FENCE RULES – DEL RIO (CITY), TEXAS

OVERVIEW

This page applies to residential fence work within the incorporated boundaries of the City of Del Rio, Texas, in Val Verde County.

Del Rio requires a permit for fence construction or alteration, with an exemption for replacement of nonstructural parts such as wood planks or chain link. Required front, side and rear yards generally have a six-foot ceiling, but front yards have openness requirements and street corners have stricter height and transparency choices. The permit drawings address post sizes, spacing and embedment. Easements must stay accessible, flood-prone property needs an additional approval, and townhouse screening and Downtown Historic District procedures can affect particular properties. Wood and chain link are recognized in the permit forms; vinyl/PVC has no separate ordinary material standard. Updated November 2026.

Quick question	Del Rio answer
Permit or approval	Fence construction or alteration requires a permit; replacing nonstructural wood planks or chain link is exempt. Floodplain and qualifying historic approvals are separate.
Typical fence height	Required front, side and rear yards: maximum 6 feet. Front yards require openness above 3 feet. Within 10 feet of a street corner, use the separate 4-foot or highly open 6-foot option.
Placement & property lines	Keep the fence within the property lines and easements clear. Section 30-243 does not establish a universal numeric fence-to-property-line setback. Street-corner, floodplain and recorded plat conditions still apply.
Common fence materials	Wood: recognized in permit forms. Vinyl/PVC: not specifically addressed by the ordinary fence provisions. Chain-link: recognized in permit forms, but excluded from the special townhouse screening definition.
Important local conditions	Fence rules may be further affected by street corners, utility and drainage easements, floodplain or floodway conditions, townhouse screening, Downtown Historic District review, pool-barrier use, animal confinement, vehicle screening and private restrictions subject to Texas law.
Official local resource	Del Rio permit applications

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 your property, review the linked official sources, and confirm site-specific questions with Development Services or the responsible office identified for that issue.

GOVERNANCE

The City Council adopts Del Rio’s ordinances. The City operates under a home-rule charter. Its Code of Ordinances distributes fence requirements among Chapter 30 zoning, Chapter 8 building regulations, Chapter 11 flood-damage prevention, Chapter 26 subdivisions and the consolidated fee schedule.

Development Services administers fence permitting through the Code Compliance process, with Planning & Zoning responsible for the zoning layer. The City Engineer serves as Floodplain Administrator under Section 11-25. Public Works also administers the Storm Water Design Manual. The historic preservation officer and Historic Design Review Committee administer the Downtown Historic District design process. These approvals address different aspects of a project.

PERMIT AND APPROVAL REQUIREMENTS

Fence permit: The City’s Fence Permit Application and Procedures requires a permit when a fence will be constructed or altered. Replacing nonstructural elements, including wood planks or chain link, is exempt. The exemption does not remove the fence’s location, height, openness or easement requirements.

Application documents: Provide two sets of documents and one PDF file. Include a property survey, which the City prefers, or a site plan showing the proposed fence within the property lines; a detail drawing; and the fence height. The application requests owner and contractor information, project location, fence type, total linear footage, flood-hazard status and a signed certification of the applicant’s authority and accuracy. Property pins must be visible for inspectors. The bilingual form separately labels valuation as required for commercial projects.

Drawing details: Show post size and type, spacing, horizontal supports, fence height and depth in the ground. The masonry drawing requests block and column sizes, reinforcing-bar sizes and quantities in columns and foundations, and foundation depth and width. The form’s Spanish drawing instruction says three copies, while its English instruction and procedure sheet say two; confirm the submission count with Development Services.

Published fence fees: Appendix A lists a $15 fence plan-review fee per application and a $45 fence inspection fee per occurrence. It also lists a general $15 permit-processing fee. Confirm the applicable charges and number of inspections for the project rather than assuming one fixed total.

FEMA-designated flood-prone property: Submit a Floodplain Development Permit before the City accepts the fence-permit application. The Floodplain Administrator reviews the project under Chapter 11; plans may need scaled locations, dimensions, elevations and descriptions of changes to watercourses or natural drainage.

Downtown Historic District: Section 30-141.5 requires a Certificate of Appropriate Design before exterior alteration, restoration, reconstruction, new construction or moving of a landmark or property in the district when the work requires a building permit. The certificate is additional to other required permits. The owner or representative applies through the Chief Building Official or designee after consultation with the historic preservation officer. Include the work description, address and applicant information, property and adjacent-property photographs, elevation drawings and material samples or examples. The Committee must act within 30 days of receipt; the ordinance permits proceeding without the certificate if it takes no action within that period. Approved certificates are sent within 24 hours of the decision. Ordinary maintenance and in-kind repair or replacement without a change in design, material or outward appearance are protected by Section 30-141.9.

Pools and spas: A fence serving as a pool barrier must meet the applicable pool-safety requirements as well as ordinary fence rules. Have Development Services review the pool, barrier and gate design together. Private single-family pools and association or multiunit-complex pools have different legal classifications; Health and Safety Code Chapter 757 governs its specified association and multiunit facilities.

FENCE PLACEMENT RULES

Property boundaries: The permit procedures require the proposed fence to remain within the property lines. Section 30-243 does not publish one numeric fence setback from every lot boundary. Establish the legal boundary and the location of rights-of-way, easements and recorded plat restrictions before setting posts; an existing fence or pavement edge is not a substitute for those records.

Utility and drainage easements: The fence procedures require easements to remain clear of fences, buildings, planting and other obstructions needed for utility operation and maintenance. Section 26-15(a) requires a plat note keeping drainage easements clear of fences and other obstructions to drainage-facility operation and maintenance; abutting property may drain into those easements only by approved means. Use the actual easement and plat to locate the restricted strip.

Townhouse-project screening: Under Sections 26-56 and 26-65, townhouse lots or condominium structures backing on a public street, or backing or siding on undeveloped property in an R-S or R-M district, require a two-foot-wide private easement along the affected street or common lot line for the required screen. The homeowners association must permanently maintain it. Screen construction follows City inspection-department standards.

Floodplain and floodway: Chapter 11 applies to special flood hazard areas, and the adopted Storm Water Design Manual addresses floodplain development whether or not FEMA has designated it. A fence that would impede flow within a floodplain or floodway requires an approved engineering study sealed by a Texas professional engineer. Floodway encroachments ordinarily require hydrologic and hydraulic analysis demonstrating no increase in base-flood levels; Section 11-34 retains the separate federal Section 65.12 approval route for qualifying increases. Keep drainage and maintenance access open.

Surface drainage: Water Code Section 11.086 prohibits diversion or impoundment of natural surface water that damages another property by overflow, subject to its stated flood-control and water-improvement qualifications. Wall foundations, grading and other fence work must account for existing drainage.

Joint or attached fences: Agriculture Code Sections 143.121–143.123 restrict removal of jointly owned dividing fences and fences attached to another person’s fence, subject to mutual consent and the statutory process. Under Section 143.122, a person who owns an interest in a fence attached to a fence owned wholly or partly by another person may withdraw their fence from the other fence after six months’ written notice of the intended separation. That notice goes to the owner of the fence to which the withdrawing person’s fence is attached, or that owner’s agent, attorney or lessee. Under Section 143.123, an owner whose fence is wholly on their land may require the owner of a fence attached to it to disconnect and withdraw that attached fence after six months’ written notice of the required disconnection. That notice goes to the owner of the fence attached to the requesting owner’s fence, or that owner’s agent, attorney or lessee. Ownership and attachment determine which provision applies.

Pipeline easements: Health and Safety Code Sections 756.121–756.123 impose separate operator-notice and protective-work conditions on covered construction affecting pipeline easements or facilities, subject to written-agreement and other statutory exceptions. Check those conditions independently of a locate request.

Before digging: Request a Texas811 locate before digging fence-post holes, wait the applicable lawful period, check ticket responses and site markings, resolve missing or conflicting information through the ticket process, protect marks and dig carefully. Utilities Code Chapter 251 covers specified mechanized excavation to 16 or more inches; ordinary notice is no earlier than the 14th day before work and no later than 48 hours before work, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, with a separate Saturday-notification rule. A statutory Saturday notification must be delivered before 11:59 a.m. Saturday; the branch allows work the following Tuesday at 11:59 a.m., or Wednesday at 11:59 a.m. if the intervening Monday is a legal holiday. Private services are not all marked. Railroad Commission pipeline rules can also cover manual excavation beyond 16 inches and generally use a 14-working-day ticket life, subject to the signed written longer-ticket agreement option. Refresh unfinished work for the remaining area before expiry and retain required records for at least four years. Locate compliance does not replace permits, easement rights or pipeline construction requirements.

FENCE HEIGHT AND VISIBILITY RULES

Required front yards: Section 30-243 allows up to six feet. The lower three feet may be 100% solid. Above three feet, the fence may be no more than 30% solid, except columns no more than 16 inches wide on any side and at least eight feet apart.

Required side and rear yards: Fences may reach six feet and may be 100% solid.

Street corners: Within ten feet of the property corner adjoining two intersecting streets, the fence may reach four feet, with the lower two feet fully solid and the portion above two feet no more than 30% solid. Alternatively, it may reach six feet if the entire fence is no more than 10% solid. Measure this corner-lot height from the elevation of the adjoining public way.

Posts, columns and grade: The permit procedures include posts and columns in the six-foot height limit and measure from average adjacent grade. The ordinance’s adjoining-public-way measurement governs the separate street-corner provision.

Vegetation: Where the fence is limited to 30% solidity, vines, hedges, trees, shrubs and other vegetation may not create a fence effect exceeding 30% solidity. Section 25-76 also requires hedges and shrubs beside public sidewalks to stay clear of every part of the sidewalk.

Required townhouse screen: The special screen defined by Section 26-56 is at least six feet high and at least 75% solid. It applies to the townhouse-project locations described above.

Detention-storage fencing: The Storm Water Design Manual allows Public Works to require security fencing at least six feet high around detention storage where location, velocity, depth or slopes justify restricting access. Such fencing must permit maintenance access and preserve water flow into and out of the basin.

MATERIAL AND CONSTRUCTION LIMITS

Recognized ordinary materials: The permit forms identify wood, chain link, wrought iron, sheet metal and masonry/block construction, and provide an “other” field for drawings or information about another design. Vinyl/PVC is not specifically addressed by the ordinary fence provisions. Every material remains subject to the applicable openness and site requirements.

Post-and-panel drawing: The bilingual form shows a maximum ten-foot support spacing, posts of at least 2⅜-inch metal or 4-by-4 wood, maximum six-foot height, and embedment of at least one-third of the post height above grade. Provide the horizontal-support size and type. The separate masonry detail requires the column, block, reinforcement and footing information described in the permit section.

Electric and barbed-wire fences: Section 8-2 generally prohibits electric fences, fences made wholly or partly of barbed wire, and barbed-wire guards around parcels. The prohibition does not apply in the Agriculture-Open District. Its separate exception for six strands above a non-barbed fence at least six feet high is limited to lots used for commercial enterprises in commercial or industrial districts.

Townhouse screen materials: The special screen may use stone, brick, concrete block, pierced brick, wood, another permanent material of equal character or a hedge. Chain-link fences are expressly excluded from that screening definition. The required screen must meet the six-foot minimum and 75% solidity standard.

Residential vehicle screening: Section 17-123(a)(3) provides a fully enclosed garage or similar structure, or screening on all sides by a solid wall or fence at least six feet high on an improved surface, for the listed race cars, dune buggies, utility-platform trucks, farm equipment and similar non-street equipment in residential districts. Section 17-124(a)(2)(c) similarly requires enclosed storage or that screening treatment for an RV or trailer that cannot lawfully operate or is otherwise a nuisance. These screening options do not remove the fence’s separate yard and corner requirements.

Animal enclosures: Chapter 5 recognizes restraint by an enclosure of sufficient strength and construction. Section 5-18 requires livestock kept in the city to remain in a pen, fenced area, corral or other enclosure strong enough to restrain them. For the permitted skyline-type dog trolley, Section 5-10 also requires fencing adequate to prevent entry by the public, including children, and other animals.

Historic property: When the Downtown Historic District certificate process applies, approved materials, design and other certificate conditions control the authorized work. Section 30-141.6 identifies the Secretary of the Interior’s rehabilitation standards and a City-approved design checklist as review criteria.

Agricultural operations: Agriculture Code Chapter 251 limits City requirements on qualifying agricultural operations. Within city limits, Section 251.0055 requires the specified imminent-danger evidence, consideration of less restrictive means, a supporting health report and a City Council resolution. Section 251.006 separately protects qualifying agricultural improvements, including fences, subject to its conditions and state or federal law. Agricultural use and the applicable statutory requirements determine these protections.

PRIVATE RESTRICTIONS

Recorded covenants, private easements, association rules and agreements about ownership, maintenance or cost can affect a fence independently of City approval. The City’s permit procedures specifically flag subdivision covenants. Review private requirements subject to the protections and exceptions in Texas Property Code Chapter 202.

Security fencing: Section 202.023 generally protects security measures, including perimeter fencing, for associations within its scope. It preserves controls over fence type; obstruction of license areas, public or community sidewalks, and drainage easements or areas; and qualifying driveway-gate setbacks of at least ten feet where a driveway meets a defined laned roadway. A restrictive covenant may prohibit fencing in front of the dwelling’s front-most building line. The statute protects maintenance of qualifying fencing installed before September 1, 2025, and provides an exception to the front-building-line prohibition for specified address-confidentiality or documented enhanced-security cases. Condominiums under Chapters 81 or 82 and Chapter 215 master mixed-use associations are excluded.

Protected water-feature enclosure: Section 202.022 protects a conforming nonclimbable enclosure of transparent mesh or clear panels in metal frames, no more than six feet high, around a pool, spa or other water feature. Associations may regulate appearance and colors within the statute’s limits but may not prohibit the protected black transparent-mesh/metal-frame form. The enclosure must still satisfy applicable safety requirements.

REVIEW AND ENFORCEMENT CONTEXT

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

• Construction or alteration without the required permit, incomplete drawings or inaccessible property pins.

• Excess height, excessive solidity in a front yard or at a street corner, and vegetation creating an excessive fence effect.

• Obstruction of utility or drainage easements, interference with flood flow, or failure to obtain the required floodplain approval.

• Failure to follow required historic design approval, townhouse screening or applicable animal and vehicle-screening conditions.

Public enforcement is separate from private covenant enforcement and disputes about ownership, attachment, maintenance or cost.

USING THIS INFORMATION

This page provides general orientation on how residential fence rules are structured and applied within the City of Del Rio, 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 Development Services 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.