Fence & Gate Installation in Lost Bayou, Galveston, TX

What we install in Lost Bayou

Lost Bayou takes its name from Hitchcock’s Bayou, which, according to the City, was “lost” when it was filled in the 1880s. The neighborhood grew up at the same time as the East End and Silk Stocking, with smaller houses. Many of today’s homes went up in the early 1900s, after the 1900 Storm badly damaged the area. The City’s 2015 historic resources survey recorded 337 buildings and other resources in the district. The City describes the houses as generally modest in scale, on square blocks with alleys. For a fence, that usually means a low front fence and anything taller kept to the side and rear. We install:

• Wood picket fences for front yards, painted, at 48 inches or under.
• Metal front fences: ornamental iron and other metal picket styles, including loop and spear tops.
• Cedar privacy fences in side and back yards: solid cedar, with a framed lattice top if you want the extra height.
• Gates: walk gates, wood and wrought iron gates, and rear gates on the alley.
• Pool fences in back yards.

A local historic district, not a conservation district

Galveston has two kinds of protected neighborhoods, and the difference matters for a fence:

• Local historic districts (East End, Silk Stocking, Strand/Mechanic and Lost Bayou) are reviewed against the City’s Design Standards for Historic Properties. The Historic Preservation Officer approves eligible work, and the Landmark Commission hears the rest.
• Neighborhood Conservation Districts, such as Cedar Lawn, have their own shorter rules, and the design standards don’t apply there.

Lost Bayou is surrounded by the San Jacinto Neighborhood Conservation District, and its boundary is irregular, so neighbors a block apart can be on different review tracks. Check your address on the City’s district map before you plan.

Even if your house is non-contributing (newer, or changed too much to count toward the district), plan on review. The standards exempt most changes to non-contributing buildings, but a footnote keeps “site work such as fences” in.

What the design standards say about fences

The City’s standards start from history: “Wood picket and cast-iron fences were the most common historic fence materials,” and front yards “were not enclosed with high walls; these were confined to rear yard areas.” For a new fence they say:

• Appropriate: a painted wood picket fence (“the preferred option in most historic residential areas”); a simple wood-and-wire fence up to 48 inches if it suits the house; a cast-iron or other metal fence up to 48 inches in the front yard; and alternative materials that look and feel very like wood, with proven durability, a matte finish and accurate proportions.
• At a non-corner side or the rear: alternative materials with the same qualities, and wood-and-wire above 48 inches if it suits the house.
• Inappropriate: chain link; mixing wooden and metal fence styles; heavy brick fence posts, unless there is historic documentation of them; and vinyl, which the Landmark Commission added to the list in October 2014.

A fence may sit on the property line but not in the City right-of-way, such as the sidewalk strip, without a License to Use agreement, which the Commission also reviews. Keep historically significant wood picket and cast-iron fences, and stuccoed brick or concrete site walls. Fixing them in kind is ordinary maintenance.

From plan to permit in Lost Bayou

1. Deed restrictions first. The City’s process starts by checking whether the property is deed restricted by a neighborhood association or the Galveston Historical Foundation. The City doesn’t enforce deed restrictions, so talk to whoever holds them.
2. Certificate of Appropriateness. The City’s Historic Preservation Officer (Planning, 3015 Market Street) can approve fences on the administrative list. Anything else, or anything the HPO refers, goes to a Landmark Commission hearing, which you should attend. If the Commission denies it, you can submit a changed application or appeal to the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
3. Fence permit. The City’s fence permit asks whether the fence is in a historic district. In Lost Bayou the answer is yes: attach photos of any existing fences on the site and the design of the proposed fence.

Gates and parking. The standards put parking at the rear or side of a lot and don’t allow new driveways or garages opening onto a primary street. On an alley block, that makes the alley the natural place for a vehicle or rear gate. Ask about an alley driveway gate at the estimate.

From estimate to finished fence: a free on-site estimate (property line, the side your house faces, corner and alley sides, existing historic fences and walls, trees), a design and drawing for the review, the approval and permit, then installation. What affects cost and timing: length and height, material (painted picket, metal or cedar with lattice), the number and width of gates, removing an old fence, and whether the fence can be approved by staff or needs a Commission hearing. Financing is available through the providers on our financing page, subject to credit approval. See a custom cedar gate we built in Galveston.

Questions we get about this