FENCE RULES – NAVARRO (COUNTY), TEXAS

OVERVIEW

This page covers residential fencing in unincorporated, county-administered Navarro County. Incorporated municipalities are outside this page’s scope. The County’s Richland-Chambers lakeshore zoning program, floodplain program, subdivision requirements, county roads and recorded district easements have different geographic and project limits. Municipal extraterritorial subdivision authority is a separate, property-specific matter.

Navarro County’s published requirements do not communicate a general residential fence permit, an ordinary front/side/rear fence-height schedule or a countywide list of residential fence materials. Location still matters. The Richland-Chambers lakeshore area has corner-visibility and conditional screening standards; recorded subdivision drainage conditions can prohibit fences in drainage easements. County road rights-of-way exclude entrance gates and pillars. Floodplain excavation and walls can require development review, while Soil & Water Conservation District easements have their own access and approval rules. Pool-nuisance rules, agricultural operations, existing attached fences and private covenants can also affect a project. Updated November 2026.

Quick question	Navarro County answer
Permit or approval	No general fence-specific county permit requirement or exemption is published. Separate floodplain development, district-easement, required-screening, planned-development and entrance/culvert conditions can apply.
Typical fence height	No ordinary county front-, side- or rear-yard fence maximum is published. Lakeshore corner visibility, required screening, particular development plans and applicable pool conditions have separate standards.
Placement & property lines	No general numerical county fence-to-property-line setback is published. Legal boundaries, road rights-of-way, drainage and utility easements, floodplain conditions and district access areas can constrain placement.
Common fence materials	Wood: not specifically addressed by a general ordinary residential material standard; required-screening rules distinguish treated and untreated wood. Vinyl/PVC: not specifically addressed. Chain-link: not specifically addressed by a general ordinary residential standard, but prohibited for required development screening under the subdivision manual.
Important local conditions	Fence rules may be further affected by the Richland-Chambers lakeshore zoning area, corner visibility, required development screening, recorded plats, drainage easements, floodplains and floodways, Soil & Water Conservation District easements, county or state road rights-of-way, pool use and property occupancy, agricultural operations, fence ownership or attachment, and private restrictions.
Official local resource	Navarro County Planning & Development

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 Navarro County Planning & Development or the responsible office identified for the issue.

GOVERNANCE

The Navarro County Commissioners Court adopts the County’s applicable orders and regulations. Navarro County Planning & Development administers the published lake-area zoning, building and subdivision programs. These programs have separate scopes.

• Richland-Chambers lakeshore zoning: The adopted ordinance, under Local Government Code Chapter 231, Subchapter E, covers the area within 5,000 feet of the reservoir shoreline at its normal pool elevation of 315 feet mean sea level. The lakeshore program is geographically limited. Its agricultural, residential and other districts and property-specific Planned Development standards affect land within that program. The January 10, 2022 amendment governs the Planned Development provisions it changed.

• Unincorporated flood-hazard areas: The County’s Flood Damage Prevention Court Order applies to areas of special flood hazard within its unincorporated jurisdiction. The Director of Planning & Development is the Floodplain Administrator. The order adopts the June 5, 2012 Flood Insurance Study and Flood Insurance Rate Maps, including revisions. A district’s recorded flood-storage easement and a mapped floodplain are different site conditions.

• Roads and entrances: County Commissioners administer the county-road culvert process and determine approved culvert size and location. County Road & Bridge functions address road drainage and installation review. TxDOT administers state-road access and state rights-of-way.

• District easements: The Navarro County Soil & Water Conservation District administers its dam, spillway, flood-storage and access easements through its Board of Directors. The recorded easement determines which land is affected. District review concerns its easement rights and does not cover every parcel in the County.

• Nuisance and private controls: Navarro County Environmental Crimes is the official local resource for the County’s published nuisance order. Property owners’ associations and private recorded agreements operate separately, subject to Texas law.

Municipal corporate limits and any applicable extraterritorial plat or road-access authority require their own territorial determination. A mailing address does not establish the governing jurisdiction. Municipal fence standards and county subdivision or house-construction programs have different legal scopes.

PERMIT AND APPROVAL REQUIREMENTS

Navarro County’s published requirements do not state a general fence-specific permit requirement or express exemption for installing, replacing or repairing an ordinary residential fence. Independently applicable approvals and site restrictions remain important.

• Housing and lake-area administration: The County’s house-construction program is separate from an ordinary fence project on an existing residential property. The published lake ordinance has general structure-permit provisions, but the County does not publish an established fence-specific application of those provisions to such a project.

• Planned Development property and required screening: An adopted Planned Development ordinance or its approved exhibits can establish property-specific screening and site standards. Required screening imposed through an applicable development approval remains subject to that approval. The 2022 amendment provides for site-plan and screening conditions in the creation and approval of a Planned Development district; each property’s adopted requirements govern its conditions.

• Floodplain site work: Within the order’s unincorporated special-flood-hazard territory, a Floodplain Development Permit applies to covered development. Development includes man-made changes such as filling, grading, excavation and drilling, so fence-post excavation, wall footings and associated site alterations can fall within this process. The application goes to the Floodplain Administrator and may include duplicate scaled plans showing locations, dimensions and elevations of proposed landscape alterations and existing or proposed structures in relation to flood-hazard areas, together with the extent of any watercourse or natural-drainage alteration. Elevation and floodproofing certificates apply to their specified building or project classes.

• Floodplain review and relief: Permit review considers flooding and erosion danger, material displacement onto other land, safe access, compatibility with surrounding development, expected flood heights, velocity, duration, rate of rise, sediment transport and wave effects, and alternative locations. The Appeal Board hears variance requests and alleged administrative errors. Variance relief must be the minimum necessary, supported by good cause and exceptional hardship, and must avoid increased flood heights, additional safety threats, extraordinary public expense, nuisance, fraud and conflicts with law. A floodway variance cannot authorize increased flood levels.

• District easement work: The Navarro County Soil & Water Conservation District encroachment manual requires an application, checklist and necessary supporting information for activity within its easements. The applicant has 15 calendar days to supply outstanding completeness items and the fee or the application is voided. Technical review precedes discretionary Board action; an executed agreement and the applicable work authorization are required before work proceeds. The District can deny a request and can require additional information.

• District encroachment fees: The published policy lists $15,000 for a cut-and-fill encroachment submittal, $5,000 for an encroachment without cut and fill, and $3,000 for partial release or modification of a blanket easement. Unresolved comments after three rounds or six months may require another fee payment. If construction begins before formal Board approval, the required fee is 150 percent of the listed fee; the District reserves authority to waive or reduce fees. Payment does not guarantee approval.

• Entrance work involving a culvert: Installing a culvert in county right-of-way requires the separate county culvert permit and approved location and size. A fence or gate project that also changes a driveway or culvert must address that work through the applicable entrance process. State-road access has a separate TxDOT process.

• Qualifying agricultural operations: Agriculture Code Chapter 251 limits governmental requirements according to the operation, the requirement and their dates. For non-city requirements, the statute distinguishes operations established before or after the requirement became effective and preserves requirements already applicable before the chapter’s effective date. Its agricultural-improvement protection includes qualifying fences and retains enforcement of state and federal statutes. An agricultural zoning designation alone does not establish an exemption from every fence, floodplain or easement requirement.

FENCE PLACEMENT RULES

The County does not publish one general numerical fence-to-property-line setback for ordinary residential fencing. The legal boundary, recorded plat, public right-of-way and public or private easements are separate constraints. An existing fence, apparent pavement edge, ditch, mowing line or online map does not conclusively establish the property boundary or right-of-way.

• County road rights-of-way: The County’s culvert order prohibits permanent installations such as entrance gates and pillars within public right-of-way. Property owners must keep right-of-way ditches and culverts unobstructed and maintain drainage flow. The road authority may remove an obstruction or replace a culvert in the circumstances stated in the order. Fence placement outside a visible road edge still requires the actual right-of-way location.

• Subdivision drainage conditions: The subdivision manual’s required plat notes keep drainage reserves and easements clear of fences and other obstructions to drainage operation and maintenance. These continuing conditions matter on affected residential lots. Drainage and maintenance access must remain available under the actual plat and easement; an easement width is distinct from an ordinary property-line setback.

• Nuisance-order drainage controls: The County’s nuisance provisions also address filling or blocking a drainage easement, failure to maintain it, clogging by debris, sediment or vegetation, and violation of a county agreement to improve or maintain it. The nuisance section has its own exclusions, including agricultural land as defined by the controlling statute. Other independent drainage, floodplain, plat or easement obligations retain their own scope.

• Required development screening: The subdivision manual requires space between required screening fencing and street right-of-way for utilities and landscaping, without supplying a single numerical distance there. Landscaping must avoid utility-easement conflicts. Fencing must facilitate maintenance and avoid modifying natural drainage in a way that endangers adjacent property. Development fencing is placed in the defined common open space or easement areas owned or maintained by the established property owners’ association.

• District dam and access easements: The Soil & Water Conservation District’s structure-easement definition uses 50-foot offsets from the toe of the dam embankment, the outermost spillway embankment edge and all sides of the principal spillway and outlet works. Recorded blanket and access easements may affect a larger tract. Both dam ends must remain accessible from public access areas. Gates or openings in district access areas must be at least 30 feet wide for equipment. Temporary or permanent restrictions on that access require District approval.

• District flood-pool encroachments and fill: Activity within recorded district flood-pool areas requires approval before work begins. The policy preserves flood storage and requires compensatory excavation of at least 25 percent greater volume than fill or encroachment placed in the flood-pool area, at or below the fill elevations. Applicable improvements must be anchored or otherwise protect against displaced material and spillway obstruction. These requirements concern the actual district easement and proposed work.

• Floodplain and floodway placement: In mapped Zones A1–30, AE and AH where a regulatory floodway has not been designated, new construction, substantial improvements and other development, including fill, are subject to a cumulative base-flood water-surface-rise limit of one foot, considering existing and anticipated development. In an adopted regulatory floodway, encroachments require hydrologic and hydraulic analyses showing no increase in base-flood levels. A greater-rise proposal uses the separate process in which the community first completes all requirements of 44 CFR 65.12. These are site-specific development conditions administered by the Floodplain Administrator.

• Surface-water flow: Water Code Section 11.086 prohibits diverting or impounding natural surface water in a manner that damages another property by overflow. Its qualifications address authorized flood-control and water-conveyance work and specified riverbank conditions. Fence walls, footings, grading and drainage changes must account for the actual flow and applicable requirements.

• Pipeline easements: Covered construction on, across, over or under a pipeline easement or right-of-way, or physically affecting pipeline risk, requires separate operator notice under Health & Safety Code Sections 756.121–756.123 unless an applicable written agreement provides otherwise. The operator determines whether the work increases pipeline risk. If increased risk is determined, the reasonable, necessary and documented protective-work costs must be paid before proceeding, unless a controlling applicable written agreement provides otherwise. Work may proceed through the statute’s no-increased-risk route or under an applicable existing written agreement. No single statewide pipeline fence setback is specified by those provisions. The separate Texas811 excavation duties also remain applicable.

• Existing joint or attached fences: Agriculture Code Section 143.121 restricts removal of a jointly owned separating or dividing fence, or a fence attached to one owned or controlled by another, except by mutual consent or the statutory process. Under Section 143.122, an owner of an interest in an attached fence may physically withdraw that fence after six months’ written notice to the other fence’s owner or that person’s agent, attorney or lessee. Section 143.123 allows the owner of a fence wholly on that owner’s land to require an attached fence’s disconnection after the corresponding six-month written notice. Ownership, attachment and consent determine which provision applies.

• Texas811 before post digging: Request a locate through Texas811 before digging, wait the applicable lawful period, follow the ticket’s start instructions, check responses and site markings, resolve missing or conflicting information through the ticket process, protect markings and excavate carefully. Utilities Code Chapter 251 covers specified explosive or powered/mechanized work, including augers, disturbing soil 16 or more inches. Ordinary notice is no earlier than the fourteenth day and no later than the forty-eighth hour before excavation, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays. Under Utilities Code Section 251.002(14), notice given before 11:59 a.m. on Saturday has a Tuesday 11:59 a.m. start, or Wednesday 11:59 a.m. when the intervening Monday is a holiday. The agricultural-operations exception and the own-land/all-facilities-operated exception have specific statutory conditions. Separate pipeline rules can cover manual digging beyond 16 inches. Private services and every water or sewer line are not necessarily marked. A locate does not replace permits, property permission, easement rights or pipeline-construction notice.

FENCE HEIGHT AND VISIBILITY RULES

Navarro County’s published requirements do not provide an ordinary county front-, side- or rear-yard residential fence maximum or a general fence-height measurement method. The following conditional standards have different purposes and scopes.

• Lakeshore corner lots: Under the Richland-Chambers zoning ordinance, the corner sight triangle is defined by the intersecting property lines and a line joining points 25 feet back along those lines. Fences, walls, objects and plants within that area must preserve vision in the band three to six feet above each roadway’s centerline.

• Required lakeshore screening: Where the zoning ordinance or an applicable Specific Use Permit requires visual screening, it must be at least 80 percent opaque through the vertical space from one foot above ground to a minimum of six feet above ground, unless a greater minimum is specifically required. Gates provide the same screening. Necessary drainage openings are retained. Required screening cannot occupy a required sight triangle.

• Required screening location and alternatives: The lakeshore screening provision calls for continuity along and within one foot of the required boundary, with Administrator-approved alternative locations based on site conditions. It permits required screening within side or rear building setbacks and within the half of a required front setback adjoining the setback line. Adopted Planned Development plans can specify their own applicable standards.

• Pool and agricultural contexts: The abandoned/unoccupied neighborhood-pool fence minimum described below is a special safety requirement. Agricultural sufficient-fence and stock-law requirements depend on their actual land, animal and geographic conditions. They are distinct from ordinary residential yard-fence maximums.

MATERIAL AND CONSTRUCTION LIMITS

Wood, Vinyl/PVC and Chain-link: Navarro County does not publish a general ordinary residential fence-material standard specifically addressing these three materials. Required development screening and other special uses have their own construction rules.

• Required subdivision-development screening: The subdivision manual prefers brick, masonry or stone for required screening fencing. It prohibits untreated wood, plain concrete block, chain-link, wire, metal mesh and corrugated metal panels for that fencing or screening. Vinyl/PVC is not expressly named in this provision. Its required-development screening scope controls.

• Required lakeshore screening construction: The zoning ordinance’s screening options include masonry on a continuous concrete footing or an engineered precast concrete panel-and-post system; cedar or pressure-treated wood on galvanized metal, cedar or pressure-treated posts; vegetated earth berms; qualifying evergreen vegetation; or another Administrator-approved means. A berm is limited to six feet, with vegetation sufficient to prevent erosion. Additional screening above a berm may be needed for a greater required screen height, and planting on a berm requires permanent irrigation provision.

• Required lakeshore vegetative screens: Plants must be capable of providing the required height and 80 percent evergreen opacity within three years, with 50 percent opacity within two years. The owner provides sufficient watering for establishment and continued viability. Plant selection should use low-water-consumption species recommended for Navarro County by the agricultural extension service.

• District-owned fences: Fences on Soil & Water Conservation District structures must remain intact. Alteration or removal requires the District’s prior written consent.

• Abandoned and unoccupied neighborhood property with a pool: The Navarro County public nuisance order requires protection consisting of a fence at least four feet high with a latched and locked gate, and a cover over the entire pool that a child cannot remove. “Neighborhood” means a platted subdivision or property contiguous to and within 300 feet of one. The nuisance section excludes agricultural land qualifying for the statutory tax-appraisal definition and state-regulated or permitted sites for the described activity. These exclusions concern that section’s scope.

• Pool-nuisance exceptions and abatement: The Commissioners Court can grant the published case-specific special exception or variance upon the required justice, public-interest and general-purpose findings; a variance also requires special conditions causing unnecessary hardship. County abatement can involve controlling access and installing a child-resistant entire-pool cover, or draining and filling the pool. The limited prehearing access-control-and-cover action requires a hearing afterward. Those are county remedies for the specified nuisance.

• Other pool uses: An ordinary occupied single-family pool, an association or multiunit pool and a public pool have different legal classifications. Health & Safety Code Chapter 757 concerns its defined multiunit and association pool yards and rental access openings. Its dimensions do not govern every private backyard pool. The County does not publish a general private-home pool-barrier dimension through the programs described here.

• Rural residential acreage and agricultural fences: Agricultural-operation and agricultural-improvement protections depend on actual use, applicable requirements and dates. Stock-law territory and animal class can affect sufficient-fence duties. A residence with acreage must account for those conditions; an agricultural district label alone does not establish every statutory protection.

• Private hobby-vehicle storage: Qualifying vehicles and their outdoor storage area under the collector exception in Transportation Code Section 683.077 must be lawfully stored, orderly, free of a health hazard and screened from ordinary public view. Appropriate screening may include a fence, rapidly growing trees or shrubbery.

• Resulting fence or gate defects: Following the livestock-incident or agricultural-land events specified in Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 75.006, the owner or lessee of the land where the event occurred must cure any resulting defect within a reasonable time. This repair duty includes resulting fence or gate defects within the statute’s scope.

PRIVATE RESTRICTIONS

HOA and architectural covenants, recorded private easements, deed restrictions and private boundary, maintenance or cost agreements operate separately from public approvals. Fence location alone does not settle ownership or create an automatic equal cost-sharing obligation. Public plat conditions, district easements and the statutory attached-fence removal duties described above remain separate matters.

• Perimeter security fences: Property Code Sections 202.022 and 202.023 limit particular association restrictions. Section 202.023 protects security measures, including perimeter fencing, subject to retained controls. It excludes condominiums under Chapters 81 or 82 and master mixed-use associations under Chapter 215.

• Retained association controls: An association may regulate fence type and prohibit obstruction of license areas, public or community sidewalks, and drainage easements or areas. It may require a driveway gate to be set back at least 10 feet from right-of-way where the driveway intersects the statute’s defined laned roadway. If a restrictive covenant provides, it may prohibit fencing in front of the dwelling’s front-most building line.

• Existing fences and enhanced security: Section 202.023 protects maintenance of perimeter fencing or fencing in front of the front-most building line installed or constructed before September 1, 2025, notwithstanding those retained controls. Its exception to the front-building-line prohibition covers an address exempt from public disclosure or documentation from law enforcement of the owner’s need for enhanced security. The statutory maintenance protection is specific to existing fencing.

• Defined water-feature enclosures: Section 202.022 protects a conforming nonclimbable enclosure around a water feature consisting of transparent mesh or clear panels in metal frames and no more than six feet high. The association may regulate appearance and permissible colors within the statute, but may not prohibit the specified black transparent-mesh-and-metal-frame enclosure. Applicable state and local safety requirements still govern.

REVIEW AND ENFORCEMENT CONTEXT

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

• Lake-area and development conditions: Corner visibility, required screening, adopted Planned Development conditions and continuing public plat requirements.

• Road and drainage conditions: Gates or pillars in county right-of-way, obstructed ditches or culverts, fences in drainage easements and interference with maintenance access.

• Floodplain and district easements: Covered site work, floodway encroachments, district access openings, district-owned fences and work affecting dam or flood-storage easements.

• Pool and safety conditions: The specified abandoned-property pool nuisance, applicable pool classification, dangerous conditions and resulting fence or gate defects.

• State and private matters: Excavation or pipeline duties, qualifying agricultural conditions, joint or attached-fence removal, private association review and private ownership or maintenance agreements involve their respective authorities or parties.

USING THIS INFORMATION

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