FENCE RULES – SCHERTZ (CITY), TEXAS

OVERVIEW

This page covers residential fencing within the incorporated City of Schertz, Texas, including its portions in Guadalupe, Bexar and Comal counties.

Schertz combines citywide fence standards with rules tied to the yard, zoning district and site. An ordinary residential fence may reach eight feet. The general residential front-yard limit is four feet with open decorative construction; multifamily front yards have an eight-foot, nonopaque branch. Residential Agricultural zoning has two distinct front-yard exceptions. New fences generally require permits; a narrowly defined replacement and qualifying agricultural fencing have different treatment. Easements, corner visibility, arterial screening walls and pool barriers can change what works on a particular lot. A useful starting point is to identify the boundary, required front yard and recorded restrictions before choosing the fence.

Quick question	Schertz answer
Permit or approval	A permit is generally required for a new fence. On one- or two-family dwelling property, a same-height, same-material, same-location replacement is exempt when UDC-compliant and outside a flood hazard area. Qualifying agricultural fencing has a separate exception.
Typical fence height	Residential fences, screens and walls: eight feet maximum. Required front yard: four feet for the general residential branch; multifamily: eight feet, nonopaque and sight-compliant. Two Residential Agricultural branches allow six-foot decorative front fencing under their stated conditions.
Placement & property lines	The general fence section sets no single numeric setback from a private property line. Surveys, easements, drainage, street visibility and applicable subdivision screening requirements still govern placement.
Common fence materials	Wood: pressure-treated wood is recognized. Vinyl/PVC: not specifically named; confirm the proposed product with Inspections. Chain-link: permitted without attached screening, subject to front-yard and other applicable conditions.
Important local conditions	Fence rules may be further affected by Residential Agricultural zoning, planned-development approvals, arterial screening, easements, floodplain and drainage conditions, corner visibility, pool use and private restrictions.
Official local resource	Schertz Building Permits provides permit information, residential project handouts and adopted-code information.

Use this table as a quick reference. Read the applicable sections below and the linked official sources, then confirm questions about your lot and project with the responsible City offices before purchasing materials or beginning construction. Updated November 2026.

GOVERNANCE

Schertz is a home-rule city. City Council adopts its ordinances, zoning standards and local building-code amendments. The Schertz Unified Development Code, particularly Section 21.9.8, supplies the general residential fence rules. These rules apply inside the corporate limits; confirm the parcel’s municipal boundary location as well as its mailing address.

Planning & Community Development administers development and zoning requirements. Its Inspections Division handles building permits and inspections. Planning addresses zoning, planned-development and plat conditions. Engineering and the Floodplain Administrator address applicable grading, drainage and floodplain review; Public Works reviews the drainage bar-screen detail. The Fire Official reviews gates where fire access is involved. Code Enforcement addresses property-maintenance and other enforceable conditions. The Animal Control Officer administers animal-control requirements, the local health authority addresses approved quarantine confinement, and the Municipal Court handles case-specific animal orders.

Approved planned-development district ordinances may establish particular screening or landscaping conditions and specifically granted departures from the UDC. The remaining UDC requirements continue to apply. Check the actual approval for the parcel and the recorded plat, especially where a subdivision has required perimeter walls or a homeowners’ association maintenance easement.

PERMIT AND APPROVAL REQUIREMENTS

• New fences and replacements: The City’s residential fence handout requires a building permit for a new installation. For property of a one- or two-family dwelling, the locally amended 2018 International Residential Code in the Schertz Code of Ordinances provides a replacement exemption when height, material and location remain the same, the fence complies with the UDC, and it is outside a flood hazard area. A change in those features needs review under the applicable permit requirements.

• Application and final inspection: Provide a site survey showing easements, property lines and setbacks, mark the proposed fence, show distances to boundaries and buildings or other structures, and supply a materials list. The Inspections Division provides an alternative-drawing process when a survey is unavailable. A permitted fence requires a Fence Final inspection. Use the current permit fee schedule and City permit portal for the application and inspection request. The City’s permit page states that no permit fees are charged for sites located on Main Street; this location-based fee exception does not remove the permit requirement.

• Qualifying agricultural fencing: UDC Section 21.7.11 provides a separate building-permit exception for new or repaired agricultural fencing, including barbed wire, under its provisions for continued agricultural operations on properties used for agriculture before annexation. The fence must remain within the property boundaries and must not impede sight distance. Agricultural-operation status and the ordinance’s applicability matter; lot size alone does not establish the exception. Texas Agriculture Code Chapter 251 also provides protections for qualifying agricultural operations, with its own definitions and conditions.

• Retaining walls: The City requires a permit for a retaining wall of any height, with a site plan and construction details. For a wall greater than four feet, measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall, a Texas-licensed engineer must seal the design plans. The locally amended building codes also require the engineer’s sealed inspection report to close the permit for a qualifying private wall that will not be dedicated to the public. Required inspections include Foundation/Flatwork (PrePour) and Retaining Wall Final.

• Pool projects: The City’s residential pool handouts require a permit for a pool 24 inches deep or greater. Schertz adopts the 2018 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code, with local title and appeal provisions. The barrier standards below address private residential pools for the household and guests, according to that code’s pool, spa, cover and access conditions. Multiunit, association and public pools also require review under their applicable health and safety standards. An ordinary fence replacement exemption does not resolve a separate pool project or required barrier approval.

• Clearing, grading and floodplain work: UDC Section 21.13.1 requires clearing/grading permits for disturbance exceeding 0.1 acre outside a Special Flood Hazard Area and for disturbance of any size inside that area, subject to its exceptions. Exceptions include emergency work, specified inspected hazardous-tree or underbrush removal, and qualifying agricultural clearing; the agricultural exception excludes timber cutting, grading cuts or fills, and work within the Special Flood Hazard Area. Applicable permitted work must follow grading-plan and erosion/sediment-control requirements. Development in a Special Flood Hazard Area, including applicable excavation or other manmade changes, also requires floodplain review and authorization.

• Tree work: UDC tree preservation, mitigation and permit requirements exempt property with an existing occupied one- or two-family dwelling. In nonexempt development settings, protected trees are eight to less than 24 inches in diameter and heritage trees are at least 24 inches, measured 4.5 feet above ground. Applicable removal requires tree-permit review, and preserved trees need construction protection. Identify which setting applies before including tree removal in a fence project.

• Separate approvals: Work in the public right-of-way requires the City’s applicable right-of-way authorization. Easement-holder permission, subdivision or planned-development conditions, association approval and fire-access review may also be needed for the affected part of a project. For the six-foot front-yard exception on Residential Agricultural property subject to mandatory association or architectural review, submit that body’s written approval with the fence-permit application.

• Establishing a secured community: UDC Section 21.8.1 requires at least 75 acres and a master plan for a proposed secured or gated community. The plan must show the security system, perimeter fence and gate type, and the community must have a homeowners’ association. The layout cannot cross an existing or proposed thoroughfare or disrupt or cross a public pedestrian pathway, trail, park or other public facility identified in the applicable City plans. The entrance, service access and fire-access standards below apply to the affected community project.

FENCE PLACEMENT RULES

• Boundary and required yards: The general fence standards do not specify one universal numeric setback from a private property line. Establish the boundary and required front yard using the survey, recorded plat and applicable zoning. Tax maps, GIS lines, an existing fence, vegetation, curbs, ditches and the edge of pavement do not establish the legal boundary. Keep the fence and its footings on property where you have the right to build, and check for separately required screening-wall locations and easements. Street visibility rules can limit fencing well inside a lot.

• Public and utility easements: A fence in a public easement must have a gate or removable panel so maintenance crews can enter. The City is not responsible for fence damage resulting from easement maintenance. Utility-easement improvements that damage infrastructure or limit maintenance access are prohibited unless the easement holder waives that restriction or the easement terms expressly allow the improvement. A gate alone does not settle the easement’s other terms.

• Drainage easements: A crossing fence must not impede flow. Its bottom must be at least the design flow depth plus freeboard above the channel or drain design flowline, with a Public Works-approved bottom bar screen. A hinged gate must span the entire easement width, and posts must be designed for water and debris loads. A drainage-easement fence within the 100-year floodplain requires a Floodplain Development Permit.

• Floodways and drainage effects: For applicable floodplain development, submit the scaled location, dimensions, elevations and watercourse-alteration information required by the Floodplain Administrator. Floodway encroachments require the prescribed engineering hydrologic and hydraulic demonstration of no rise; an increase can be authorized only through the separate exception under which the community first completes all provisions required by 44 CFR 65.12. Where no regulatory floodway is designated in Zones A1–30, A, AO, AH or AE, the City requires a showing that the cumulative effect of proposed, existing and anticipated development will not increase the base-flood water surface at any point in the community unless the increase is wholly contained on the development property. For the separate exception authorizing increases in those zones, the community must first complete all provisions required by 44 CFR 65.12. Texas Water Code Section 11.086 also prohibits diverting or impounding surface water in a manner that damages another’s property through overflow. Plan posts, solid panels and retaining walls with drainage in mind.

• Subdivision walls along arterials: Where platted single-family side or rear yards adjoin a principal or secondary arterial, directly or across an alley, the developer must provide the required screen at its expense. The masonry wall is adjacent to the right-of-way or property line and wholly on private lots, including columns and decorative features. The associated homeowners’ association maintenance easement must extend at least five feet along the private-lot side of the entire wall. Agricultural-operation parcels are exempt from this screening-wall section.

• Residential-adjacency landscape buffers: UDC Section 21.9.7(D)(14) applies in its nonresidential and multifamily development setting. New construction is subject to that subsection; existing development where all structures are not demolished must not reduce an individual requirement below compliance. A nonresidential or multifamily use adjoining a single-family or duplex use, or single-family- or duplex-zoned property, must provide a 20-foot landscape buffer beside that property line. In Main Street Mixed Use (MSMU) and Main Street Mixed Use–New Development (MSMU-ND), the buffer is five feet. Plant at least one shade tree per 30 linear feet and cover the buffer with grass or another solid vegetative cover. The buffer must include an eight-foot masonry wall except in those two mixed-use districts. The subsection’s public-water/wastewater-facility exception applies when an eight-foot masonry wall is provided at or near the boundary. These are requirements on the affected development, separate from the ordinary homeowner fence line.

• Other development perimeter buffers: In the same landscaping subsection, nonresidential or multifamily adjacency to nonresidential or multifamily use and zoning generally requires a five-foot buffer, except where a building extends into it. Provide one shade tree per 100 linear feet, except where the entire five-foot buffer is encumbered by an easement prohibiting tree planting. Follow the approved landscape plan for an affected development or shared screen.

• Animal-use enclosure locations: Code Sections 14-23 and 14-24 require fowl and the listed small animals, including rabbits, guinea pigs, white rats and mice, and hamsters, to be kept in pens, coops or enclosures. These enclosures must be at least 50 feet from another owner’s building or structure used for sleeping, dining or living, sanitary and maintained so as not to offend neighbors or the public. The article excludes authorized veterinary hospitals treating fowl and small animals. Section 14-26 requires horses, ponies, mules, donkeys and cattle to be kept in a stable, shed, pen or enclosure at least 100 feet from another owner’s sleeping, dining or living building; its stated separation for other livestock is 1,000 feet. Keep livestock enclosures so as not to offend neighbors or the public. Fowl and livestock may not be allowed to run at large under their separate provisions. These are animal-use separations from specified buildings. Applicable agricultural-operation protections described below must also be considered.

• Gate locations in other settings: The UDC’s minimum 24-foot setback from the property line for vehicular-access gates is in its nonresidential and multifamily fence provisions. For a single-family driveway, check the applicable lot approval, right-of-way, sight and fire-access conditions and any lawful association gate requirement discussed below.

• An existing joint or attached fence: Under Texas Agriculture Code Section 143.121, except as the subchapter permits or by mutual consent, a person may not remove a separating or dividing fence in which that person is a joint owner, or a fence attached to a fence owned or controlled by another person. Section 143.122 allows a person who owns an interest in a fence attached to a fence owned wholly or partly by another person to physically withdraw their fence from the other fence after six months’ written notice of the intended separation. The notice goes 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 the owner of an attached fence to disconnect and withdraw it after six months’ written notice to that owner or the owner’s agent, attorney or lessee. Establish ownership, attachment and the proposed physical work before using either procedure.

• Pipeline excavation and easements: Pipeline work also has separate Railroad Commission damage-prevention requirements; covered manual excavation deeper than 16 inches can be included. Confirm the correct excavation location and valid ticket, and check for unmarked pipelines. Give the required second notice for an absent, unclear, erroneous or conflicting pipeline response and follow that process before excavating. Protect the markings and follow the careful-excavation and damage-reporting requirements. Pipeline tickets ordinarily last 14 working days unless the excavator and operator make a signed, dated written agreement for longer; refresh the request for unfinished work and preserve required records, including locate tickets and positive responses, for at least four years. Construction affecting a pipeline easement may also require direct operator notice and an agreement under Health and Safety Code Chapter 756. Review the pipeline and easement conditions separately from the 811 request.

• Before digging fence posts: Request utility locations through Texas811 before digging. Utilities Code Chapter 251 covers its defined excavation, including mechanized excavation or augering to a depth of 16 inches or more. Its ordinary notice window is no earlier than the 14th day before work and no later than 48 hours before work, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays. A Saturday notification made before 11:59 a.m. allows a start the following Tuesday at 11:59 a.m., or Wednesday at 11:59 a.m. if Monday is a holiday. Observe the lawful start time, check operator responses and markings, and resolve missing or conflicting locations before proceeding. Protect the markings and dig carefully. Water, sewer and private lines may require separate locating arrangements. An 811 request does not replace a permit, easement rights, pipeline-construction notice or private review.

FENCE HEIGHT AND VISIBILITY RULES

• General residential height: Residential fences, screens and walls may not exceed eight feet. The general residential branch limits a required front-yard fence to four feet and requires nonopaque, decorative construction and sight visibility. Its two Residential Agricultural exceptions follow below. In the separate nonresidential and multifamily branch, the required front-yard maximum is eight feet, with nonopacity and sight visibility; public water/wastewater facility fences have the stated opacity exception.

• Residential Agricultural front yards: In the Residential Agricultural (RA) district, a front-yard fence may reach six feet under either of two branches: property outside mandatory homeowners’ association or architectural-review jurisdiction must contain at least two acres; property within mandatory association or architectural-review jurisdiction needs that body’s written approval submitted with the fence-permit application. Both branches retain the nonopaque, decorative and sight-visibility requirements.

• Corner visibility: Code Section 86-234 establishes a triangle by measuring 25 feet along each converging street from the corner and connecting those endpoints through the property. A fence, vegetation or structure exceeding 36 inches above the roadway within that triangle is a traffic hazard and nuisance. Obstructions at controlled intersections are also prohibited. Measure this visibility limit from the roadway rather than assuming the fence’s yard-grade height answers the question.

• Infrastructure design visibility: For a subdivision or development requiring private or public infrastructure improvements, the Schertz Public Works Design Guide supplies additional design criteria, with applicability determined by the City Engineer or designee. Its minimum stopping sight distances for level roadways are 300 feet for principal, secondary and secondary rural arterials, 250 feet for collectors and 200 feet for local streets, using actual conditions and speeds for design. Intersection sight distance follows the cited AASHTO policy, with driver-eye height of 3.5 feet and object height of 4.5 feet above pavement, for street intersections and driveway/street junctions. Keep the resulting sight triangle free of visual obstructions. Median signs, walls and fences need City Engineer or designee approval except approved traffic-control devices, and median planting must preserve sight. These design criteria apply in addition to the applicable corner and frontage requirements.

• Arterial frontage and required screens: The arterial development provisions for IH-35, IH-10 and principal or secondary arterials include 240 feet of driveway sight distance and a minimum eight-foot masonry screen where a residential or nonresidential rear yard abuts a principal or secondary arterial. New subdivision screening walls must match similar material and color in neighboring subdivisions. The UDC’s separate arterial subdivision-screening section starts with a minimum eight-foot masonry wall, while its general screening provisions allow six- to eight-foot spans and decorative columns, pilasters, caps or sculptural features up to two additional feet, for a total of ten feet. Approved alternative screens must achieve at least six feet and 90 percent opacity within three years. Use the applicable subdivision approval to identify the required wall or authorized alternative; retain sight visibility in every case.

• A neighboring nonresidential or multifamily use: Except for public schools, a nonresidential or multifamily developer next to a single-family-zoned lot, or separated from it only by a local street or alley, must provide and maintain a minimum eight-foot masonry screen. It may not extend closer to the street than the property line and must preserve visibility; where the developer’s site is higher, the screen belongs on the higher ground. The Main Street Mixed Use (MSMU) and Main Street Mixed Use–New Development (MSMU-ND) districts are exempt from that masonry-screen requirement. This is a condition on the affected development.

• Pool-barrier height and clearances: Unless a qualifying cover or other code exception applies, the adopted pool code requires a barrier at least 48 inches high on the side away from the water. Maintain that height around the full perimeter and over a three-foot horizontal distance outside it. Bottom clearance is at most two inches above nonsolid grade or four inches above a solid surface. A barrier mounted on a pool structure may have at most four inches between its bottom and the pool top. The barrier’s poolside must be at least 20 inches from the water edge, and its outside must have a 36-inch clear zone from permanent structures or equipment that can be used to climb the barrier. These pool measurements are separate from boundary setbacks.

• Pool-gate operation and latches: Pool gates must accommodate a locking device. Pedestrian gates swing away from the water and self-close and self-latch. Service gates remain locked when unused. For multiple gates, secure at least one leaf and make the adjacent leaf self-latching; openings within 18 inches of the release may not exceed one-half inch. A latch release below 54 inches must be on the pool side, at least three inches below the gate top, with no opening greater than one-half inch within 18 inches of the release.

• Secured-community and fire-access gates: A secured community must have at least two entrances, a minimum 20-foot clear entry/exit width with the gates fully open and a Fire Department-approved Knox key entry system. Its homeowners’ association must provide access for fire, ambulance, police, mail delivery, school buses, garbage pickup and utilities without requiring drivers to leave their vehicles, and guarantee public-safety access at all times. Where gates serve a fire-apparatus access road, the locally amended 2018 International Fire Code separately requires the gates to match the required road clear width of at least 24 feet, exclusive of shoulders, with at least 14 feet of unobstructed vertical clearance. Fire-access gates must open fully within 15 seconds, remain open until closed through the electrical control device and fail open upon power loss. Access controls must be outside the gate, operable without leaving the vehicle, with the lockbox/control panel 66 inches above finished street grade. The secured-community and applicable fire-access requirements both need review for a community gate.

• Additional fire-access gates: When required by the Fire Chief or designee, additional exit-only or emergency-access gates must provide fire-department emergency access. Nonmotorized exit-only gates must follow Fire Department recommendations, provide at least 20 feet of clear width, carry the warning “Caution Gate Opens Out” and be designated as a Fire Lane. In addition to the Fire Lane markings, provide a five-inch yellow pavement stripe showing the gate-swing depth. This is the conditional additional-access arrangement. Provide the approved Knox access required by the Fire Official for secured openings or areas needing immediate emergency access.

MATERIAL AND CONSTRUCTION LIMITS

• Wood, metal and masonry: The residential fence provisions recognize pressure-treated wood, decorative metal, stone, brick and materials traditionally used for private fencing. A required decorative fence uses pressure-treated wood pickets, decorative metal, stone, brick or a combination, and its solid surface may occupy no more than 50 percent of the total surface area.

• Vinyl/PVC: The general residential material list does not specifically name vinyl/PVC. Have Inspections evaluate the proposed product under the permitted-material language and any applicable decorative, screening, pool or approved-development requirement before purchase.

• Chain-link and similar wire: Chain-link and similar woven-wire mesh are permitted without attached screening. A front-yard installation in the general residential branch must also meet its decorative, nonopaque and visibility conditions; multifamily front fencing follows its separate nonopaque and visibility requirements. Required arterial subdivision screening has a different material standard that excludes chain-link, chicken wire, hog wire and similar materials.

• Barbed, chicken-wire and electric fencing: Chicken wire and barbed wire are prohibited except on lots or parcels used in conjunction with agricultural operations. Above-ground electric fencing is conditionally permitted in accordance with the building code. The general fence section does not provide a separate razor-wire specification or a universal finished-side orientation requirement; confirm the proposed design and applicable site conditions with Inspections.

• Required subdivision screening construction: Masonry, wrought-iron, steel or aluminum screening plans must be engineer-sealed and City-approved. The Planning and Zoning Commission may approve an alternative with the preliminary plat: living screening with decorative metal and masonry columns; berms with landscaping; combinations of berms, decorative masonry and living screening, with or without decorative metal or FenceCrete and columns; or another durable, low-maintenance alternative meeting the public-interest standard. Complete the required screen before final acceptance of public improvements. Placement in a utility or drainage easement requires approval from the City Manager or designee and the affected utility provider.

• Multifamily and nonresidential receptacles: UDC Section 21.9.8(B)(4) requires trash receptacles in the nonresidential and multifamily setting to be screened from public view by a solid masonry wall at least eight feet high. Gates must be solid metal and closed except when loading or unloading. This enclosure standard applies in that use setting.

• Ground-mounted satellite dishes: Under UDC Section 21.8.6(F), a ground-mounted satellite antenna greater than one meter in diameter must be screened from adjoining properties by solid fencing or evergreen plants at least six feet high. In residential zoning, that greater-than-one-meter antenna requires the stated specific-use permit granted by the Board of Adjustment. The antenna may not exceed ten feet above its mount base and cannot be in a required setback or in front of residential structures. The screening rule concerns that antenna category.

• Multifamily rooftop equipment: For a multifamily building subject to UDC Section 21.9.5, façade articulations must screen rooftop air-conditioning units and other mechanical equipment vertically and horizontally, to at least the height of the tallest rooftop equipment. That section applies to new buildings and qualifying expansions that cumulatively increase original gross floor area by more than 25 percent, with its stated exclusions. This is architectural equipment screening for the applicable building project.

• Collector-vehicle screening: Code Section 54-39 provides a defense to the private-property junk-vehicle prohibition for an unlicensed, operable or inoperable antique or special-interest vehicle stored by a collector on the collector’s property, when both the vehicle and outdoor storage area are maintained without a health hazard and screened from ordinary public view by fencing, trees, shrubbery or another appropriate means. The code’s collector category requires ownership of at least one antique or special-interest vehicle and acquiring, collecting or disposing of such vehicles for personal use to restore and preserve them for historic interest. This conditional defense does not authorize leaving a vehicle on another owner’s property without permission.

• Parking-design fencing: UDC Section 21.10.9(G), in the parking regulations and illustrations, depicts trees and shrubs planted to visually soften a solid fence. Apply that landscape-and-fence treatment in the relevant parking-design context and follow the approved landscape plan. The illustration supplies no separate ordinary-yard fence height or universal boundary setback.

• Channel and detention-basin safety barriers: For applicable infrastructure, Design Guide Section 4.5(H)(8)(e) requires fencing or another approved safety barrier beside channels where vertical wall heights exceed two feet. It also requires a barrier where channel side slopes “exceed three to one (3:1)” and channel depth exceeds two feet. The barrier must preserve motorists’ sight distance. Section 4.5(K)(5) applies the referenced channel side-slope/depth criteria to detention basins. On-site detention facilities are privately owned and maintained by the community, association or property owner, with a City-reviewed maintenance schedule. Have Engineering apply the guide’s channel and basin criteria to an affected site; these conditions can involve private or common infrastructure.

• Secured-community perimeter walls: The secured-community provisions call for masonry or wrought-iron perimeter fencing. The homeowners’ association maintains and operates common fences, walls, gates and access controls; an association rule or longstanding practice can place maintenance of an adjoining fence or wall on the adjacent owner. Common-facility repair and maintenance must follow a City-acceptable schedule. The City must have practical access on official business and may remove obstructions, including a gate or guardhouse, upon association noncompliance or when necessary for emergency-vehicle access, with removal costs assessed as the ordinance provides.

• Animal restraint and case-specific enclosures: Code Section 14-9 requires dogs and other animals to be restrained and not run at large, subject to its feral-colony and registered domestic free-roaming-cat exceptions. A substantial fence or pen is one recognized means of restraint. A female dog or cat in heat must be in a building or secure enclosure that prevents contact with another animal. Under Section 14-13, the municipal animal proceeding may require a particular dangerous animal to remain in a sufficient enclosure; follow the actual order rather than substitute an ordinary yard-fence height. Required quarantine uses its separately approved confinement method. Animal pens and enclosures must provide humane care and shelter, and livestock may not be staked to graze within reach of public streets, alleys, sidewalks or parks.

• Agricultural animal qualifications: Local animal-use requirements must be considered with Texas Agriculture Code Section 251.0055 when an operation qualifies under state law. Its limits on City regulation depend on the prescribed public-health evidence, less-restrictive-means test, report and governing-body resolution, together with the statute’s other conditions. Agricultural status is not established by lot size alone. The statute expressly excludes City dog-restraint requirements for a dog being used to protect livestock on property controlled by the property owner while used there for that purpose. Review the actual operation and applicable statutory protection when applying the local animal-enclosure provisions.

• Pool-barrier openings and climbability: Pool-barrier openings must prevent passage of a four-inch sphere. Solid barriers cannot have climbable handholds or footholds except normal construction tolerances and tooled masonry joints. If the tops of horizontal members are less than 45 inches apart, place them on the pool side and limit vertical openings and decorative cutouts to 1.75 inches. With those tops 45 inches or more apart, vertical openings may reach four inches, but decorative cutouts remain limited to 1.75 inches. Chain-link openings may not exceed 1.75 inches, including openings reduced by slats secured at both ends. Diagonal openings may not exceed 1.75 inches, with diagonals no more than 45 degrees from vertical.

• Mesh pool barriers: Install non-chain-link mesh according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Its bottom may be no more than one inch above the installation surface; it cannot lift more than four inches, allow a four-inch sphere beneath a panel or leave more than a four-inch solid-surface gap. Section attachments must be at least 45 inches above grade. Hinged gates follow the pool-gate standards, embedded deck sleeves must be nonconductive, and mesh may not be mounted atop an onground residential pool.

• Pool covers and a building wall as the barrier: Section 305.1 provides an exception from Sections 305.2–305.7 for a spa or hot tub with a lockable ASTM F1346 safety cover, or a swimming pool with a powered cover meeting that standard. Where a building wall forms part of the barrier and provides direct access, Section 305.4 permits alternatives: UL 2017 audible alarms on the affected doors and operable windows with sills below 48 inches; 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 units not required to be accessible, Type A or Type B; in those required unit types, the controls are 48–54 inches high.

The City’s in-ground pool permit handout calls for alarms on direct-access doors and windows. The adopted code also provides the wall-as-barrier conditions and cover or approved-equivalent alternatives described above. Confirm the accepted barrier and access arrangement during the pool-permit review.

• Onground pools and unusual sites: A pool wall used as the barrier must start at grade, reach 48 inches around the entire perimeter, satisfy the applicable barrier provisions and be permitted for that use by the manufacturer. A top-mounted barrier must provide a total 48-inch height and follow the manufacturer’s installation instructions. Secure, lock or remove access ladders or steps unless a compliant separate barrier encloses them; remaining openings cannot pass a four-inch sphere. The City’s above-ground pool handout also calls for a lockable, self-closing patio gate with a childproof latch where the patio is at pool level. The code’s natural-water shoreline exception requires no public shoreline access and barriers extending at least 18 inches past the water edge. A natural-topography barrier preventing direct pool or spa access requires approval by the governing body and protection at least equal to Sections 305.2–305.5.

• Trees in nonexempt construction settings: Where the tree-preservation rules apply, protect retained trees with a fence, frame or box at the dripline and at least three inches of mulch. Follow the restrictions on digging in the protected area and attaching equipment or materials to trees. The existing occupied one- or two-family dwelling exemption described above remains part of this rule.

• Condition and repair: Maintain fences and walls structurally sound and in good repair. The local property-maintenance amendment prohibits an accessory structure more than 20 degrees out of vertical, measured using an eight-foot level along any 20 feet of wall surface. Its further fence-and-wall provision addresses runs 20 degrees or more in a vertical or horizontal direction and limits decayed or damaged material to 25 percent of any such directional run. Have Inspections address a leaning or deteriorated fence under the actual condition and these code provisions.

PRIVATE RESTRICTIONS

Review recorded covenants, deed restrictions, architectural rules and maintenance agreements before ordering a fence. They may regulate appearance, location, approval and shared maintenance, subject to Texas law. City approval and association approval address different requirements. Common subdivision screening walls and their maintenance easements can also affect an individual lot.

• Security fences and association limits: Texas Property Code Chapter 202 limits association restrictions on security measures, including perimeter fences. Section 202.023 excludes condominiums under Chapters 81 or 82 and master mixed-use associations subject to Chapter 215. An association may regulate fence type, prohibit obstruction of a licensed area, public or community sidewalk, drainage easement or drainage area, and require a driveway gate to sit at least ten feet from the right-of-way where the driveway intersects a laned roadway. If a restrictive covenant provides it, the association may prohibit fencing in front of the dwelling’s front-most building line.

Section 202.023 also protects maintenance of perimeter fencing or fencing in front of that building line installed or constructed before September 1, 2025. Its enhanced-security exception prevents the front-building-line prohibition where the owner’s residential address is exempt from public disclosure or the owner supplies law-enforcement documentation of the need for enhanced security. Those provisions have their stated scope and do not replace City safety or permit requirements.

• Certain pool enclosures: Section 202.022 protects a nonclimbable pool or spa enclosure of transparent mesh or clear panels in metal frames, no more than six feet high, that meets applicable safety requirements. An association may regulate appearance and permissible colors but may not prohibit an otherwise protected black transparent-mesh enclosure in metal frames. Check both the statutory enclosure definition and the adopted pool-barrier construction standards for the proposed product.

Before changing a shared fence or required subdivision wall, establish ownership, attachment, the maintenance obligation and any agreement or statutory notice procedure. A permit does not resolve a boundary, ownership or private cost-sharing dispute.

REVIEW AND ENFORCEMENT CONTEXT

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

• An altered replacement: On one- or two-family dwelling property, a replacement changes height, material or location, or lies in a flood hazard area, so the narrow replacement exemption does not answer the permit question.

• A front or corner fence: The design exceeds the applicable yard limit, fails the applicable decorative or nonopaque standard or obstructs the street visibility triangle.

• An easement or drainage obstruction: A panel prevents maintenance access, blocks a drainage crossing or conflicts with a recorded easement or required wall-maintenance area.

• A pool barrier: A gate will not close or latch, openings or climbable features compromise the enclosure, or the approved cover and building-access arrangement needs correction.

• A deteriorated or modified common wall: A damaged fence needs maintenance, or a change to a required subdivision screen conflicts with the applicable approval or maintenance responsibility.

Use Inspections for permit and building-code questions, Planning for zoning and development approvals, Engineering or the Floodplain Administrator for applicable drainage and floodplain issues, and the Fire Official for fire-access gates. The Building and Standards Commission serves the adopted building-code appeal function. Boundary, ownership and covenant disputes can require separate legal review.

USING THIS INFORMATION

This page provides general orientation on how residential fence rules are structured and applied within the incorporated City of Schertz, 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 Planning & Community 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.