City to ban unsafe fence designs

The city will soon prohibit unsafe fence designs, like those with spiked or widely spaced pickets, to reduce the risk of serious injury and death in humans and animals.  

On Tuesday, the Planning Commission unanimously recommended City Council approve the new rules. This comes a year and a half after Council passed a resolution to initiate a process to put the rules into city code.

The rules would require flat tops on all new fences below six feet tall, as well as for repair or remodel of 50 percent or more of an existing fence. They would also prohibit gaps between two and nine inches between pickets. The rules would not require any changes to existing fences. 

A presentation by city staffers shows images of fence designs that would be allowed and disallowed under the proposed rules.

Fences with spiked pickets or gaps pose grave risks for humans, especially children, as tragic testimony from one speaker illustrated. 

Julie Damian told the commission how her son, 2-year-old Kade Damian, died in 2018 while climbing a wrought iron fence. Kade’s head became trapped between pickets, and he was unable to free himself. He died from asphyxiation.

Damian said the code change would help prevent other tragedies and would bring Austin’s regulations in line with other municipalities in the area, such as Rollingwood and Lakeway. 

“This proposed code amendment has a vital and deep impact, reducing the risk of injury and death without decreasing security or fence design selection for Austin residents,” Damian said. 

Damian also mentioned how spike fences can impale both humans and animals. She pointed to an incident in which a worker was impaled when he fell off a roof (he survived, but not without serious injury), and she showed pictures of deer that had been impaled trying to jump over fences. 

Commissioners voted unanimously to send the code change to Council for final approval, but not before adding amendments aimed not only at safety but also fence height. 

The amendments included: applying flat-top fence rules to new fences on historic properties; requiring new fences to be no more than six feet tall on flat ground, or up seven feet on uneven terrain; and limiting the height of street-facing fences to five feet. 

The push to lower fence height came as commissioners urged broader discussion on fence regulations, with some saying that fences and walls in front yards diminish the urban realm and sense of community in neighborhoods. 

“It seems like this is a small – very important, but small – piece of a larger conversation about anti-social design elements that are currently being incorporated in our neighborhoods, and that lead to a general feeling of unwelcomeness that make streetscapes less walkable and less pleasant,” Commissioner João Paulo Connolly said.

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