Code Compliance: Pools Must Be Maintained, Fenced

Friday, April 21st, 2023

The season of summer fun in the sun is right around the corner, and property owners across Dalton are getting their pools ready. But even if you aren't planning for pool parties this summer, the City of Dalton's ordinances require that any pools on your property must be well-maintained and also enclosed by a fence for safety. 

"The pool has to be sanitary. the international property maintenance code and our own city ordinances state that eh pool has to be sanitary and it has to be well maintained and well kept," said Jake Hollis, a code compliance inspector for the City of Dalton. "You can’t have a body of water that’s stagnant, that’s not moving... basically what you’re doing if you don’t maintain that is you’ve got a mosquito breeding facility that not only affects you but it affects your neighbors. Mosquitos are pests and they also can spread diseases between humans and also animals. A lot of people have pets, it’s the number one way that heartworms are spread among cats and dogs is through mosquitos."

The requirements for in-ground or above-ground pools or spas are laid out in Article IX of the City's code of ordinances and section 303 of the International Property Maintenance Code (IPMC). The requirements include not just rules for the maintenance of the water itself, but also restricting access with fences.

"Any body of water inside the city that’s greater than 18 by 24 inches shall have a fence completely enclosing that swimming pool," Hollis sad. "We have a lot of people that think that because it’s an above ground pool, or outdoor pool, that it doesn’t have to have a fence because its already 48 inches and by code that’s not the case. It has to be completely enclosed by a fence, and that fence must be maintained in good working order also."

Caption: Stagnant, unsanitary water in an above-ground pool at a Dalton residence was cited by the Code Compliance Unit as a violation of City code

Dalton's swimming pool ordinance also requires that the gates in the enclosing fence be self-closing or self-latching. 

"[Property owners] can't just go to a store and grab a few cattle panels and just lean them up so it looks like a fence, it has to actually be a constructed permanent fence or deck around it, there has to be limited access to such pools or to such areas to prevent injury," Hollis said. "And a lot of this is about education, too. I had a case (this week) where the homeowner had an above-ground pool and said, 'well, we just take the ladder out at night and put it in the house.' Well that still doesn’t suffice. If someone who’s four feet tall or really strong comes across it they can crawl into that pool if they want to – and it takes away their way back out and they can drown."

Proper swimming pool maintenance is one area of local law that might not have been emphasized in recent years, but it's receiving new attention with the City of Dalton's new emphasis on code compliance. 

"I've spoken with property owners who are saying, 'hey, I’ve had this pool for a long time and nobody’s said anything, why now?' And we are just letting the public know that just because they’ve gotten away with it doesn’t mean that it was right all that time, it was just a matter of someone not seeing it or not knowing about it."

Keeping pools, spas, and hot tubs in sanitary condition and also secure will help keep the City of Dalton safe and healthy for our residents.