FENCE RULES – KERRVILLE (CITY), TEXAS

OVERVIEW

This page covers residential fence projects within the City of Kerrville’s corporate limits in Kerr County, Texas.

Kerrville requires a permit for permanent fences within its fence-permit definition and for substantial repairs affecting at least half of the property’s entire fence. In residential districts, front-setback fences can reach six feet, but solid bases stop at 48 inches and the remaining fencing must be see-through. Side and rear fences also need attention to property boundaries, visibility, recorded easements and any required subdivision screening. Pool barriers have separate construction rules under the currently adopted 2018 code. Floodplain excavation, fill and larger grading projects can add approvals. Agricultural residences and planned developments require their own property-specific checks. Updated November 2026.

Quick question	Kerrville answer
Permit or approval	A fence permit is required for the permanent fences defined by §26-38 and repairs or replacement affecting 50% or more of the entire fence on the property. Separate site approvals can apply.
Typical fence height	In residential front setbacks: 6 feet overall, with a solid base no higher than 48 inches. The zoning code does not specify a separate ordinary side/rear fence maximum; special screening and pool rules differ.
Placement & property lines	The ordinary fence clauses do not give a universal numeric property-line setback. Keep fences on the lawful property, preserve visibility and drainage, and respect rights-of-way, easements and plat conditions.
Common fence materials	Wood: recognized for the front fence’s limited solid base. Vinyl/PVC: not specifically addressed as fence panels. Chain-link: recognized for residential front fences, with different rules for pool barriers and certain special districts.
Important local conditions	Fence rules may be further affected by corner or through lots, required subdivision screening, pools, floodplain work, drainage and utility easements, planned developments, agricultural operations and private restrictions.
Official local resource	Kerrville Building & Permit Information

The table is for quick reference; corresponding sections below explain the additional rules. Before buying materials or starting 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 the issue.

GOVERNANCE

Kerrville is a home-rule city. The City Council adopts municipal requirements, including the fence-permit provisions in Chapter 26, zoning in Chapter 60, floodplain controls in Chapter 54, subdivision standards in Chapter 82 and street/right-of-way rules in Chapter 90 of the Kerrville Code of Ordinances.

Development Services and the Building Inspection Division administer fence, building and pool permits through the building official. Planning staff administer zoning and planned-development conditions. Engineering administers municipal rights-of-way, drainage and civil plans; the director of engineering or designee serves as floodplain administrator. Utility operators handle their own facilities and easement rights. An association’s architectural approval is separate from City approval.

Kerrville’s current code-adoption information identifies the 2018 residential, building and swimming-pool/spa codes. The City’s 2024-code adoptions take effect January 1, 2027. A project’s applicable edition and local amendments should be confirmed before applying requirements from a later code.

The AG district’s text expressly allows single-family uses on large lots, while its detached-home cell in the land-use table is blank. Confirm the property’s residential-use status with Planning rather than treating either entry as a general agricultural fence exemption. An approved planned-development ordinance can also establish property-specific conditions.

PERMIT AND APPROVAL REQUIREMENTS

• Permanent fence permit: Section 26-38 requires a fence permit from the building official before erecting, constructing or placing a permanent fence or part of one, or making substantial repairs. For that section, a fence is a wall, berm or structure more than 2½ feet high used to enclose, screen, restrict access to or decorate the surrounding property, entirely on private property. Lower work can still be subject to zoning, pool, drainage or other applicable requirements.

• Repairs and replacement: The permit threshold is 50% or more of the entire fence on the property. Owners may not split repairs into smaller sections to avoid it. An application and fee are required; beginning fence construction without the required permit brings an additional fee.

• Applying and inspections: Use the City’s MyGovernmentOnline application process. General site-plan guidance calls for a scaled plan showing existing and proposed improvements, dimensions to property lines, easements, rights-of-way and drainage changes. Confirm the documents needed for the particular fence. Obtain approvals, pay applicable fees, post the permit and provide a street-readable address when needed. Begin after required permits issue and arrange required inspections.

• Contractors and powered gates: Confirm the City’s contractor-licensing requirements for work requiring an IRC/IBC building permit. The local amendments provide homeowner-only homestead repair/alteration and single-project exceptions to licensing; these do not waive permits. New gate wiring or a new circuit can require electrical approval and inspection. A homeowner doing electrical work personally at the homestead may obtain the applicable permit. A gate across a designated fire-apparatus access road also needs prior Fire Chief approval and the required emergency-access controls; electric operators there must meet UL 325.

• Floodplain development: All development in an area of special flood hazard requires a floodplain development permit. The grading ordinance expressly includes any land disturbance there. Fence excavation, berms and associated fill therefore need review when located in that area. The City’s floodplain information provides the program and application route.

• Floodplain submissions: The application requires property and owner information, authority to apply, proposed use and a description of drainage or watercourse changes. The ordinance calls for two scaled plan sets sealed and signed by a licensed engineer or surveyor showing relevant alterations, structures, dimensions, elevations and floodplain/floodway boundaries. Fill requires an engineer-certified grading plan showing before-and-after grades. Applicable certifications and the fee must accompany a complete application.

• Grading and stockpiling: A grading permit is required where disturbed land is at least 1 acre (43,560 square feet); where disturbance exceeds ¼ acre (10,890 square feet) and the property immediately adjoins or includes a watercourse; or where dirt/fill will be stockpiled. These are disturbance thresholds, not simply the lot’s acreage. Agricultural plowing/tilling, timber harvesting, road maintenance, routine channel maintenance and utility maintenance are excluded from the land-disturbance definition.

• Coordinated grading approval: A separate grading permit is not required where disturbance has not occurred and will accompany approved civil construction plans submitted with a plat, a floodplain permit or a building permit. Compliance with the grading article still applies, including applicable drainage and stormwater requirements. Stockpiling is limited to 180 days; a grading permit expires in 180 days, with an extension of no more than another 180 days. After expiration, fill must be disposed of or graded out.

• Public street space: Construction above, on or beneath a City right-of-way requires the applicable right-of-way permit. Downtown-core sidewalk fences and barriers have a separate sidewalk-amenity approval described below. A fence permit alone does not authorize either use of public space.

FENCE PLACEMENT RULES

• Property boundaries and yards: Locate the legal boundary before building. A curb, existing fence, hedge, mowing line or map display is not a determination of title. The ordinary fence clauses do not publish one numeric setback from every property line. They do prohibit front-fence elements from extending beyond the property line. Front, rear, interior-side and corner-lot street-side setbacks are distinct; a building’s footprint does not determine which street-facing strip is the front setback.

• Streets, corners and drainage: Do not encroach on or obstruct a street, alley, sidewalk or public passage, or obstruct street drainage. Section 90-37 prohibits a fence, wall, barrier or retaining wall on the sidewalk or in the strip between the property line and lateral roadway line within 25 feet of a street intersection. Elsewhere in that strip, passage must remain unobstructed. This measurement concerns the public street-edge strip. Written City-manager/designee variations follow the City’s standards and maintenance/indemnity conditions.

• Easements and subdivision lots: Check recorded utility, drainage and access easements, the plat and any required screening. A utility-easement width is not automatically a fence setback. Single- and two-family through lots backing onto a public or private collector/thoroughfare require full screening with a 6-foot solid wood or masonry fence under the subdivision code. Common screening fences may also carry recorded maintenance duties.

• Zero-lot-line homes: For the applicable patio/small-lot homes, a screening fence along the zero-setback side affects whether porches, doors or windows on another dwelling wall may be within 5 feet of that side. Check the platted maintenance, overhang and drainage easement before changing that fence; the dwelling’s easement requirement is not a universal fence setback.

• Downtown-core sidewalk fences: A residential fence proposed in public sidewalk space within the defined downtown core needs separate sidewalk-amenity approval; this is not a routine home boundary-fence route. Where approved, it must stay in front of the property, maintain a continuous 5-foot clear pedestrian path from entrances/doorways, remain at least 5 feet from accessibility ramps, and preserve utility clearances. It must be free-standing rather than drilled or secured to sidewalks, trees, lamp posts or other infrastructure. Permanent encroachments installed before November 1, 2025 may remain subject to the chapter and current building codes; replacements after removal or destruction must comply.

• Floodways and fill: Floodway encroachment requires the ordinance’s engineer-certified no-rise analysis or the applicable FEMA conditional map/floodway-revision consent. No floodway variance may cause an increase in base-flood levels. The fill standards prohibit fill in the regulatory floodway; any proposed exception must satisfy the controlling floodway provisions. Outside a designated floodway, the specified A1–30/AE cumulative-development analysis limits base-flood rise to 1 foot. Do not rely solely on an application form’s cut/fill alternative.

• Drainage and grading construction: Do not divert or impound natural surface water so that overflow damages another property. Applicable flood-control and drainage exceptions have their own conditions. Floodplain fill must reach at least 90% standard Proctor compaction, use suitable soil/rock without wood, construction debris or decomposable organic material, and be protected against erosion into a floodway. Unstabilized side slopes may not exceed 3 horizontal to 1 vertical. Grading steeper than that, or cuts over 4 feet deep/high, require a signed and sealed geotechnical and civil engineering report. Install erosion measures before disturbance and maintain them; required final stabilization and applicable construction-stormwater obligations remain.

• Protected trees on unplatted acreage: The tree article applies to new development on unplatted property over 1 acre; existing lots platted before the article’s effective date are exempt. Where it applies, obtain the required tree permit/survey, provide a 4-foot protective fence outside the drip line, and obtain approval before development inside it. Do not attach nonprotective wires to protected trees. A fill-grade change of at least 6 inches requires the specified retaining wall/tree well at least 6 feet from the trunk. Routine maintenance pruning/trimming has an exception.

• Shared or attached fences: Texas Agriculture Code §§143.121–.123 restrict removal of a dividing fence in which a person is a joint owner and of a fence attached to another person’s fence. The attached-fence withdrawal process has distinct six-month written-notice branches: an interest owner withdrawing their attached fence, and an owner whose fence is wholly on their own land requiring disconnection. The statute does not impose a six-month wait on every fence removal or establish equal ownership/cost sharing.

• Pipeline easements: Work on, across, over or under a pipeline easement, or physically affecting/risking a pipeline, can require separate operator notice and a no-increased-risk determination, payment of documented protective work before construction, or an applicable written-agreement path. There is no single statewide numeric fence setback supplied by that law. An 811 ticket does not replace the pipeline-construction requirements or the easement agreement.

• Texas 811 before post digging: Request a Texas 811 locate, wait the lawful period and follow ticket/start instructions, check responses and markings, resolve missing or conflicting information through the ticket process, protect marks and excavate carefully. Utilities Code Chapter 251 covers mechanized/explosive disturbance to 16 inches or more; ordinary notice is no earlier than the 14th day before work and no later than 48 hours before, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays. A Saturday notification made before 11:59 a.m. permits a Tuesday 11:59 a.m. start, or Wednesday 11:59 a.m. if Monday is a holiday, subject to the applicable response and work conditions. Private lines are not all promised marked. Agricultural and owner/operator exceptions have specific conditions; property ownership alone is insufficient. Separate RRC pipeline rules can reach hand digging deeper than 16 inches and have their own refresh, generally 14-working-day ticket-life and four-year record requirements. Confirm the pipeline ticket’s applicable period. Report facility damage immediately, leave repairs to the operator/authorized person and agree on repairs before backfilling damaged areas; keep ignition sources away from flammable releases. Locates do not replace permits or easement/owner permission.

FENCE HEIGHT AND VISIBILITY RULES

• Residential front setbacks: In R-E, R-1, R-1A, R-2, R-3, R-M and R-T districts, the fence exception permits 6 feet overall. The solid base may be no more than 48 inches high; the remaining fencing must be see-through. Poles, posts and columns may be no more than 24 inches wide. No element may cross the property line, obstruct visibility or interfere with pedestrian or vehicle circulation. The 48-inch base is included within the six-foot overall height.

• Side and rear fences: The zoning code does not specify a separate ordinary side/rear fence maximum or ordinary-fence grade-height measurement formula. Required screening, pool barriers, subdivision conditions and approved development rules remain separate. A generic building height or setback is not an ordinary fence dimension.

• Homes in mixed or other districts: The same front-setback six-foot/48-inch-base/24-inch-post formula appears in C1, C2, C3, DAC, MU and AD districts where lawful live/work residential use may occur. IM differs: between any building’s front wall and front property line, it permits ornamental fencing up to six feet and excludes chain link from that permission. Confirm the property’s actual district and authorized residential use.

• Required residential-edge screening: R3 property adjoining the defined less-intense residential district without a public street between must maintain screening along the common line; that clause supplies no separate numeric screen height. For actual C1/C2/C3, MU or AD sites subject to their required-screen provisions, screens are 6–8 feet. IM required screens are 8 feet. Height is measured from the highest established grade along the common property line. These are required-screen dimensions, not a general side/rear maximum for every home.

• Screening applicability: For a lawful residential/live-work site subject to required screening, the C1/C2/C3 adjacency branch excludes intervening public streets; AD’s wording does not supply that exception. MU’s adjacency rule concerns RE/R1/R1A/R2, RM developed other than for manufactured housing, and PD single-family/patio-home/townhome/duplex property. It excludes intervening public streets and single-family development within the MU district under consideration. Planning should determine whether a required screen applies to the particular residential/live-work project.

MATERIAL AND CONSTRUCTION LIMITS

• Ordinary front fences: The residential provisions recognize wrought iron, chain link and other see-through wire-type fencing. They recognize wood, brick, rock, concrete or similar materials for the solid base within its 48-inch limit. Vinyl/PVC panels are not specifically addressed. The ordinary residential clauses publish no finished-side orientation rule or fence-specific barbed/razor/electric standard; that does not establish approval for a particular hazardous or powered installation.

• Required screens at applicable residential/live-work sites: Where the special screen rules above apply, use solid masonry similar in color/design to the main building, solid weather-resistant wood, or chain-link/ornamental fencing behind an irrigated Preferred Plant List screen. The planting must create a solid screen at least 6 feet high within one year and remain healthy. Measure the wall/fence from the highest established common-line grade; maintain it plumb and square unless the building code provides otherwise. C1/C2/C3, IM and AD reject metal slats as screening even with landscaping; MU rejects chain-link slats without limiting the prohibition to metal. Alternative screening can be considered by the Planning and Zoning Commission.

• Existing nonconforming screens: Nonconforming screening/site elements may be repaired or maintained, but demolition does not create an automatic right to reconstruct them. The separate calamity-reconstruction provisions require no enlarged area or greater nonconformity, the required building permit and initiation within 6 months unless the Board allows a later date for qualifying delay. Intentional destruction by an owner/agent requires conformity with current zoning.

• Private pool/spa barriers: Kerrville’s currently adopted 2018 ISPSC §305 applies separate barrier rules. A compliant ASTM F1346 powered swimming-pool safety cover or lockable spa/hot-tub safety cover provides the code’s alternative to §§305.2–305.7 barriers. An ordinary cover is not necessarily a safety cover. Association, multiunit and public pools have separate classifications; Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 757 is not the universal backyard-pool rule.

• Pool barrier height and gaps: Where a barrier is required, its top must be at least 48 inches above outside grade, around the entire perimeter and for 3 feet horizontally outside. Bottom clearance is at most 2 inches over grass/gravel or 4 inches over a solid surface, measured outside. For a barrier mounted on an above-grade pool/spa, the gap between the structure’s top and the barrier may be no more than 4 inches. General openings must not pass a 4-inch sphere. Solid barriers cannot provide climbing handholds/footholds except normal construction tolerances and tooled masonry joints.

• Pool fence members and chain link: With horizontal-member tops less than 45 inches apart, horizontals go poolside and vertical spacing/cutouts may be no more than 1¾ inches. At 45 inches or more between horizontal-member tops, vertical spacing may be up to 4 inches, but cutouts remain limited to 1¾ inches. Chain-link openings must be no more than 1¾ inches, including where top-and-bottom-fastened slats reduce them. Diagonal-member openings are limited to 1¾ inches and the angle to 45 degrees from vertical.

• Mesh pool fencing: Follow manufacturer instructions. The bottom must be within 1 inch of the installed surface/grade, must not lift more than 4 inches, and must not allow a 4-inch sphere beneath a panel; the code also limits clearance to 4 inches. Section attachments must be at least 45 inches high with the specified security. Hinged gates must meet the gate rules, patio post sleeves must be nonconductive, and mesh cannot be installed atop an onground residential pool.

• Pool clearance and gates: Keep a 36-inch outside clear zone from climbable permanent equipment/structures and keep the poolside of the barrier at least 20 inches from the water’s edge. Gates must accommodate locking; pedestrian gates open away from the pool, self-close and self-latch. Service gates remain locked when unused. Double/multiple gates need at least one secured leaf and an adjacent self-latching leaf, with no opening over ½ inch within 18 inches of latch release. A latch release below 54 inches above grade must be poolside at least 3 inches below the top, with no opening over ½ inch within 18 inches.

• House walls and pool access: Where a dwelling/structure wall forms part of the barrier, doors and their screens, and operable windows/screens with sills below 48 inches, need the specified UL2017 water-hazard alarm, or the pool/spa must have a listed ASTM F1346 safety cover, or another approved equally protective means such as self-closing/self-latching doors. Alarm deactivation controls are at least 54 inches high in ordinary units, or 48–54 inches in the applicable accessible/Type A/Type B units.

• Onground pools and natural barriers: A pool wall used alone must start at grade, reach at least 48 inches around the entire perimeter, satisfy the barrier provisions and be allowed as a barrier by the manufacturer. A top-mounted barrier must reach 48 inches above grade around the perimeter and comply with manufacturer instructions; the wall/barrier combination must meet the code. Secure, lock or remove access ladders/steps unless enclosed by a compliant barrier; resulting openings cannot pass a 4-inch sphere. A shoreline alternative requires no permitted public shoreline access and barrier ends extending at least 18 inches beyond the water’s edge. Approved natural topography must prevent direct access and offer equivalent protection. These are conditional alternatives, not general waterfront exemptions.

• Livestock, poultry, rabbits and bees: Animal enclosures have separate location rules: livestock keeping/feeding/care enclosures at least 180 feet from other human occupancy, with the owner’s structures excepted; required ground area is at least 6,000 square feet per animal subject the stated exclusions. Fowl enclosures need 50 feet from another dwelling when fewer than 6 fowl are kept, or 180 feet with 6 or more; over 12 fowl requires the specified agricultural zoning. Rabbit enclosures need 50 feet from another dwelling. Owner-occupied dwelling exceptions and applicable state-law qualifications remain. A hive within 25 feet of a property line needs a parallel solid wall/fence/dense-vegetation flyway barrier at least 6 feet high, extending at least 10 feet past each hive end; hives need 50 feet from other human habitation, excluding the owner’s residence. The flyway rule does not expressly override front-fence zoning.

• Pet containment: Dogs/cats subject to the restraint requirement must be securely restrained. A fenced enclosure must reliably prevent escape; dangerous-dog confinement has additional lockability, public-entry, signage and climbing/digging safeguards. These requirements do not establish one numeric height for every pet fence.

• Residential agricultural land: Texas agricultural-operation protections can apply to qualifying farms/ranches with homes and to agricultural fences used to shelter, restrict or feed animals. Their application depends on the operation, improvement and applicable law; acreage, AG zoning or appraisal alone is not a universal fence exemption. State/federal duties remain. Cultivated-land fencing under Agriculture Code 143.001 is at least 5 feet high and hog-resistant, subject to the chapter’s local-stock-law treatment. More than 3 lineal miles of same-direction fence around cleared cultivated land requires an unlocked gate at least 10 feet wide.

• Conditional agricultural sufficient-fence standards: Where the relevant stock-law subchapter applies, §143.028 requires at least 4 feet and specifies three-wire barbed fencing with posts no more than 30 feet apart and at least one stay between posts; pickets no more than 6 inches apart; three boards each at least 5 inches wide and 1 inch thick; or four rails. Local-election alternatives and the animal classes covered can change the applicable test. Section 143.077 has a separate adopted-subchapter/animal-class scope. Confirm the actual stock-law territory and livestock involved before choosing a farm fence; these are not ordinary residential fence maximums.

PRIVATE RESTRICTIONS

Recorded covenants, HOA architectural rules, private easements and fence ownership/maintenance agreements can impose separate obligations. Obtain any required private approval and review boundary/cost agreements; the City’s permit does not settle ownership or allocate a neighbor’s share. The City does not generally enforce private association rules.

Security fencing: Property Code 202.023 limits an association’s power to prevent security measures, including perimeter fencing, but allows fence-type regulation and controls protecting license areas, public/community sidewalks and drainage areas/easements. It allows an HOA to require a driveway gate at least 10 feet from the right-of-way where the driveway meets a defined laned roadway, and allows a covenant-based restriction in front of the dwelling’s front-most building line.

The 2025 amendment protects maintenance of specified perimeter/front-building-line fencing installed before September 1, 2025. An HOA also cannot apply the front-building-line prohibition where the owner’s residential address is exempt from public disclosure under state or federal law, or the owner supplies the association with law-enforcement documentation of a need for enhanced security. Those protections do not automatically authorize replacement/expansion or override public requirements. Section 202.023 excludes condominiums under Chapters 81/82 and Chapter 215 master mixed-use associations.

Pool enclosures: Property Code 202.022 protects qualifying nonclimbable transparent-mesh or clear-panel fencing in metal frames, no more than 6 feet high, around a pool/spa or other water feature when it complies with applicable safety rules. Appearance/color limits remain possible, but cannot prohibit the protected black transparent-mesh/metal-frame form. This protection’s six-foot definition is not the local pool-barrier minimum.

REVIEW AND ENFORCEMENT CONTEXT

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

• Fence construction or substantial repairs beginning without the required permit.

• Front-fence height, opacity, posts, visibility or property-line encroachment.

• Public street space, easements, required subdivision screening, drainage, grading and floodplain work.

• Pool-barrier construction, gates and applicable cover or wall alternatives.

• Actual agricultural/animal-enclosure conditions, utility/pipeline work and shared or attached-fence removal.

Private architectural review, covenant enforcement and ownership/cost disputes remain separate from municipal approval. Confirm an existing fence’s nonconforming status before removing or replacing it.

USING THIS INFORMATION

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