FENCE RULES – LEE (COUNTY), TEXAS

OVERVIEW

This page covers ordinary residential fences in unincorporated Lee County, Texas. Incorporated municipalities administer their municipal fence rules separately. County floodplain, subdivision and road functions have their own stated coverage.

Lee County’s permitting guidelines expressly list “livestock pens and fences” among work that does not require a development application. That application exception is separate from the county’s floodplain order, which governs development in special flood hazard areas. The county does not publish a general front, side or rear yard-fence maximum, ordinary property-line setback or material-specific standard for wood, vinyl/PVC or chain-link. Before setting posts, resolve road rights-of-way, easements, drainage and the actual fence boundary. Agricultural use, livestock containment and private covenants can add different conditions. Updated November 2026.

Quick question	Lee County answer
Permit or approval	The development guidelines exempt “livestock pens and fences” from the development application. Separate floodplain development and other site requirements remain applicable.
Typical fence height	No countywide ordinary front-, side- or rear-yard fence maximum is published.
Placement & property lines	No general ordinary fence setback from a private property line is published. Road rights-of-way, recorded easements, plats and drainage remain separate constraints.
Common fence materials	Wood: no material-specific ordinary residential standard is published. Vinyl/PVC: no material-specific ordinary residential standard is published. Chain-link: no material-specific ordinary residential standard is published.
Important local conditions	Fence rules may be further affected by special flood hazard areas, road frontage, drainage, recorded easements, livestock or agricultural use and private restrictions.
Official local resource	Lee County Development Services

The table above is for quick reference. Additional fence-rule details appear in the corresponding sections below. Before purchasing materials or beginning construction, read the sections that apply to the property, review the linked official sources, and confirm site-specific questions with Lee County Development Services or the responsible office identified for that issue.

GOVERNANCE

The Lee County Commissioners Court adopts county development, subdivision, road and floodplain requirements. Development Services handles the development process and floodplain administration. The county’s municipal and joint subdivision-review arrangements concern their stated land-division functions and territories.

The responsible precinct road authority handles county-road access; TxDOT handles state-highway and farm-to-market-road rights-of-way. The July 2016 Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance applies to special flood hazard areas within county jurisdiction, with a separate floodplain development permit.

PERMIT AND APPROVAL REQUIREMENTS

• Development-application exception: The Lee County permitting guidelines require applications for covered unincorporated development over 100 square feet in floodplain and non-floodplain areas, but expressly list “livestock pens and fences” among the categories not requiring a development application. Use the stated category for the proposed work; associated buildings or other development have their own treatment.

• Development in a special flood hazard area: Articles 3 and 4 of the flood ordinance establish the separate floodplain development permit and require location and alteration plans and related site information. Have Development Services determine how a proposed fence, wall, fill or excavation in a special flood hazard area meets that process before construction.

• Homes with an agricultural operation: Agriculture Code Section 251.005 ties noncity governmental requirements to the operation’s established date and the requirement’s effective date. A requirement applies when the operation began later; it generally does not apply when the operation predates it. Requirements already in effect and applicable before Chapter 251 took effect are preserved. City governmental requirements do not apply to agricultural operations outside corporate limits. Actual agricultural use and the relevant dates matter; acreage alone is not an exemption.

• Agricultural fence improvements: Section 251.006 protects an owner, lessee or occupant of agricultural land against the specified liability, nuisance suits and injunctions for qualifying agricultural improvements, including fences designed for sheltering, restricting or feeding animal life, when construction is not expressly prohibited by statute or a properly adopted Section 251.005 requirement then in effect. State and federal statutes remain enforceable.

• Private backyard pools: The county does not publish a countywide model-code enclosure standard for an ordinary private single-family backyard pool. Before using a yard fence as a pool barrier, confirm the applicable enclosure, gate and latch requirements with Lee County Development Services. A pool serving apartments, an association or the public has a separate legal classification; Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 757 and public-pool rules are not general private-backyard fence standards.

FENCE PLACEMENT RULES

• Property boundaries and recorded rights: Use the deed, recorded plat and appropriate survey information to establish the proposed location. An existing fence, tax map, GIS line, tree line or mowing line is not a conclusive property boundary. Utility, access, drainage and other easements can restrict fencing or require continued access even where no general fence setback is published. The terms and location of the actual easement or plat condition matter.

• Road rights-of-way: Keep fencing outside the public road right-of-way unless the responsible road authority authorizes the placement. Transportation Code Section 251.008 requires public county roads to remain clear of obstructions. County-road matters and state-highway or farm-to-market-road matters have different responsible authorities. The pavement edge, roadside ditch or an existing fence does not establish the legal right-of-way boundary.

• Drainage and surface water: Water Code Section 11.086 prohibits diverting or impounding the natural flow of surface water in a manner that damages another property by overflow. Fence walls, footings, fill and grading need to preserve the drainage rights and restrictions affecting the site. The statute has separate provisions for lawful flood-control and irrigation improvements and specified bank repairs; it establishes no general fence-to-property-line distance.

• Floodplain and recorded drainage: Show the fence, wall and earthwork location for any required floodplain review and preserve the drainage and access rights recorded for the lot. The development-application exception does not remove those independent requirements.

• Zones A1–30 and AE without a designated regulatory floodway: Article 4B(9) requires a demonstration that the proposed development, combined with all existing and anticipated development, will not raise the base-flood water-surface elevation more than 1 foot anywhere in the community. This cumulative test applies where no regulatory floodway is designated.

• Federal approval route and floodway variances: Article 4B(10) permits the county to approve certain development in Zones A1–30, AE and AH that increases base-flood elevation more than one foot only after completing all requirements of 44 CFR Section 65.12. Separately, Article 4D(8) prohibits a variance within a designated floodway if it would produce any increase in flood levels during the base-flood discharge.

• Replacing a joint or attached fence: Agriculture Code Sections 143.121–143.123 prohibit removal of a jointly owned separating fence or a fence attached to another person’s fence except by mutual consent or the statutory process. An owner of an interest in an attached fence may withdraw it after 6 months’ written notice to the other fence’s owner or that person’s agent, attorney or lessee. An owner whose fence is wholly on their land may require an attached fence’s disconnection after the same notice to its owner or that person’s agent, attorney or lessee. These rules concern ownership and attachment, rather than every fence replacement.

• Construction affecting a pipeline corridor: Health and Safety Code Sections 756.121–756.123 address construction on, across, over or under a pipeline easement or right-of-way, or physically affecting a pipeline’s risk. Subject to the statute’s contrary-written-agreement exclusion, its exclusion for municipal work on municipally owned land other than private commercial use, and its exclusion for property of qualifying navigation districts or port authorities, give notice to the operator and satisfy the applicable route: an operator determination of no increased risk; payment of reasonable, necessary, documented protective-work costs before proceeding; work under an existing written agreement; or prompt work by a regulated utility because of a natural disaster. This construction process is separate from an 811 locate request.

• Post-hole excavation under the Utilities Code: Utilities Code Chapter 251 covers explosives or powered or mechanized equipment, including augers, that disturbs soil to 16 or more inches. Ordinary notice must be given not earlier than the 14th day before excavation or later than 48 hours before it, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays. For a Saturday notice given before 11:59 a.m., the statutory start is the following Tuesday at 11:59 a.m., or Wednesday at 11:59 a.m. if Monday is a holiday. Use the ticket’s lawful start information.

• Limited excavation exceptions: Emergency work may begin immediately when the statutory emergency conditions exist, with reasonable care and notice as promptly as practicably possible. Section 251.156 also has exceptions for activities on private property connected with defined agricultural operations, and for excavation by or for an owner or lessee who operates all underground facilities at the excavation site. Yard ownership alone is not that latter exception. Separate pipeline rules can still apply.

• Digging near covered underground pipelines: Railroad Commission Chapter 18 can cover manual post-hole digging deeper than 16 inches near the covered gas, hazardous-liquid or carbon-dioxide pipelines. Its default locate-ticket life is 14 working days, unless the excavator and operator make a longer written, signed and dated agreement. Refresh unfinished work for the remaining excavation area. Keep the required locate-ticket and positive-response records for at least 4 years. Check the site, ticket and markings and use the required second-notice process for missing, incorrect or inconsistent pipeline responses.

• Utility safety before digging: Request a Texas811 locate before digging fence posts, wait the applicable lawful period, check ticket responses and site markings, resolve missing or conflicting information through the current ticket process, protect the marks and excavate carefully. Private irrigation, pool, outbuilding and other owner-operated lines may need separate locating; an 811 request does not assure that every private service or water and sewer line is marked. Locate compliance does not replace permits, property permission, easement rights or pipeline construction notice.

FENCE HEIGHT AND VISIBILITY RULES

Lee County does not publish an ordinary countywide front-, side- or rear-yard residential fence maximum. A recorded plat condition, private restriction, road or drainage condition, or the fence’s use can still affect the design.

• Road and driveway visibility: Preserve the visibility and access required by the actual road, driveway approval and recorded plat. The county does not publish a countywide ordinary-yard fence sight-triangle measurement.

• Cultivated acreage and livestock fencing: Agriculture Code Section 143.001 requires gardeners or farmers to fence cleared cultivated land at least 5 feet high and prevent hog passage, subject to Chapter 143’s local-option stock-law treatment. Section 143.002 requires an unlocked gate at least 10 feet wide when more than 3 lineal miles of fence run in the same general direction around cleared cultivated land. Other sufficient-fence and livestock duties depend on the applicable animal class and local stock-law territory. These agricultural rules are separate from ordinary residential height limits.

MATERIAL AND CONSTRUCTION LIMITS

Lee County does not publish a countywide list of approved or prohibited ordinary residential fence materials.

• Wood: No material-specific standard is published for an ordinary residential wood fence.

• Vinyl/PVC: No material-specific standard is published for an ordinary residential vinyl or PVC fence.

• Chain-link: No material-specific standard is published for an ordinary residential chain-link fence.

Road, drainage, floodplain, easement and private restrictions affecting the property can constrain the design or location. Animal enclosures and swimming-pool barriers have different purposes from an ordinary yard divider.

PRIVATE RESTRICTIONS

Deed restrictions, homeowners association rules, architectural-review requirements, private easements, and agreements about fence ownership, maintenance or costs can impose separate obligations, subject to Texas law. Public approval does not decide those private rights. Review the actual recorded documents and applicable association procedures before construction.

• HOA security and perimeter fencing: Under Property Code Section 202.023, an association generally cannot adopt or enforce a covenant preventing an owner from installing security measures, including perimeter fencing. The section excludes condominiums governed by Chapters 81 or 82 and master mixed-use associations subject to Chapter 215.

• Controls an HOA may retain: An association may regulate fence type and prohibit fencing that obstructs a license area, a public or community sidewalk, or a drainage easement or drainage area. It may require a driveway gate to be set back at least 10 feet from the right-of-way where the driveway intersects a laned roadway. If a restrictive covenant provides for it, the association may prohibit fencing in front of the dwelling’s front-most building line. The gate provision is an association power, not a general county fence setback.

• Existing fences and enhanced security: Notwithstanding those retained controls, owners may maintain perimeter or front-building-line fencing installed or constructed before September 1, 2025. The front-building-line prohibition also does not apply when the owner’s residential address is exempt from public disclosure under state or federal law, or the owner provides the association with law-enforcement documentation of a need for enhanced security measures.

• Protected pool enclosures: Property Code Section 202.022 protects a nonclimbable fence surrounding a water feature that consists of transparent mesh or clear panels in metal frames, is no more than 6 feet high, and conforms to applicable state or local safety requirements. An association may regulate appearance and color but cannot prohibit the protected black transparent-mesh enclosure in metal frames. The 6-foot figure defines this HOA protection; it is not a general pool-barrier minimum or ordinary fence-height limit.

REVIEW AND ENFORCEMENT CONTEXT

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

• Applicable county approvals: Whether the proposed work has the floodplain, road or other site approval described above.

• Placement and drainage: Whether the fence respects property rights, road access, easements and drainage or flood-conveyance conditions.

• Excavation and rural use: Whether the utility and pipeline procedures, agricultural conditions and applicable livestock-fence duties are satisfied.

• Private and shared-fence matters: Association review, ownership, cost agreements and boundary disputes remain separate from county approval. Joint or attached fence-removal duties can affect replacement work as described above.

USING THIS INFORMATION

This page provides general orientation on how residential fence rules are structured and applied within Lee County, 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 Lee County 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.