Fought with city permits for 6 weeks over a fence setback

I just wanted to put up a simple 6 foot privacy fence in my backyard in Austin. Turns out my property line is 3 feet closer than I thought because of an old survey error. It took 6 weeks of back and forth at the permit office to get them to accept the new survey. Has anyone else dealt with a surprise setback rule that made your project take forever?

2 comments

2 Comments

matthew_owens911m ago

Gotta push back on that approach a little, @the_mason. In my experience bringing physical maps and surveyor letters didn't speed anything up because the permit office just said they needed to verify the survey with their own GIS system first, which took another 3 weeks on its own. The supervisor angle worked for me too but only after I wasted a month going through three different clerks who all said different things about what documents were acceptable. I ended up having to pay for a second boundary line survey just to get someone to stamp it twice, which felt like a total scam but got the job done. Different cities probably have totally different rules though, Austin might just be extra picky about setbacks.

the_mason1h ago

Brother I feel your pain. What finally worked for me was bringing a physical copy of the original plat map from the county clerk's office to the permit counter. I highlighted the old property line and the new survey line right there in orange highlighter. Then I had the surveyor write a short letter saying "the original stake was off by 3 feet due to an old iron pin being moved". That plus the map shut them up in like 2 days. Also ask for the supervisor if you get some clerk who just says no. The supervisor actually knew the rules and let it slide.