FENCE RULES – THE COLONY (CITY), TEXAS

OVERVIEW

This page covers residential fence rules within the incorporated City of The Colony, Texas, in Denton County. The City administers its zoning, fence permits, building and pool codes, and applicable drainage and floodplain requirements within that municipal scope.

The Colony requires permits for new fences and substantial replacement work. Side and rear fences may reach 8 feet 6 inches; front-yard fencing is limited to qualifying decorative designs no more than 4 feet high and 50 percent solid. Wood, vinyl, and chain link are listed materials, but front yards and pool barriers have additional restrictions. Street, driveway, and alley visibility triangles can shorten a usable fence line. Utility and drainage easements need particular attention, and properties beside Corps of Engineers lake land have a separate permit condition. Current pool rules use the 2024 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code with local amendments. Updated November 2026.

Quick question	The Colony answer
Permit or approval	A City permit is required for new fences and construction or replacement outside the repair exemption. The exemption covers less than 50 percent of the existing perimeter within 12 months; exactly 50 percent is not exempt. Relocation and changes in height or material require permits.
Typical fence height	Side and rear yards: maximum 8 feet 6 inches. Qualifying decorative front-yard fences in residential zoning districts: maximum 4 feet and no more than 50 percent solid. Pool barriers have separate minimums and construction rules.
Placement & property lines	Show the proposed fence on a certified survey. Section 18 does not prescribe a single numerical setback from every private side or rear property line. Public property, easements, visibility triangles, drainage, and applicable development conditions constrain placement.
Common fence materials	Wood: expressly listed, with front-yard design limits. Vinyl/PVC: vinyl is expressly listed; PVC is not separately named. Front-yard plastic products must be designed for fencing. Chain-link: expressly listed generally, prohibited for decorative front-yard fences, and subject to a published local pool-amendment numbering conflict.
Important local conditions	Fence rules may be further affected by corner and driveway visibility, swimming pools, drainage and utility easements, floodways, creek erosion zones, Corps of Engineers lake property, planned developments, and applicable recorded conditions.
Official local resource	The Colony Fence and Retaining Wall Requirements

The table above is for quick reference; the corresponding sections below explain additional fence-rule details. 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 the Building Inspections Department or the responsible office identified for that issue.

GOVERNANCE

The Colony is a home-rule city with a council-manager government. The City Council adopts its ordinances. Appendix A, Section 18 of The Colony Code of Ordinances contains the principal fence-and-wall rules. Section 18 defines a fence as a wall or structure more than 24 inches high used for enclosure, screening, access restriction, or decoration. A retaining wall resists the lateral displacement of soil or other materials.

The Building Inspections Department administers fence and retaining-wall permits, inspections, and adopted construction codes. The Planning Department administers zoning and development matters, including planned-development and site-plan conditions; it does not issue building permits. Community Image handles code-enforcement matters. The Engineering Department and City Engineer administer relevant engineering, easement, grading, and drainage approvals. The Director of Engineering or designee serves as Floodplain Administrator.

The City has adopted the 2024 International Residential Code with local amendments and specified appendices, the 2024 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code with local amendments and Appendices A through D, and the 2023 National Electrical Code. Fence requirements also appear in public-property, animal-control, subdivision, stormwater, and flood-damage provisions and the Engineering Design Manual.

Appendix A, Section 10B-100 expressly includes fences as accessory structures. Its general standards apply alongside the Code’s general, dimensional, operational, use-specific, and applicable principal-use district regulations. Section 10B-100(c) states that its accessory-use and structure standards control a conflict with another Code requirement. It also requires building-permit review unless the Code specifically exempts the accessory use.

Qualifying agricultural operations: Agriculture Code Sections 251.005–251.0055 limit municipal requirements. Within city limits, a requirement must satisfy the statutory conditions for clear and convincing evidence, less restrictive means, imminent danger, a health report, and a City Council resolution, together with the section’s other protections. Section 251.006 protects qualifying construction or maintenance of agricultural improvements, including fences designed to shelter, restrict, or feed animals, on agricultural land: construction must not be expressly prohibited by statute or a governmental requirement validly adopted under Section 251.005 and in effect when constructed. The section protects the agricultural land’s owner, lessee, or occupant against specified liability, nuisance claims, suits, and injunctions, while preserving enforcement of state and federal statutes. These protections depend on the statutory land, operation, improvement, and activity definitions.

For a property in a planned development, its adopted development standards, approved plans, and continuing screening conditions can affect the fence. Historic Landmark districts use an H suffix; the ordinance establishing the particular subdistrict determines its additional conditions. The Gateway Overlay District excludes residential areas under Section 10A-300; an abutting residential tract is incorporated into that overlay if rezoned to commercial use. Gateway commercial fence standards govern their designated development context.

PERMIT AND APPROVAL REQUIREMENTS

• New fences and changes: Section 18-200 requires a City permit before fence construction. Current City guidance includes new fences, relocation, and changes in fence height or material. A new gate is also a permit item; a motorized gate requires a separate electrical permit.

• Limited repair exemption: Sections 18-100 and 18-200 exempt repair involving less than 50 percent of an existing fence’s perimeter within a 12-month period. The City’s application describes exempt repairs with material, height, and location unchanged. Work at exactly 50 percent falls outside that exemption. The general requirement and this exemption govern even though the summary handout describes replacement as more than 50 percent.

• Application and drawings: Supply the applicant’s and property owner’s information, the site address, construction material, height, approximate value, and a graphic outline showing the fence location. A company application also identifies its responsible company representatives. The City requests a certified survey showing property lines and the proposed fence or retaining wall, and dimensioned, clear, scaled plans in PDF format. Contractors must be registered with the City. The fence guidance allows electronic submission to Building Inspections or submission on a flash drive through Customer Service at City Hall.

• Fees: The City’s schedule effective October 1, 2026 lists a $50 one-lot fence permit and a $75 one-lot retaining-wall permit. Subdivision fences are $50 plus $0.25 per linear foot; subdivision retaining walls have that same listed rate. The fence checklist separately requires a $50 nonrefundable plan-review fee at submittal. Application, review, registration, electrical, and other applicable charges are separate schedule items; the one-lot permit figure is not a total project price.

• Retaining-wall permit measurements: Section 18-200 exempts a retaining wall less than 4 feet high measured from the bottom of its footing to its top. The locally amended residential code’s R105.2 separately lists an exemption for retaining walls not over 2 feet measured from finished grade to the top. The City handout describes permits for walls more than 4 feet high or more than 2 feet above grade. These provisions use different thresholds and measurement origins. Building Inspections must determine the applicable permit treatment for the proposed wall; a wall’s visible height alone does not establish its permit status.

• Engineered walls: A stone, masonry, brick, or similar wall or fence greater than 4 feet high requires engineering, design, and plans sealed by a Texas professional engineer. Where engineering is required, the application includes signed and stamped structural drawings. Amended IRC R404.4 also requires accepted engineering design for retaining walls unsupported at the top that retain more than 36 inches of unbalanced fill, or retaining walls exceeding 24 inches high that resist lateral loads beyond soil. Design must address overturning, sliding, excessive foundation pressure, and water uplift, with a 1.5 safety factor against sliding and overturning. That section excludes foundation walls supporting buildings.

• Inspection: Call for inspection when installation is complete and whenever needed to verify approved design or code compliance. The Building Official or designee issues acceptance or identifies defects. The completed fence or wall must remain in proper working condition and good repair.

• Permitted construction-site management: Amended IRC R115 requires a site-management sign of at least 3 square feet, posted with the permit before work starts and retained until final approval. It identifies the permitted address, contractor and local telephone number, project, and City violation-reporting information. Construction on or adjacent to residential or multifamily uses is limited to 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Each permitted project requires sanitary portable-toilet facilities and sufficient trash receptacles, covered at day’s end and emptied to keep the site clean. The subdivision exception allows one toilet for up to four permits within 300 feet travel distance; toilets cannot occupy street or alley rights-of-way, and the Building Official may require more facilities.

• Drainage and utility easements: Proposed fencing within these easements requires the written engineering approval and design conditions described below, in addition to the fence permit.

• Properties adjoining Corps lake land: The City fence checklist requires lots adjacent to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lake property to obtain a separate permit from the Lake Manager’s Office and submit a copy with the City application. Fences within the floodplain at or near Lake Lewisville also require Corps approval under the Engineering Design Manual.

• Grading and filling on occupied residential lots: Appendix B, Section 11 exempts platted single-family lots with an existing occupied residence where grading disturbs less than one acre outside easements and floodplains, except where another Code provision requires approval. Grading in an easement or floodplain needs the applicable prior approval. For grading subject to Section 11, plans are prepared by a Texas engineer and show property and easement boundaries, utilities, existing and proposed one-foot contours, drainage, floodplain elevations, erosion controls, and cut-and-fill quantities. The submittal includes the grading application, stormwater pollution-prevention plan, inspection fee, and tree survey; completion requires engineer-prepared record drawings based on an actual ground survey. Approval lasts 12 months before commencement, work must finish within 24 months after commencement, and approval cannot remain effective beyond 36 months.

• Earth changes on sensitive residential sites: Chapter 20 independently requires stormwater-control permitting for specified earth changes, including environmentally sensitive residential sites and projects requiring grading permits. Sensitive conditions include driveways planned over a 10-percent slope, specified heavy-clay or hydrologic-group-D soils, potential sedimentation or flooding of adjacent land, sites within 100 feet of a protected wetland or Lake Lewisville’s 537 flood elevation, and other officially identified high-risk sites. Section 20-8 also covers listed earth changes disturbing one acre or more or within 500 feet of a lake or stream, subject to its normal-maintenance qualification. Applications precede work. Postconstruction requirements have a separate exemption for disturbance under one acre that is not part of a larger common development or sale, and a separate qualifying no-net-increase redevelopment exception.

• Flood-hazard property: Chapter 9.5 establishes development-permit review for development in its areas of special flood hazard. Its definition includes excavation, filling, grading, and other manmade changes. The Floodplain Administrator reviews the work and its effect on drainage and flood risk. Floodway encroachments require the engineering showing described under placement below.

• Pool projects: Pool applications include the existing and proposed fencing or retaining walls, a graded site plan with easements and utilities, engineered pool plans, and relevant construction, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing plans. The City also requires electricity-provider plan approval and a notarized homeowner Certification of House-Pool Protection Device Installation. The required pool barrier and local amendments are described under material and construction limits.

Section 18-1000 routes appeals through Appendix A, Section 21 and Local Government Code Chapter 211. The Board of Adjustment hears qualifying administrative appeals and variance matters within its authority. Section 21-104 requires an administrative appeal notice stating the grounds to be filed with the Board and deciding official no later than the 20th day after the decision. The Board’s authority and applicable state procedures govern the particular request.

FENCE PLACEMENT RULES

• Property boundary and required yards: Section 18 does not establish one numerical setback from every private side or rear property line. The permit survey must show the legal boundaries and proposed location. Applicable yard restrictions, recorded easements, drainage corridors, and public rights-of-way also constrain the proposed location. An existing fence, tax-map or geographic information system (GIS) line, curb, pavement edge, or mowing line does not conclusively establish the legal boundary or ownership of a fence.

• Accessory use and the principal structure: Section 10B-100 requires an accessory fence to directly serve and be customarily incidental and secondary to the principal use, without changing its character. It must be subordinate in area, size, and height, on the same parcel or lot, and owned or operated by the same person or entity as the principal use or structure. An accessory use or structure cannot precede the principal use or structure, and a primary structure must exist on the lot or tract.

• Accessory lot coverage: The principal and accessory uses or structures together must comply with the maximum coverage allowed by the Code or governing planned-development standards, whichever is greater. Section 10B-100 counts the dwelling footprint and all accessory structures; impervious surfaces count except pools, hot tubs, sidewalks, and driveways. Projecting balconies, carports, stairways, porches, patio covers, patios and decks more than 30 inches above grade, and roof overhangs exceeding 4 feet also count under its definition. No maximum accessory-structure count is prescribed, but additional structures cannot exceed the applicable lot coverage.

• Front yards: Fences are prohibited between the front building line and front lot line, and in the required front yard of an unimproved lot, subject to its qualifying decorative-fence exception in residential zoning districts described below. An unimproved lot also presents Section 10B-100’s requirement for an existing primary structure and its conflict-priority clause; obtain a City determination of those provisions before relying on the decorative exception there. Section 18 defines the front yard as the space facing a street between the lot front and principal building, extending between the side lot lines. Corner and reverse-frontage lots also require careful identification of the applicable yards and visibility areas.

• Public property and public easements: Section 18-500 prohibits fences, posts, braces, and guy wires on or protruding over property the City or general public owns, controls, or holds an easement over, under, around, or through, except utility easements permitted to be fenced. Streets, alleys, sidewalks, and public areas must remain unobstructed. Engineering approval governs work within public rights-of-way or easements; nonfranchised encroachments can require a City-approved license, encroachment, or landscape agreement.

• Utility easements: The Engineering Design Manual, Section IV.2.08, prohibits buildings, walls, and pools in utility easements. It allows a steel or wood fence with written City Engineer approval. This easement-specific allowance differs from the broader ordinary fence-material list.

• Drainage easements: Section III.2.19 allows a fence only outside the erosion clear zone, with written Engineering Director approval and construction plans approved before construction. The fence must not impede flow. Minimum clearance above the design water surface is 3 inches for flows below 5 cubic feet per second and 8 inches for flows exceeding 5 cubic feet per second. The published wording does not assign the exactly-5 flow case. Wrought-iron fencing within the drainage must convey the design flow when 50 percent clogged with debris while maintaining those clearances.

• Natural-creek erosion clear zones: The drainage-easement fence exception excludes this zone. The manual projects a line from the natural bank’s toe at four horizontal to one vertical to natural ground. If its horizontal intersection exceeds 50 feet, the zone ends at that intersection; if it is at least 40 but less than 50 feet, add enough width to reach 50 feet; if it is under 40 feet, add 10 feet. The published branches do not expressly assign an intersection of exactly 50 feet. An Engineering Department-approved bank-stabilization plan with design calculations is an alternative to the erosion clear zone.

• Floodways and mapped floodplain zoning: Chapter 9.5 prohibits floodway encroachments, including fill and other development, unless hydrologic and hydraulic analysis demonstrates no increase in community base-flood levels. A flood-level-increasing encroachment requires the separate conditional map-revision process specified there. A Flood Plain (FP) zoning designation also has its own use and fill controls. These are site-specific controls administered with the Floodplain Administrator and Engineering Department.

• Stream buffers on covered development projects: Section 20-16 provides different postconstruction stream buffers for low-density and high-density projects: respectively 80 and 120 feet total across both sides of perennial streams, and 40 and 60 feet total across intermittent streams, measured horizontally from the bank tops. Low-density projects also locate built-upon area at least 30 feet landward of the streams. Fences are among the listed allowable buffer uses, alongside specified crossings, trails, utility and drainage work. Those allowances remain subject to easement, floodway, erosion-zone, and project-approval requirements.

• Drainage onto neighboring land: Water Code Section 11.086 prohibits diverting or impounding natural surface water so that overflow damages another’s property. Its flood-control and authorized-waterwork qualifications and restrictions remain applicable. Fence bases, solid walls, and associated fill therefore require attention to the actual surface-drainage route.

• PD28 Camey Place: The City’s residential planned-development chart states that fences along an alley right-of-way should be no closer than 2.5 feet to alley pavement. That is the chart’s wording for this named development. Other planned-development properties follow their applicable adopted standards and approved plans.

• Pool excavation beside fences and walls: Pools and hot tubs cannot occupy the front yard, must keep their excavation perimeter at least 3 feet from side and rear property lines and the primary structure, and cannot occupy a recorded easement or known utility location. Amended ISPSC Section 307.2.2.2 requires a 1:1 depth relationship to building foundations, accessory foundations or piers, and retaining-wall footings, with at least 3 feet from a building foundation. A sealed engineered design must be submitted for approval where that ratio is not met. Pool equipment cannot be in the front yard or an easement or attached to required perimeter or common fences.

• Gates on fire-apparatus access roads: The amended Fire Code requires a single gate at least 24 feet wide, or gates at least 12 feet wide where the fire-apparatus road is divided. Fire-access roads must remain unobstructed and their security gates meet the applicable fire-code approval requirements. This rule concerns designated fire access.

• Removing jointly owned or attached fences: Agriculture Code Sections 143.121–143.123 restrict removal of a dividing fence in which the person is a joint owner, or a fence attached to one another person owns or controls, unless the parties consent or the statutory process applies. An owner of an interest in an attached fence may withdraw that fence after six months’ written notice to the other fence’s owner, agent, attorney, or lessee. An owner whose fence is wholly on that owner’s land may require the other owner to disconnect and withdraw the attached fence with the same written-notice period and specified recipients. Ownership and attachment determine these rules; private cost and maintenance agreements are separate.

• Construction on pipeline easements: Health and Safety Code Sections 756.121–756.123 cover building, repair, replacement, and maintenance on, across, over, or under a pipeline easement or right-of-way, including construction that physically affects or creates pipeline risk. Subject to Section 756.122’s contrary-written-agreement and other exceptions, give the operator notice and satisfy one of Section 756.123’s alternatives: the operator determines the work will not increase public risk or the risk of a break, leak, rupture, or other pipeline damage; if the operator determines risk will increase, the constructor pays the reasonable, necessary, documented costs of protective fortifications, barriers, conduits, or other necessary changes before proceeding; the work occurs under an existing written agreement; or a regulated utility company must promptly perform it because of a natural disaster’s effects. Property permission and easement rights remain separate from these requirements and a locate ticket.

• Utility safety before post-hole digging: Request a Texas811 locate before digging, follow the ticket’s lawful start instructions, check responses and site markings, resolve missing or conflicting information through the ticket process, protect the marks, and excavate carefully. Utilities Code Chapter 251 generally covers powered or mechanized excavation, including augers, disturbing soil to 16 inches or more. Its ordinary notice window is no earlier than the 14th day and no later than 48 hours before excavation, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays. A Saturday notification means notice provided to the notification center on Saturday before 11:59 a.m. under Section 251.002(14). Section 251.151(b) then permits commencement the following Tuesday at 11:59 a.m., or Wednesday at 11:59 a.m. if the intervening Monday is a holiday. The statute has specific exceptions. Private service lines and every water or sewer facility are not necessarily covered by the notification system. Separate Railroad Commission pipeline rules can cover manual post-hole digging deeper than 16 inches near covered pipelines. Under those rules, the default ticket life is 14 working days from original notice unless a written extension agreement is signed and dated by both the excavator and operator, with each retaining a copy; unfinished work needs a valid refreshed ticket for the remaining area, and required ticket and positive-response records are retained at least four years. A locate request does not grant a permit or property rights.

FENCE HEIGHT AND VISIBILITY RULES

• Side and rear yards: Sections 18-602, 18-603, and 18-606 set a maximum of 8 feet 6 inches in side and rear yards and along their lot lines.

• Decorative front-yard fences: In residential zoning districts, the front-yard exception allows fences no more than 4 feet above finished lot grade, with solid area no greater than 50 percent of total fence area. The material limits below also apply. The front-yard maximum is not permission for a solid privacy fence.

• Accessory-structure height: Section 10B-100(e)(6) limits accessory height to 16 feet or the principal structure’s height, whichever is less. Its subordinate-height requirement also applies. This general accessory ceiling does not authorize a fence above the specific yard-height and visibility limits.

• Height measurement: Measure from interior adjacent finished grade to the fence’s highest portion. A fence built on or with a retaining wall is measured from the wall top only when the interior finished yard grade is level with the wall top. The interior-grade condition controls use of the wall-top measurement.

• Street-to-street intersections: No fence or wall may occupy the Section 18-605 triangle with 30-foot sides, laid out from the intersection of the extended curb lines as shown in the City’s diagram.

• Alley-to-street intersections: Keep clear the 10-foot triangle measured from the alley pavement edge and back of the sidewalk, joining the two measured points.

• Driveway-to-street intersections: Keep clear the 10-foot triangle measured from the driveway pavement edge and back of the sidewalk, joining the points.

• Driveway-to-alley intersections: Keep clear the 5-foot triangle measured from the driveway and alley pavement edges. The diagram extends the applicable pavement or property-line geometry to its intersection at curved corners. These are fence-and-wall exclusion areas, independent of the ordinary yard-height maximum.

• Arterial visibility easements and development plans: For development and public-improvement work governed by the Engineering Design Manual, Section II.2.06 and Figure II-3 impose an additional visibility requirement. The figure depicts 70-foot lengths and 8-foot depths along principal and minor arterials and prohibits walls, fences, or landscaping over 2 feet tall in those visibility triangles or easements. It also refers to Table II-2 for corner clips. The survey, recorded plat, street classification, and applicable approved engineering plan establish the area affecting a particular lot. These arterial requirements apply alongside the separate Section 18 street, alley, and driveway exclusion triangles above.

MATERIAL AND CONSTRUCTION LIMITS

• Ordinary fence materials: Section 18-601 lists stone, masonry, brick, wood, vinyl, chain link, and wrought iron. Other materials listed for fence use require the Chief Building Official’s determination of equivalent quality, appearance, and durability. Wood and vinyl are expressly recognized; PVC is not separately named. Chain link’s general recognition is subject to front-yard restrictions and pool-barrier requirements.

• Products made for other uses: Plywood, corrugated steel, tarping material, fiberglass panels, and other products manufactured for nonfence uses are prohibited fence materials.

• Decorative front-yard materials: Purpose-made wood, wrought iron, or plastic fencing products are permitted. Other materials require the Building Official’s approval of samples. Prohibited front-yard materials include chain link; mesh; rope; string; wire and wire products, including barbed wire, razor wire, chicken wire, wire fabric, and welded-wire fabrics; chain; netting; cut or broken glass; paper; corrugated metal panels; and plywood.

• Charged and barbed fencing: Any fence erected or maintained in the City cannot be electrically charged or use barbed wire without Building Official approval. Front-yard prohibitions remain applicable.

• Alley and utility access gates: Each fence adjacent or parallel to a public alley or utility easement must have at least one gate no narrower than 3 feet for fire and police access.

• Required screening walls: When a specific-use permit, planned development, approved site plan, or other requirement calls for screening, Section 18-900 requires masonry or a concrete or metal frame supporting permanent masonry-type wall material. Openings cannot exceed 40 square inches per square foot of wall or fence surface, and the surface must function as a visual barrier. Gates must match the wall or fence in height and screening characteristics.

• Fence condition and leaning: Fences cannot lean more than 1½ inches per foot of fence height. Broken, loose, damaged, rotting, or missing slats, posts, rails, panels, gates, and other parts must be repaired or replaced with permitted material, or the fence and its posts completely removed. An unsafe fence requires repair, replacement, or removal. External guy wires or other bracing visible from public streets, rights-of-way, alleys, public property, or public easements are prohibited.

• Graffiti on fences and walls: Section 6-195 prohibits an owner or person controlling private property from allowing graffiti to remain for more than 15 days. Section 6-79 also requires restoration of defaced exterior surfaces.

• Retaining-wall condition: Retaining walls must remain structurally sound and cannot extend into the public right-of-way beyond the property line. Section 18-801 assigns structural-soundness determination to a certified structural engineer. The engineering and permit measurements above remain relevant to construction and replacement.

• Fences enclosing pools or spas: Damage must be repaired immediately, and the ordinary complete-removal option does not authorize removal of the required enclosure.

• Outdoor pet enclosures: Under Section 5-19, a dog, cat, rabbit, or ferret kept outdoors more than three hours in a 24-hour period must be within fencing at least 4 feet high, made of wood, vinyl, or no less than 14-gauge chain link, with openings no wider than 4 inches. The fence must be in good repair and prevent escape. Escape is prima facie evidence of noncompliance.

• Livestock-protection dogs on agricultural operations: Agriculture Code Section 251.0055(e) exempts a dog from otherwise applicable City dog-restraint requirements while it is being used to protect livestock on property controlled by the property owner as part of an agricultural operation.

• Livestock enclosures: Section 5-19 requires industry-standard agricultural fencing at least 4 feet high, with openings no more than 1 foot high and 16 feet long, maintained to prevent escape. Lawful livestock use and other animal requirements remain separate from the enclosure’s dimensions.

Private residential pool and spa barriers: Section 18-701 and Code Section 6-8 require the adopted 2024 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code with local amendments. Section 18 defines swimming pools as recreational-bathing structures containing water over 24 inches deep, including in-ground, above-ground, and on-ground pools, hot tubs, and spas. Association, multiunit, and public pools have additional or different state-law requirements; the following details concern residential barriers.

• Pool safety-cover exception: The local Section 305.1 amendment limits the exception to one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses. A spa or hot tub with a lockable ASTM F1346-compliant safety cover, or a swimming pool with a powered ASTM F1346-compliant safety cover, is exempt from Sections 305.2 through 305.7. Construction fencing remains separately required.

• Pool construction fencing: An in-ground pool or spa construction site needs fencing at least 4 feet high, surrounding the site from the first excavation until the permanent barrier is complete.

• Pool-barrier height and ground clearance: The barrier top must be at least 48 inches above outside grade around its entire perimeter and across the 3-foot horizontal area outside the barrier. The maximum bottom gap is 2 inches over nonsolid surfaces, such as grass or gravel, and 4 inches over solid surfaces, such as concrete, measured from the outside. An above-grade pool barrier may be on grade or mounted on the pool; the gap between the pool top and mounted barrier cannot exceed 4 inches.

• Pool-barrier openings and solid surfaces: Openings cannot pass a 4-inch sphere. Solid barriers cannot have handholds or footholds beyond normal construction tolerances and tooled masonry joints.

• Pool barriers with closely spaced horizontal rails: When the distance between the tops of horizontal members is less than 45 inches, place those members on the pool side. Vertical openings and decorative cutouts are limited to 1¾ inches.

• Pool rail and chain-link amendment conflict: The 2024 base code’s Section 305.2.7 addresses rails whose tops are at least 45 inches apart, allowing vertical spacing up to 4 inches and decorative cutouts up to 1¾ inches. Its Section 305.2.8 limits chain-link openings to 1¾ inches, including openings reduced by slats secured at top and bottom. The City’s amendment instead labels its deletion “Section 305.2.7 Chain link dimensions”. The section number and title identify different 2024 provisions, leaving the deletion’s target unresolved in the published text. Building Inspections must resolve the applicable treatment of a proposed widely spaced rail or chain-link pool barrier; neither design has a settled local deletion stated here.

• Diagonal pool-barrier members and equipment: Diagonal openings cannot exceed 1¾ inches, and diagonal members cannot exceed 45 degrees from vertical. Equipment on the same lot but outside the pool barrier, including pumps, filters, and heaters, must be at least 36 inches from its outside face.

• Mesh pool fences: Non-chain-link mesh fences must comply with manufacturer instructions and ASTM F2286, use compliant hinged gates, and cannot be installed atop on-ground residential pools. The inside face must be at least 20 inches from the nearest water edge.

• Pool screen enclosures: An enclosure serving as a barrier must meet Section 305.2 and be designed by a registered design professional; its walls are not dwelling walls. Mesh in the barrier portion needs tensile strength of at least 100 pounds per square foot under ASTM D5034 and ball-burst strength of at least 150 pounds per square foot under ASTM D3787.

• Pool gates and doors: Barrier openings must accommodate a locking device. Pedestrian gates and doors open outward away from the pool, close and latch themselves, and cannot swing over stairs. Utility or service gates stay locked when unused. A double or multiple gate has at least one leaf secured in place and an adjacent leaf secured with a self-latching device.

• Residential pool latch releases: A non-self-locking release accessed from outside must be at least 54 inches above finished floor or ground. For a self-locking mechanism operated by key, electronic opener, or integral combination lock, the control and release must be no higher than 54 inches. Where a private-pool gate’s only self-latch release is on the pool side, it must be at least 3 inches below the gate top. For an inside release, openings within 18 inches of the latch cannot exceed ½ inch in any dimension.

• A dwelling or accessory wall forming the pool barrier: The local Section 305.4 applies to one- and two-family dwellings, townhouses, and their accessory structures where doors or windows give direct pool access. Its unchanged protection provisions include UL 2017-listed water-hazard entrance alarms for doors and gates and operable windows with sills below 48 inches above the indoor floor, listed ASTM F1346 safety covers, or approved equivalent protection such as self-closing, self-latching doors. The alarm must sound when the opening or its screen is opened. Alarm-deactivation switches are at least 54 inches above the floor in dwellings not required to be Accessible, Type A, or Type B units; in those accessible-unit categories, and in structures other than dwellings, the range is 48 to 54 inches. Approved alternative protection must provide at least the protection specified by the section’s alarm provisions.

• On-ground pool walls used as barriers: When the wall alone serves as the barrier, its bottom is on grade, its top is at least 48 inches above grade around the full perimeter, it complies with Section 305.2, and the manufacturer allows that use. For a barrier mounted on the wall, its top is at least 48 inches above grade around the full perimeter and both components meet Section 305.2. Ladders or steps must be capable of being secured, locked, or removed unless enclosed by a compliant barrier; resulting openings cannot pass a 4-inch sphere. Mounted barriers follow manufacturer installation instructions.

• Pool barriers at a natural shoreline or natural formation: The Section 305.6 shoreline exception requires no permitted or allowed public shoreline access and barriers extending at least 18 inches beyond the water edge. Section 305.7 allows governing-body-approved natural topography that prevents direct access and provides protection at least equivalent to Sections 305.2 through 305.5.

PRIVATE RESTRICTIONS

Private deed restrictions, homeowners’ association covenants, architectural approval, private recorded easements, and boundary, maintenance, or cost-sharing agreements may impose independent requirements within Texas law. A City permit does not determine fence ownership, the legal boundary, a neighbor’s contribution, or compliance with private agreements.

Texas Property Code Sections 202.022 and 202.023 limit association restrictions on qualifying pool enclosures and security measures. Under Section 202.023, an association generally cannot prevent security measures such as perimeter fences, but it retains authority to regulate fence type and prohibit obstruction of a written-license or plat-defined license area, a public or community sidewalk, or a drainage easement or area. It may require a driveway gate at least 10 feet from the right-of-way where the driveway meets a statutorily defined laned roadway. A restrictive covenant may prohibit fencing in front of a dwelling’s front-most building line.

Section 202.023 protects maintenance of perimeter or front-building-line fencing installed before September 1, 2025. Its front-building-line prohibition exception also protects qualifying owners whose residential address is exempt from public disclosure or who provide law-enforcement documentation of a need for enhanced security. Section 202.023 excludes condominiums under Chapters 81 and 82 and master mixed-use associations under Chapter 215. These are association-law limits; public safety, easement, and City requirements remain applicable.

For Section 202.022, the protected pool enclosure surrounds a water feature, uses transparent mesh or clear panels in metal frames, is no more than 6 feet high, is designed not to be climbable, and conforms to applicable state or local safety requirements. An association may regulate appearance and colors within the statute, but cannot prohibit the qualifying black transparent-mesh, metal-frame form. That six-foot definition is an association-law protection, separate from the City’s pool-barrier minimum and ordinary yard maximums.

REVIEW AND ENFORCEMENT CONTEXT

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

• Permit and inspection review: checking the certified survey, location, materials, height, repair exemption, engineering, applicable fees, and completed installation.

• Visibility and public access: addressing intersection and driveway triangles, street and alley obstructions, public property, easements, and required access gates.

• Engineering and floodplain review: evaluating drainage-easement fencing, utility-easement approval, creek erosion areas, grading, floodway effects, and applicable Corps lake-property conditions.

• Pool-barrier review: checking enclosure height, openings, gates, latch releases, building-wall protection, cover exceptions, immediate repair, and the published rail/chain-link amendment conflict.

• Maintenance and animal containment: addressing leaning, damaged or unsafe fences, visible external bracing, structurally unsound retaining walls, and applicable outdoor-animal enclosures.

• Development and private conditions: applying public planned-development or approved screening requirements, while private association review and ownership or cost disputes follow their separate legal channels.

USING THIS INFORMATION

This page provides general orientation on how residential fence rules are structured and applied within the City of The Colony, 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 the Building Inspections Department 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.