire branches, required neighboring-use screening and recorded maintenance or common screening easements.

• Drainage and excavation: Watercourse and floodway restrictions, utility and pipeline duties and the conditions governing qualifying agricultural operations.

• 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 Burkburnett, 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 City Building Inspector, Planning Department, Building Inspections and Code Enforcement 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.