Fence & Gate Installation in Bacliff, TX

What we install in Bacliff

We build the same range of fencing and gates in Bacliff that we build across the rest of our Galveston-area service area:

• Wood and cedar privacy fences.
• Vinyl in open-picket and solid-privacy styles -- a common choice near the bay since it doesn't rust or rot.
• Chain link for yards, dog runs and driveway gates.
• Aluminum and ornamental iron for a more open, decorative line.
• Gates: walk gates and driveway gates, with electric operators and access control if you want them, plus commercial fencing and gates.

Financing is available through the providers on our financing page, subject to credit approval.

No City code here -- County floodplain rules fill the gap

Bacliff has no city government, no zoning department and no City of Galveston fence permit. That is what "unincorporated" means on the ground: the rules that govern an incorporated city's fences -- a height table, a permit office at City Hall -- simply don't exist for Bacliff the way they do for Kemah, Dickinson, Santa Fe, Hitchcock, La Marque or Clear Lake Shores.

What does reach a Bacliff property is Galveston County Floodplain Permitting. The County's Flood Damage Prevention Order defines "development" as "any man-made change in improved and unimproved real estate, including but not limited to buildings or other structures, mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavation or drilling operations or storage of equipment or materials" -- and a Floodplain Development Permit is required "to ensure conformance with the provisions of this ordinance." A fence is not called out as an exception anywhere we could find in that ordinance, so we tell customers to ask the County directly rather than assume either way.

One useful distinction: the same ordinance defines "Structure," for floodplain purposes, as "a walled and roofed building ... that is principally above ground." A fence doesn't meet that definition, so the ordinance's building-specific elevation rule -- new residential construction or substantial improvements must be elevated a minimum of 18 inches above base flood elevation -- binds the house, not the fence, on the ordinance's own terms. That doesn't settle whether the general development permit applies to a fence; it only means the house's elevation rule doesn't automatically carry over to it.

Before applying for anything, the County's own floodplain permit application page says to start with its GIS map, which looks up whether a property is in unincorporated Galveston County, its flood zone, its distance from mean high tide, and whether it's in a concrete-regulated area. Floodplain Permitting typically responds to an initial application in 5 to 7 business days (up to 10 for large-scale development), at 722 Moody Avenue, Galveston, (409) 770-5552.

Fencing around a home raised on piers

Many Bacliff homes stand on piers or piles because of flood risk from Galveston Bay. Whether that matters for a fence depends on the FEMA flood zone your lot sits in -- look it up on the County GIS map or FEMA's Flood Map Service Center, or check an elevation certificate if the house has one.

In a V or VE zone, the federal floodplain criteria every participating community must adopt (44 CFR 60.3(e)(5)) require the space below the lowest floor of an elevated building to be free of obstruction, or enclosed only with non-supporting breakaway walls, open wood lattice, or insect screening designed to collapse under wind and water without damaging the house.

• A fence that runs up to the house and stops leaves that space open -- the simplest layout, and it doesn't raise the question at all.
• A fence or gate that would close in part of the space below the house becomes part of that question. Ask County Floodplain Permitting before building it that way.
• A or AE zones carry their own enclosed-space provisions, separate from the V-zone breakaway-wall wording above; ask the County which applies to your lot.

Questions we get about this