FENCE RULES – FORNEY (CITY), TEXAS

OVERVIEW

This page covers residential fencing within the incorporated boundaries of the City of Forney, Texas, in Kaufman County. It includes ordinary residential lots and the additional public requirements that apply to particular planned developments, historic properties, pool barriers and other specified site conditions.

Forney regulates fences through both its fence article and zoning ordinance. Permits, front-yard openness, street clearance, visibility and steel-post construction all matter. The two ordinances publish different rear-yard height limits and different conditions for some ornamental-iron and farm fences, so those differences remain important to a proposed design. Wood is recognized, while vinyl/PVC has express recognition in particular planned developments. Chain-link is excluded from decorative front fencing and from zoning-compliant pool enclosures. Neighborhood-specific ordinances can require open metal, masonry or particular wood construction. Easements and corner visibility can change the usable fence line. Updated November 2026.

Quick question	Forney answer
Permit or approval	Zoning requires permits for all fences; the separate fence article expressly requires a building permit above two feet. A completed fence requires inspection. Historic, pool, floodplain and certain gate or development approvals can also apply.
Typical fence height	Ordinary front fencing is generally limited to four feet and must be open. The fence article publishes eight feet for rear/alley and specified side fencing; zoning publishes eight feet four inches behind the minimum front-yard line. Ornamental-iron, corner-lot and neighborhood branches differ.
Placement & property lines	Zoning generally keeps residential fences at least 15 feet from a public street, with a specified continuous-corner-lot exception. Vehicular gates require 25 feet from the property line. City/public-utility easements and rights-of-way, visibility areas and recorded lot conditions constrain placement.
Common fence materials	Wood: recognized, with front-yard, post and neighborhood restrictions. Vinyl/PVC: expressly recognized in some planned developments; not specifically addressed as a general residential material in §41.3. Chain-link: not decorative front-yard fencing and prohibited for pool enclosures under zoning; special open-metal rules also apply in some neighborhoods.
Important local conditions	Fence rules may be further affected by corner and driveway visibility, planned development zoning, historic designation, swimming pools, utility and drainage easements, subdivision screening, floodplain work, emergency access and agricultural use.
Official local resource	City of Forney Building Inspection

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 Building Inspection, Planning & Development or the responsible office identified for that issue.

GOVERNANCE

Forney is a home-rule city. The City Council adopts municipal regulations. Residential fence requirements are distributed between Code of Ordinances Article 3.07 — Fences, the City of Forney zoning ordinance, planned development ordinances, subdivision standards and applicable building, pool and fire codes.

The Community Development Department includes Building Inspection, Planning & Development and Neighborhood Services. Building Inspection handles permit and inspection administration; Planning & Development administers the zoning and development layer; Neighborhood Services handles code-compliance matters. Article 3.07 names the office of the City Secretary for issuance of its building permit, while current permit information directs applicants to Building Inspection. Appeals from the building inspector under Article 3.07 go to the Board of Adjustment.

The Architectural Review Board reviews work covered by historic zoning. The City Manager or designee administers designated development, screening, utility-screening and floodplain responsibilities. Engineering and public-works requirements govern applicable public infrastructure, drainage and easement conditions. The Fire Marshal and City of Forney Fire Department administer fire-access and applicable gate requirements. Utilities and pipeline operators have separate access and construction-protection roles.

Forney adopted the 2021 International Residential Code and 2021 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code in November 2022, with local amendments. Its adopted 2021 International Fire Code also has local amendments, including the October 2024 amendments. The zoning ordinance’s 2026 residential changes added R1 while retaining SF-20, SF-15, SF-11, SF-8, SF-6, SF-PH, 2F and SFA for property already lawfully zoned to those districts. Applicable planned development standards remain important to individual lots.

PERMIT AND APPROVAL REQUIREMENTS

Forney publishes two fence-permit formulations. Zoning §41.3 requires permits for all fences. Article 3.07 expressly requires a building permit before constructing a fence over two feet high. The published provisions differ in their stated threshold; the zoning requirement includes shorter fences.

• Fence application and drawings: The City’s fence application requests the owner, contractor, project address, type, height, dimensions and description of the work. It calls for two plot plans or dimensioned drawings showing the fence location. The form provides for City verification of the plat, zoning and planned development requirements. Current City permit administration uses the MyGov system, and contractors must be registered with the City before obtaining permits.

• Published fee discrepancy: The fence application and miscellaneous permit-fee entry show $25, while the fence-specific Article 3.07 fee entry shows $20. These published amounts differ. Article 3.07 waives the separate fence-permit fee when the fence is constructed in conjunction with a building for which a building permit has been issued.

• Completion inspection: Article 3.07 requires inspection when the fence is completed. The building inspector’s office must be notified; a compliant fence receives a card of acceptance, and a noncompliant fence is rejected. Fences must remain vertical and comply with the article’s requirements.

• Special-purpose fencing: Fencing such as a tennis-court enclosure requires a City permit under zoning §41.3 and has a separate maximum height described below.

• Historic Overlay Zone: Fencing is an exterior architectural feature covered by the historic provisions. Construction, reconstruction, alteration, modification, restoration, removal, remodeling, renovation, repair or demolition of covered exterior features requires a Certificate of Approval from the Architectural Review Board unless an express exception applies. The application goes to Community Development with the appropriate fee, completed application and five copies of plans, elevations, perspectives, specifications or other documents adequately describing the work; adequate written descriptions are acceptable. Community Development must notify the board chair within five business days after receiving a completed application, and a board meeting is to be held within 30 days after receipt of the completed application.

• Historic minor work and disaster restoration: Ordinary maintenance, repairs and emergency repairs involving only Minor Work can use the ordinance’s exception when the required application and fee are submitted before work, the Director of Community Development determines that the work qualifies, and the Director issues the Minor Work permit. Work outside that determination requires the Certificate of Approval process, subject to the ordinance’s appeal path. The separate disaster-restoration exception allows an existing covered structure to be rebuilt to its prior size, original architectural style and like materials, color and appearance when a building permit is applied for and issued within one year after destruction. Enlargements, dissimilar materials, significant exterior changes or late commencement require the applicable approval process.

• Historic landmarks and Historic District zoning: Section 34f.6 requires a Certificate of Approval, together with other required permits, for covered work and for material changes to fences and other specified exterior elements visible from a public right-of-way that affect the property’s appearance and cohesiveness. It uses the §34e.10 application and decision process.

• Swimming pools and barriers: Zoning §47.2 requires a building permit before constructing or altering a swimming pool. The enclosure and adopted pool-code requirements described below are part of that project. Residential-code amendment R104.13 requires a notarized homeowner form certifying installation of house pool-protection devices, documenting safety compliance and allowing the inspector to bypass entry into the residence to check door alarms or self-closing/self-latching devices. Under R104.12, an HOA approval letter must also be submitted for a pool when that provision applies to the PD-zoned subdivision.

• Floodplain development: Article 3.06 requires a floodplain development permit before covered development in the special flood hazard area. Development includes excavation, grading, filling and other covered changes. The City Manager or designee administers this approval. Floodway and drainage requirements depend on the actual work and site, as described under placement.

• Utility screening and development screening: Plans and specifications for screening or fencing around ground-mounted utility structures require the affected utility’s written approval and submission of that approval with the plans to the City Manager or designee before construction. Applicable subdivision masonry, steel or aluminum screening plans require a registered professional engineer’s seal and City approval. Planned developments can require approval of preliminary and final screening plans.

• Electronic access-control systems: The amended fire code requires a construction permit for installation or modification of a covered electronic access-control system. Maintenance is excepted by the amendment; access-code changes require Fire Marshal approval. Fire-access gates also have the equipment requirements described below.

FENCE PLACEMENT RULES

A legal property boundary, a required front-yard line, an easement and a public right-of-way are different lines. An existing fence, online parcel line, curb, ditch or pavement edge is not conclusive evidence of the legal boundary. The recorded plat, survey and easement documents matter to the proposed fence location.

• Required front yard and street clearance: Zoning §41.3 generally prohibits fences and walls in the required front yard of a single-family or duplex lot adjoining a public street, with the decorative-fence exceptions described under height. It also states that no residential fence may be closer than 15 feet to a public street. On continuous corner lots where the side or rear building lines of the yards adjoin, the specified exception allows a fence to the side-yard property line so that the street side yard becomes part of the back yard.

• District front-yard lines: The minimum required front yard used in the zoning fence rule varies by district: 60 feet in AG; 40 feet in R1 and SF-20; 30 feet in SF-15; and 25 feet in SF-11, SF-8 and SF-6. SF-PH patio homes and 2F duplex homes use a 20-foot front yard, with 25 feet to a front-entry garage door; detached single-family homes in those districts instead follow SF-8 standards. SFA has a 15-foot minimum, staggered in at least four-foot increments: no more than two units in a row share a setback, at least 30% of lots on a block face are set back 23 feet, at least 30% are set back 19 feet, and no more than 40% use 15 feet. Garage and planned development requirements can change a site’s approved layout. These district front-yard dimensions identify the front-yard line relevant to the fence rule.

• Vehicular gates: Zoning §41.3 requires a gate designed for vehicular access to be at least 25 feet from the property line. The City also requires traffic visibility and applicable emergency access.

• City and public-utility property: Article 3.07 prohibits a fence, guy wire, brace or any part of the fence from occupying or protruding over an easement, right-of-way or property owned or controlled by the City or a public utility. Public utility-easement provisions preserve access and allow removal of interfering fences. Plat restrictions can expressly prohibit fences in easements and obstructions in visibility, access and fire-lane areas.

• Subdivision Floodway Management Areas: Subdivision §4.2 defines the Floodway Management Area (FMA) as the floodway defined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The developer must establish and identify the area where FEMA has not specified a floodway for the creek or tributary, using a registered professional engineer and City approval. For development adjacent to an FMA, unobstructed maintenance access at least 20 feet wide must extend along the floodway, adjacent to or within the FMA, with the ordinance’s maximum 5:1 slope (five horizontal to one vertical); the opposite side requires at least five feet. The City Manager or designee may approve alternatives providing equal or better access.

• Subdivision lots adjoining an FMA: Section 4.2(d)(2) prohibits platting single-family, PD single-family or duplex lots within the FMA. No more than 50% of its length on each side may have lots backing or siding onto it. Where lots do back or side onto the FMA, at least two reasonable access points, each at least 20 feet wide, must provide maintenance-vehicle access to all parts of the FMA; navigable streets, alleys or open-ended cul-de-sacs can qualify. Multifamily lots may be platted within the FMA when it is identified as an easement, maintained as residents’ open space and accessible to City maintenance vehicles. Under §4.2(e), the City Council, on the City Manager’s or designee’s recommendation, may exempt drainage areas that have been altered and are no longer natural. These are subdivision and maintenance-access requirements. Public drainage access and recorded drainage conditions must remain usable; subdivision screening and retaining walls may not run parallel to and within a utility easement. Engineering standards also allow required fencing around a detention area.

• Floodplain and floodway work: Under Article 3.06, covered work in the special flood hazard area is subject to the development-permit process. Floodway encroachments, including fill and other development, require the applicable hydrologic and hydraulic demonstration that flood levels will not increase during the base flood. In applicable Zone AE areas without a designated regulatory floodway, the ordinance limits the cumulative increase from development to one foot under its stated conditions. The particular fence, wall, excavation or grading proposal determines the development review.

• Surface-water flow: Water Code §11.086 prohibits diverting or impounding natural surface water in a manner that damages another property by overflow, including allowing such a diversion or impoundment to continue. The section retains its stated treatment of authorized flood-control and irrigation improvements and qualifying restoration of river or creek banks. Fence bases, walls and grading must accommodate applicable drainage requirements.

• Subdivision boundary screens: Subdivision §5.7 requires developer-installed screening where specified single-family or two-family rear or side yards adjoin an arterial with more than 60 feet of right-of-way, a four-lane collector, a thoroughfare separated by an alley, or a collector or residential street at the rear. Required screening, including columns and decorative features, must be entirely on private lots adjacent to the right-of-way or property line and within a screening easement at least five feet wide. These public development conditions can continue to affect the subdivision’s perimeter screen and its maintenance.

• Planned development lot edges: Particular planned developments require open metal near parks, common open space, pipelines or utilities, prohibit rear-yard-setback fencing, or control the line of a neighborhood screen. The neighborhood provisions under materials and construction describe these conditions. In Overland Grove, the lot-fence rule uses the building line, with a specified property-line exception where the house to the rear faces the opposite direction, and requires the fence to connect to the side of the house.

• Livestock pens and enclosures: Animal-control §2.08.008 requires livestock stables, sheds, pens or shelters to be at least 100 feet from each adjoining lot in a residential district and 150 feet from each residential structure. Section 2.08.005 separately prohibits quartering large livestock within 150 feet of an inhabited residence other than the owner’s or keeper’s; §2.08.009 separately uses 50 feet for a sheep or goat pen/enclosure near another person’s inhabited residence. These provisions address the stated animal-keeping locations.

• Pool location and equipment screening: Zoning §47.2 prohibits the pool itself in a required front yard and generally requires the pool, excluding decking, to be at least three feet from side and rear property lines. Pump and filtration equipment cannot be in a front-yard setback; side- or rear-yard equipment must be screened from view and noise-buffered from adjoining property. These are pool and equipment requirements.

• Gated private-street subdivisions: Zoning §43.13 prohibits a private-street development from crossing or containing a planned or existing thoroughfare, public pedestrian pathway, trail or park, and from being directly adjacent to another private-street development. A property owners’ association must own and maintain the streets and associated improvements. Required recorded instruments and easements preserve resident, City, emergency, utility, mail, solid-waste and school-bus access. Gate equipment must meet Fire Department requirements and be supplied by the developer.

• Removing a joint or attached fence: Agriculture Code §143.121 prohibits removing a jointly owned separating/dividing fence or a fence attached to another person’s fence except by mutual consent or the subchapter’s process. Under §143.122, a person owning an interest in an attached fence may withdraw that fence after six months’ written notice to the other fence owner or that person’s agent, attorney or lessee. Under §143.123, an owner whose fence is wholly on that owner’s land may require an attached fence to be disconnected after the same written notice to the attached fence’s owner or the specified representative.

• Construction affecting a pipeline easement: Health and Safety Code §§756.121–.123 covers construction, repair, replacement and maintenance on, across, over or under a covered pipeline easement or right-of-way, or physically affecting or creating risk to the pipeline. Its application is subject to a contrary written agreement and the specified municipal-property and navigation-district/port exceptions. Covered work requires operator notice and one of the statutory alternatives: the operator determines that the work will not increase risk to the public or pipeline; where the operator determines that risk will increase, the constructor pays the reasonable, necessary and documented cost of the required protective changes before proceeding; the work occurs under an existing written agreement; or a regulated utility must act promptly because of a natural disaster. This is separate from the utility-locate process.

• Texas811 before post digging: Request a locate through Texas811 before digging; wait the applicable lawful period and follow ticket/start instructions. Utilities Code Chapter 251 ordinarily requires notice no earlier than the 14th day and no later than the 48th hour before covered excavation, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays. Its special Saturday-notice branch applies to notice given before 11:59 a.m. Saturday and allows excavation the following Tuesday at 11:59 a.m., or Wednesday at 11:59 a.m. if the intervening Monday is a legal holiday. The chapter’s excavation definition includes powered or mechanized tools disturbing soil to 16 inches or more. Pipeline damage-prevention rules also cover applicable deeper manual digging; their depth exclusion is movement not exceeding 16 inches. Check ticket responses and site markings, resolve missing or conflicting information through the current ticket process, protect markings and dig carefully. For covered pipeline work, the normal ticket life is 14 working days, subject to the qualifying signed written longer agreement; refresh unfinished work before expiration and retain required ticket and response records for at least four years. Private services and some facilities are outside mandatory marking coverage. Locate notice is separate from permits, property permission, easements and pipeline construction requirements.

FENCE HEIGHT AND VISIBILITY RULES

Forney’s fence article and zoning ordinance publish different height formulations. Article 3.07 uses eight feet along the rear yard or alley line and for the specified side-yard runs. Zoning §41.3 uses eight feet four inches for a fence or wall behind the minimum required front-yard line. The location language also differs. A proposed height needs to be evaluated against both provisions and any applicable planned development standard.

• Ordinary front fencing: Article 3.07 limits fencing between the front building line and parkway, or parallel to the street line in that area, to four feet. Stockade and picket fences without at least 50% through-vision are prohibited there. Zoning allows decorative front-yard fencing no higher than four feet with openings occupying at least 50% of the fence area; chain-link, woven wire mesh and similar materials are not decorative fencing.

• Front ornamental iron: Article 3.07 allows decorative ornamental iron up to six feet between the front building and property lines only on lots over one acre, with at least 75% through-vision and no traffic-visibility interference. Zoning allows six-foot ornamental iron in AG, and on lots over one acre in other districts, with openings of at least 50% and traffic visibility maintained. The two provisions differ in both parcel eligibility and openness.

• Side yards and the fence-article corner exception: Article 3.07 allows up to eight feet on a side-yard line up to the house’s building line. On a corner lot whose rear lot line directly abuts an adjoining lot’s side lot line, that article instead limits the stated side-yard run to four feet. The separate zoning street-clearance and continuous-corner-lot placement provisions also apply to the locations they describe.

• Special-purpose enclosures: Zoning limits permitted special-purpose fencing, such as tennis-court fencing, to 12 feet.

• Alley-to-street visibility: Zoning §43.8 requires a triangular visibility area on each side of an alley/public-street intersection. Two sides extend at least 10 feet from the intersection, with a line connecting their endpoints.

• Street and driveway visibility: At a street intersection, or a private driveway entering a public street, the zoning visibility triangle has two legs at least 25 feet long along the right-of-way lines, or along the driveway curb line and street right-of-way line, measured from their intersection; the third side connects the endpoints. Within the required triangles, fences, walls, screens, berms, landscaping and other features must preserve unobstructed cross-visibility between 24 inches and eight feet above the ground.

• Plants in zoning sight areas: Qualifying shrubs and plant materials must be maintained at no more than 24 inches. A limited number of single-trunk trees may be present with a clear trunk height of at least eight feet, no branches or foliage in the visibility band, and spacing that avoids a visibility-blocking picket-fence effect at maturity.

• Separate traffic-code corner rule: Traffic §12.06.003 prohibits covered obstructions more than three feet above the level of the center of the nearest abutting street within the corner-lot triangle formed by the right-of-way lines and a diagonal connecting points 25 feet from their street-corner intersection. Section 12.06.004 separately requires trees in its corner triangle to have limbs, branches and foliage trimmed to at least 12 feet above street level on a public roadway, or to the clearance providing an unobstructed view of traffic signs and oncoming traffic. Zoning’s separate visibility band and Article 3.07’s prohibition against corner visibility interference remain published requirements.

• SF-PH patio-home common-open-space edges: Section 21 requires the specified side and rear open-space fencing to use open wrought iron with masonry columns at 40-foot centers. Height is limited to four feet along the common-open-space edge and for the first 10 feet of the perpendicular or radial fence run.

Planned development lot fences and perimeter screens have additional height, column and location branches described below. Pool-barrier minimums are also separate from ordinary yard-fence maximums.

MATERIAL AND CONSTRUCTION LIMITS

Forney’s residential fence rules regulate openness, posts, orientation, special uses and particular neighborhoods. Section 41.3 does not supply one exhaustive material list for every ordinary rear-yard fence.

• Wood: Wood is recognized in pool-enclosure and planned development rules. Front-yard wood designs must satisfy the applicable decorative/open-fence provisions; Article 3.07 prohibits front stockade and insufficiently open picket fencing. Several planned developments specify stained cedar, caps, columns and the street-facing finished side.

• Vinyl/PVC and fiberglass: Section 41.3 does not specifically address vinyl/PVC as a general residential fence material. Trails of Chestnut Meadow expressly recognizes wood, PVC, fiberglass, wrought iron and masonry for the stated residential fencing, with different lists for recreational-vehicle screens and perimeter screening described below.

• Chain-link and woven wire: Chain-link, woven wire mesh and similar materials do not qualify as decorative front-yard fencing under §41.3. Zoning §47.2 excludes chain-link from pool enclosures. Park Trails excludes chain-link from its specified open decorative-metal fence, and required subdivision masonry walls cannot incorporate chain-link or wood products.

• Accessory-building rear screen at an alley: Zoning §40.5(A)(3) allows its specified accessory-building location within three feet of the rear lot line where an alley exists only when the building’s maximum height is no greater than eight feet and a solid fence or wall of the same height is built on the rear lot line to screen the property behind it. This is a condition of that accessory-building arrangement.

• Posts for new permitted fences above 52 inches: Section 41.3 requires galvanized steel vertical posts at least 2⅜ inches in diameter, spaced no more than eight feet on center and set in concrete footings at least three feet deep. Stone or masonry columns can substitute subject to Chief Building Official review. Posts must face inward and, except for the top cap, must not be visible from the public right-of-way.

• Electric and barbed-wire perimeter fences: Zoning prohibits these systems except for containing farm animals on parcels of at least three acres. Article 3.07 separately allows agricultural barbed wire when the land pastures livestock, the tract has at least one acre, and the fenced pasture is at least 300 feet from the nearest dwelling other than the tract owner’s dwelling. Those published exceptions have different conditions. The separate Article 3.07 business/public-property barbed-wire security provision concerns those uses.

• Rental-property fences: Under §3.09.008(BB), fences, gates and retaining walls at covered multifamily and single-family rental properties must be maintained in good repair.

• Dog yards used as living areas: Section 2.04.005 requires a fenced yard, outdoor pen or structure used as the dog’s primary living area or regular eating, sleeping, drinking and elimination area to provide at least 150 square feet for each dog six months or older, construction and material sufficient to prevent escape, and access to the required doghouse, building or shelter.

• Livestock enclosures: Animal-control §2.08.004 provides for a substantial nonswaying wall enclosure extending from the ground to at least four feet, or the specified fence with at least four strands of 16-gauge wire stretched tautly between posts, with one strand one foot above ground and one at least four feet above ground. Section 2.08.012 requires effective, maintained perimeter containment. These animal-enclosure duties apply alongside the applicable zoning and fence provisions.

• Qualifying agricultural operations: Agriculture Code §251.0055 limits City requirements within corporate boundaries. It requires clear and convincing evidence of a specified imminent danger and that less restrictive means will not address it, together with the required health-officer or consultant report and City resolution finding necessity to protect public health. The statute also protects specified agricultural practices and contains separate vegetation, livestock-protection-dog and wildlife-management provisions. Its livestock-protection-dog exception applies while the dog protects livestock on property controlled by the owner for that purpose. Agricultural-operation status and the statutory conditions govern these protections.

• Historic properties: Historic guidelines address retention of the relationship between historic buildings, site features and fencing, preservation of historic features, and compatible materials and design. The guideline discouraging certain wrought-iron security bars or posts expressly preserves otherwise permitted wrought-iron or tubular-steel perimeter fencing. Covered exterior changes use the historic approval process described above.

• Screening at multifamily, manufactured-home and nonresidential boundaries: Zoning §41.2 requires the applicable adjoining-use screen to be solid brick/masonry, six to eight feet high, on the separating property line. The owner of the multifamily or manufactured-home property builds and maintains the wall next to single-family or duplex property; the nonresidential use bears that responsibility where nonresidential and residential uses meet. Required walls use masonry, reinforced concrete or similar suitable permanent material without openings, with opening gates equal in height and screening. Equivalent alternatives require site-plan approval. The specified street-facing extension screens the exposed residential boundary, is finished compatibly on both sides (except the manufactured-home-park finish exception) and preserves visibility.

• Shared refuse enclosures in SFA, multifamily and manufactured-home developments: Section 41.2(G) requires the covered visible refuse container outside a screened service area to have a solid masonry enclosure on at least three sides, at least six feet high and one foot above the container, with a gate on the collection side. Both refuse and recycling require a double bay where integral to the operation. Protective bollards are at least 48 inches high; the reinforced pad is at least six inches of 6,000-psi concrete with No.3 rebar at 24-inch centers. Landscaping and adequate collection access are required; equivalent alternatives use site-plan approval.

• Senior-living facility perimeters: Section 47.11(D)(2) requires perimeter/access-point fencing at least six feet high, of masonry or ornamental iron with masonry columns; iron requires dense additional landscaping for an effective visual barrier. Chain-link is prohibited. The rule calls for at least one three-inch-caliper shade tree per 30 feet along property lines, subject to approved alternative landscaping. The Forney Senior Living Center PCD at Elm Street separately specifies a six-foot brick screening wall along its property lines except entry areas.

• Nonexempt antenna equipment screens: Zoning §43.5 includes commercial and amateur installations, subject to its listed antenna exemptions. For covered ground-mounted support buildings/equipment areas, §43.5(C)(12) uses a dense opaque evergreen screen initially three feet high and reaching six feet, or a compatible six-foot solid masonry wall. Wood screening is prohibited; wrought iron or chain-link requires the prescribed landscaping. Covered installations require safeguards against unauthorized access, which may include fencing, a climbing guard or another listed safety device. For a small wind-energy system, access doors must be locked or fenced as appropriate to prevent unauthorized entry.

The City’s planned development ordinance directory provides the neighborhood ordinances. The following public zoning conditions apply to the identified developments and fence locations, with the approved tract, exhibit and amendments determining a particular lot’s coverage.

• Adams Ranch: Residential fences are generally six to eight feet, with the finished side facing the street; recreational vehicles and boats require the specified six-to-eight-foot screening. Ranch Road and Redbud Drive perimeter screening uses stained cedar board-on-board with a wood cap and galvanized posts, at least six feet high, within a five-foot homeowners’ association maintenance easement. Ranch Road columns are spaced no more than 40 feet apart and no higher than seven feet; Redbud Drive has no column requirement under that branch. Preliminary and final screening plans require the applicable City approval.

• Brookville Estates: The residential and recreational-vehicle/boat screening branches use six-to-eight-foot fencing with the finished side toward the street. Where a living screen is not used, required perimeter screening is stained cedar or an approved alternative at least six feet high, with columns no more than 40 feet apart and no higher than seven feet, within a five-foot homeowners’ association maintenance easement. Preliminary and final screening plans require approval. Along identified Ranch Road and Ridgecrest Road segments, the approximately 30-to-75-foot buffer uses berms and dense planting for a six-foot visual screen with at least 90% opacity within three years, with storm-detention slopes no steeper than 3:1.

• Adams Ranch and Brookville Estates entry features: The identified entry monuments may be up to eight feet, reduced to 48 inches within a lot’s front yard. The listed treatments are stone, brick, concrete block, concrete panel, wrought iron, landscaping or similar materials and combinations. Features occupy an easement on the corner lot and are maintained by the homeowners’ association or lot owner.

• Mustang Creek: Backyard fencing is required. Along Ridge Road, the specified upgraded stained-cedar fence has a cap of 2-by-6 lumber or larger, masonry columns and homeowners’ association maintenance. Specified corner fencing at Redbud Drive and Bowie Street also uses upgraded cedar.

• Diamond Creek: Backyard fencing is required. Specified rear boundaries adjoining the TXU gas corridor use wrought or ornamental iron. Ridge Road and FM 548 screens use stained cedar and masonry columns. The development’s 50-foot landscape buffer includes three-to-five-foot berms providing the specified six-foot visual screen.

• Hamblen Estates: Rear-yard fencing is required. Northern-boundary screening requires the City Manager’s approval; the ordinance also provides its alternative buffering treatment between the specified uses.

• Fox Hollow: FM 548 and the designated proposed arterial require masonry screening at least six feet high. FM 1641 uses stained cedar board-on-board with a cap, brick or stone columns at 40-foot centers and galvanized intermediate posts. Structural supports face inward; the homeowners’ association maintains the required screen. The FM 1641 landscape buffer is at least 50 feet wide, reduced to 30 feet on the identified limited southeastern frontage. It includes an eight-foot sidewalk, eight trees per 10,000 square feet, berms and tall evergreen planting. The screening/landscape plan requires approval before or with the applicable final plat.

• Fox Hollow South: Fences adjoining the designated open space or linear park use tubular steel or wrought iron. FM 548, FM 741 and Alexander Parkway have the specified masonry-screen branches of at least six feet. The designated parkway boundary uses the distinct specified stained-cedar board-on-board/cap treatment with masonry columns at 40-foot centers and galvanized intermediate posts. Structural supports face inward, street-facing boards present the finished side, and required screening is maintained by the homeowners’ association. Landscape buffers are at least 15 feet along the proposed Parkway Thoroughfare and Alexander Parkway, and 10 feet along FM 548/FM 741. The 15-foot buffers include an eight-foot curvilinear sidewalk; required buffer planting is eight trees per 10,000 square feet, with berms and tall evergreen shrubs for screening. Screening/landscape plans require approval before or with the final plat.

• Park Trails: Recreational vehicles and boats require six-to-eight-foot screening. Except for yards backing or siding onto the Longhorn Lane open-space/pipeline easement, backyard fence portions within 10 feet of a gas-pipeline or utility-line easement must be open decorative metal, excluding chain-link, no higher than four feet; a perpendicular fence may transition from four to six feet within the specified 10-foot distance. Yards backing or siding onto the Longhorn Lane open-space/pipeline easement use §2.12 instead. Section 2.12 screening along Ranch Road and Longhorn Lane requires stained cedar at least six feet high, masonry columns, galvanized intermediate posts no more than 10 feet apart, and the finished side toward the road. Along Ranch Road, large evergreen shrubs and overstory trees of at least three-inch caliper supplement the fence on one side of the stormwater drainageway. The homeowners’ association maintains the required screens and landscaping.

• Trails of Chestnut Meadow — lot fences: Ordinary residential fences use wood, PVC, fiberglass, wrought iron or masonry at six to eight feet, with the finished side toward the street. Recreational-vehicle and boat screens use wood, PVC, fiberglass or masonry at six to eight feet. Fencing within 10 feet of open space must be four-foot wrought iron. The specified garden-home maintenance easement, four to seven feet wide, stays open unless the Building Official approves fencing that preserves maintenance and drainage.

• Trails of Chestnut Meadow — perimeter screens: The identified FM 741/proposed FM 548 screen can use PVC, fiberglass, stone, stucco, brick, block, concrete, wrought iron or similar approved combinations. Approved structural columns are spaced no more than 30 feet apart. The screen is at least six feet high, columns no more than seven feet, and entry features no more than eight feet, with materials arranged to minimize visibility through the fence or wall and traffic visibility preserved. The City Council or designee may approve the stated alternative treatment. Homeowners’ association maintenance easements and preliminary/final civil-plan approval apply.

• Brooklyn Village: The amended residential standards prohibit fencing in the rear-yard setback to increase motorists’ sight distance. Bowie Street screening must be at least six feet and use uniform precast masonry with integral color, identified as WoodCrete or equal. These are the amended Brooklyn Village conditions.

• Gateway Parks: Individual residential lot fences are six to eight feet high and use wood with metal posts. The specified rear and side boundaries adjoining open space or public streets permit six-to-eight-foot ornamental metal. Street-facing wood presents its finished side. Development buffers are at least 15 feet along the identified perimeter roads and Gateway Boulevard and 20 feet along Streets A/B next to Grandview Estates. The latter hedge is at least two feet at planting and forms a continuous six-foot screen within three years, with two-inch-caliper trees per 50 feet, measured four feet above the tree base. That phase’s construction triggers the buffer landscaping; association maintenance and underground irrigation apply.

• Grayhawk — residential lot fences: The ordinance specifies six-to-eight-foot wood fencing with metal or wood posts under that PD provision, with street-facing wood presenting its finished side. Section 41.3 separately publishes the steel-post requirement for new permitted fences above 52 inches described above. Specified rear boundaries adjoining parcels B, E, F, I and J or designated future open space permit six-to-eight-foot open metal.

• Grayhawk — development screens: The identified FM 548 open-space frontage uses ornamental iron at least six feet high, with a four-foot exception where the majority stands on a berm with an average crest more than two feet high. Stone, stucco, brick or concrete columns and optional masonry panels, living screening and staff approval govern the specified design. The association-owned Parcels A/C along FM 548 have a landscape buffer at least 15 feet wide. Parcel A/C screening requires masonry at least six feet high with columns no more than 50 feet apart; entry features have the specified eight-foot limit and berm-related measurement. Screens must lie in the identified parcels or an adjoining association maintenance easement, and staff approval of the typical design is required before the first recorded plat.

• Overland Grove — lot fences and retaining walls: The specified lot fence uses wood, brick or decorative metal at six to eight feet and is also subject to stricter zoning standards. Street-facing runs parallel the curb, connect to the house and conceal supports from the public right-of-way. Wood must be stained, with metal posts anchored in concrete. Boundaries adjoining parks, greenbelts, golf courses, streams, lakes or other identified open space use iron, metal or another nonwood material maintaining reasonable open views, except for lots siding or backing to open space adjacent to a street right-of-way or public easement. Retaining walls use nonwood Milsap stone or equal; walls over four feet require an engineer’s seal.

• Overland Grove — perimeter screens: Exhibit G §10 provides the exclusive residential perimeter-screen, landscape-buffer and water-feature requirements, in place of the same or similar subdivision §5.7 requirements. Screening or its specified alternatives are required along FM 548, FM 740 and interior roads with rights-of-way more than 60 feet wide; §10 does not require them along other roads. The six-foot fence can combine masonry and wrought-iron-style metal, or use all metal with masonry columns at least every 25 feet on center. Metal screening requires shrubs initially at least three gallons, at least every 36 inches on center, and trees initially at least three-inch caliper, at least every 50 linear feet. Each foot of qualifying berm permits a one-foot reduction in fence height, maintaining a combined six feet; a six-foot berm may replace the fence. The remaining §10(c) fencing and planting conditions continue to apply. The landscape alternative uses an area at least 10 feet wide with shrubs initially at least five gallons at 36-inch centers and trees initially at least three-inch caliper at least every 50 linear feet. Exhibit F §17 allows the listed screening walls, developer fencing, entry monuments and related improvements to be completed within 180 days of City subdivision acceptance and final-plat recording for the designated section, rather than as a prerequisite to acceptance/recording.

• Villas at Mustang Park — identified development perimeter: The applicable mixed residential perimeter screen requires six-to-eight-foot brick/masonry along the development perimeter and the single-family/multifamily separation. The alternative uses wrought iron with masonry columns no more than 10 feet on center and dense opaque evergreen screening initially at least three feet and growing to at least six feet.

• Required subdivision masonry screens: Under subdivision §5.7, wall faces use hard-fired brick or stone on both sides. No more than 10% of wall area may consist of openings with nonmasonry ornamental/wrought iron, steel or anodized-aluminum tubing, pickets or filigree panels. Wood and chain-link components are prohibited, and openings must prevent passage of a sphere six inches or larger. The stated landscape-buffer branch requires at least five feet, with either an eight-foot small tree per 10 linear feet or a three-inch-caliper large tree per 30 feet, the latter no closer than 25 feet on center. A street-facing masonry screen requires a continuous reinforced concrete mow edge at least 12 inches wide and four inches thick, reinforced with at least two continuous ⅜-inch bars.

• Other required subdivision screen alternatives: Ornamental or wrought-iron screening must provide a continuous height of at least six feet, with evergreen shrubs/small trees capable of reaching that height in a landscape buffer at least five feet wide. The berm alternative has a maximum 3:1 side slope, a minimum six-foot height and the specified vegetation, established within two years. The shrub-and-berm combination uses shrubs initially at least 36 inches high, triangularly spaced no more than 48 inches on center, with berms averaging three feet; masonry/landscaping-and-berm combinations are also recognized.

• Subdivision screen height, plans and maintenance: Required wall spans are six to eight feet. Columns, pilasters, caps and other decorative features may extend up to 18 inches above eight feet, for a maximum nine feet six inches, when those taller elements occupy no more than 10% of the wall length in elevation. Masonry, steel and aluminum screening plans require an engineer’s seal and City approval. Required screens must be installed before final subdivision acceptance; approved delayed landscaping must follow within six months. The ordinance assigns continuing maintenance through its approved homeowners’ association or City-maintenance arrangements. Developer bonding and funding are subdivision-acceptance obligations: the stated bond is two years at 50% of initial cost, with an additional 20% contribution under the City-maintenance option. Berms require homeowners’ association maintenance.

• Subdivision entry walls and features: Subdivisions with more than 10 platted lots may provide the ordinance’s landscaped entry feature on private property in an identified easement, with only the permitted limited portions in the right-of-way. Sight visibility and applicable residential front-yard wall-height limits apply. City-approved entry plans accompany the final-plat engineering plans. Developer maintenance continues for at least two years or until permits have issued for 80% of the lots, whichever is later, followed by the responsible private owner or approved homeowners’ association.

• Subdivision retaining walls: Section 5.6 requires retaining walls before subdivision acceptance at the identified side/rear lot-line, building-site-boundary or drainage locations where the grade change exceeds 2½ feet and the slope exceeds one vertical to two horizontal. Design must meet the building code and Engineering Design Standards and receive City approval. The property owner maintains the wall; the utility-easement prohibition described above applies.

• Fire-access gates and hydrants: Gates serving required fire access must provide the amended fire code’s approved emergency access. Applicable electronic gates require the specified siren-operated system and Knox KS2 system, with fail-safe manual backup or automatic release; manual gates use the specified Knox padlock. Covered access gates require an eight-by-six-inch “F. D. ACCESS” sign. Fences and posts may not obstruct hydrant access; a clear space of at least 36 inches must be maintained around hydrants. These are fire-access and equipment-clearance conditions.

• Pool enclosure under zoning: Section 47.2 applies to a pool, pond, lake or open tank containing or capable of containing water deeper than 1½ feet. The pool, property or compound must have a wall or fence at least four feet high, of masonry, wood or ornamental metal, excluding chain-link, maintained in good condition and equipped with a self-closing and self-locking gate.

• Private-home pool-code barrier and cover branches: Forney’s locally amended 2021 pool code also applies. Its §305.1 exception is limited to one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses: a spa or hot tub with a lockable safety cover complying with ASTM F1346, or a pool with a powered safety cover complying with that standard, is excepted from that code’s §§305.2–305.7. Zoning §47.2 separately publishes its enclosure requirement. The zoning material and gate provisions differ from some pool-code options.

• Pool construction and permanent barrier dimensions: In-ground swimming-pool and spa construction sites require surrounding construction fencing at least four feet high from the time excavation occurs until the permanent barrier is completed. An outdoor pool/spa, or indoor swimming pool, using a §305.2 permanent barrier requires that barrier to be at least 48 inches high on the side away from the pool; that height must be maintained around the perimeter for three feet horizontally outside. Bottom clearance is at most two inches over grass or gravel and four inches over a solid surface; the top-of-pool mounting clearance is at most four inches. Ordinary barrier openings must not pass a four-inch sphere. Solid barriers must not have climbable indentations or protrusions other than normal construction tolerances and tooled masonry joints.

• Pool barrier horizontal and diagonal members: Where horizontal-member tops are less than 45 inches apart, horizontal members must be on the pool side, with vertical spacing and decorative openings no more than 1¾ inches. Where horizontal-member tops are at least 45 inches apart, vertical openings are at most four inches, while decorative openings remain at most 1¾ inches. Diagonal openings are at most 1¾ inches, with the diagonal-member angle no more than 45 degrees from vertical. The model chain-link option limits mesh to 1¾ inches, including qualifying slats, while Forney zoning separately excludes chain-link pool enclosures.

• Mesh pool barriers: The 2021 code’s mesh branch requires bottom clearance no more than one inch; it must resist being lifted more than four inches, and the bottom must not allow passage of a four-inch sphere. Attachment points must be at least 45 inches above grade with attachment security at least equal to the specified spring-retaining safety-hook type. Any hinged gate must comply with §305.3; post receptacles must be nonconductive. Mesh must be installed under the manufacturer’s instructions, cannot be mounted on top of an onground pool and must have its inside face at least 20 inches from the nearest water edge.

• Pool gates, latches and climb clearance: Gates must accommodate a locking device. Pedestrian gates open away from the pool and are self-closing and self-latching; unused utility/service gates remain locked. For double gates, one leaf must be secured and the adjacent leaf self-latching. Under the residential release rules, an outside release that is not self-locking must be at least 54 inches above grade; self-locking key, electronic or combination controls use the code’s no-higher-than-54-inch branch. A pool-side-only release must be at least three inches below the gate top. Openings within 18 inches of that release must not exceed ½ inch. Equipment on the same lot and outside the barrier, including pool pumps, filters and heaters, must be at least 36 inches from the barrier’s outside. Zoning also requires the self-locking gate stated above.

• Dwelling walls as private-home pool barriers: The local §305.4 amendment covers one- and two-family dwellings, townhouses and their accessory structures where doors or windows provide direct pool access through a barrier wall. The code alternatives include the specified UL 2017 alarms for doors, gates and operable windows with sills below 48 inches, a qualifying ASTM F1346 safety cover, or another approved means providing equivalent protection, such as self-closing/self-latching doors. Alarm deactivation switches ordinarily must be at least 54 inches above the finished floor; the Accessible-unit, Type A or Type B dwelling branch uses 48 to 54 inches above the finished floor, as does the code’s other-structure branch. The safety-cover alternative requires a cover listed and labeled to ASTM F1346.

• Onground pools and natural barriers: An onground pool wall may serve as the barrier when its bottom is on grade, its top is at least 48 inches above grade around the entire perimeter, the manufacturer permits that use and the wall complies with §305.2; a barrier mounted on the pool structure must also provide the required 48-inch height and follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Access ladders or steps must be secured, locked or removed, or protected by a compliant barrier; securing or removing them must not leave openings passing a four-inch sphere. The local natural-water-edge exception for one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses requires no public shoreline access and barriers extending at least 18 inches beyond the water’s edge. An approved natural topographic barrier must provide protection equivalent to the prescribed barrier. Common-area, association and public pools have separate use-specific requirements.

PRIVATE RESTRICTIONS

Recorded deed restrictions, homeowners’ association covenants, architectural-review requirements, private easements and maintenance or cost-sharing agreements can apply independently of City permits. Article 3.07 expressly preserves deed restrictions. Public permits do not determine fence ownership, the legal boundary or the neighbors’ allocation of construction and maintenance costs.

• Security fences and current Texas association limits: Property Code §202.023 generally protects an owner’s installation of security measures, including perimeter fencing, subject to its retained association controls. The section excludes condominiums under Chapters 81 and 82 and master mixed-use property owners’ associations under Chapter 215.

• Controls an association can retain: Section 202.023 allows regulation of fence type and prohibition of fencing obstructing a license area defined by a written agreement or plat, a public or community sidewalk, or a drainage easement or drainage area. It allows an association to require a driveway gate at least 10 feet from the right-of-way where the driveway intersects the defined laned roadway. It also permits an association to prohibit fencing in front of the dwelling’s front-most building line when a restrictive covenant provides that prohibition. Forney’s separate public vehicular-gate setback is stated under placement.

• Existing fences and enhanced security: Notwithstanding those retained controls, §202.023(d) allows an owner to maintain perimeter fencing or fencing in front of the front-most building line installed or constructed before September 1, 2025. Section 202.023(e) protects installation of those fences against the front-building-line prohibition when the owner’s residential address is exempt from public disclosure under state or federal law, or the owner provides law-enforcement documentation of a need for enhanced security. The statute’s maintenance protection and enhanced-security exception have these stated scopes.

• Defined pool enclosures: Property Code §202.022 protects a conforming enclosure surrounding a water feature, using transparent mesh or clear panels in metal frames, no more than six feet high and designed to be nonclimbable. The enclosure must satisfy applicable state and local safety requirements. An association may regulate appearance and permissible colors within the statute, but cannot prohibit a black transparent-mesh enclosure in metal frames. Public pool-safety and zoning duties remain applicable.

Private boundary, access, maintenance and cost agreements depend on their terms and the interests they cover. The statutory joint/attached-fence removal duties are described under placement; City approvals and public plat or easement restrictions have their own public 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:

• Permit and completion review: fence location, applicable height and openness, steel posts, drawings, planned development conditions and the completion inspection.

• Street and site conditions: corner and driveway visibility, vehicular gates, public rights-of-way, utility access, recorded drainage conditions, floodplain development and subdivision screens.

• Special approvals: historic exterior changes, swimming-pool barriers, fire-access gates and approved utility screening.

• Continuing condition: vertical and compliant fencing, maintained pool barriers, livestock containment and the responsible maintenance of development screens and retaining walls.

• Separate state and private matters: utility excavation, pipeline construction protection and joint/attached-fence removal have their own statutory duties. Association review, private easements and ownership or cost disputes remain separate from municipal approval. Article 3.07 provides the Board of Adjustment appeal path for a building inspector’s decision under that article.

USING THIS INFORMATION

This page provides general orientation on how residential fence rules are structured and applied within Forney (City), 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 Building Inspection, Planning & Development 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.