#2 Discussion and direction to staff to modify regulations for pool fencesCommunity Development Department Memorandum
Date: August 17, 2011
TO: Janesville City Council
FROM: Gale Price, Manager of Building & Development Services
SUBJECT: City Council Discussion and Direction to Staff on Citizen Request to
Modify Pool Regulations Related to Required Fencing.
_____________________________________________________________________
I. RECOMMENDATION
Staff does not have a recommendation on this request at this time. Staff is
requesting direction on how the Council wishes to proceed with the request.
II. CITY MANAGER RECOMMENDATION
The City Manager believes that it is necessary to balance the safety of young
children around pools with the ability for residents to have reasonable standards in
order to have an inflatable pool, spa or constructed pool.
I believe it to be a reasonable request to review having a non-connected fence of 4’
in height based on the information provided. Due to the nature of inflatable pools
this is a difficult issue to enforce, but currently is enforced primarily on complaint
basis.
III. REQUEST
The City Council has received contact from a resident who has requested that the
City Council propose an ordinance change to City of Janesville Building Code
Section 15.01.280.B, which requires a five (5’) foot high fence around any pool or
hot tub with a side wall of 30 inches or more. The resident’s home has an existing
four (4’) foot high fence and after erecting an inflatable pool within their rear yard, it
was brought to their attention that a five foot fence is required.
Council members McDonald, Liebert and Steeber co-sponsored having this issue
brought forward.
IV. ANALYSIS
State law does not require a fence around a swimming pool on private property.
State law does require a fence for all public pools with a depth of 24 inches or
greater. In such an instance a five foot fence is required to be erected.
Most municipal ordinances require a fence around a pool for private properties.
The City of Janesville’s ordinance requiring a five foot fence is somewhat modeled
after the state law for public pools with the exception that a pool is permitted to
have a side wall of up to 30 inches without a fence around the pool. The Janesville
ordinance is silent to temporary pools therefore it is applied to all pools based upon
the side wall depth.
The resident provided information to the Council members from other cities
regarding temporary and permanent pool fence heights. Their information also
indicates that many communities do not require a fence around temporary pools. In
addition to that information they cite Consumer Product Safety Commission and
insurance companies recommending a minimum of four foot high fences rather than
the five foot high fence required by the City of Janesville Ordinance.
Ultimately the issue of requiring a fence around a temporary pool or the height of a
fence around a property with a pool is a local decision since state law is silent to
fence requirements around a private pool.
V. SUMMARY
Staff is requesting that the City Council provide direction on how to proceed with the
request to modify the fence height requirement. If the Council chooses to proceed
with a proposed text amendment to the Building Code, then Staff will draft
ordinance language over the fall and winter months so that it can be implemented in
the spring.
cc: Eric Levitt
Jay Winzenz
July 15, 2011
Dear Council Members of the City of Janesville:
I am writing to each of you to request to amend City of Janesville Ordinance 15.01.280 SWIMMING
POOLS – GENERAL. This ordinance does not specifically address the commonly seen storable/temporary
pools but rather enforces them along with the permanent pools. We would like to see the temporary
pools exempt because there is nothing that is “built” and these pools are not permanent fixtures, don’t
require any building, nor do they require any permanent electricity. The temporary pools can be readily
disassembled for storage and reassembled to their original integrity quickly.
At the very least, we would like to recommend that the fencing requirement be changed to a 48”
minimum to be more consistent with our comparable cities. This is a standard fence size which would
make it easier for the citizens of Janesville to comply with.
Please see table below for my comparison. 50% of those cities do not enforce the temporary pools,
while the other 50% enforce the 48” fencing requirement. They (the temporary pools) do not require an
electrical permit as it is not a permanent fixture and doesn’t continually run.
ORDINANCE INCLUDES POOL HEIGHT FENCE HEIGHT
TEMPORARY POOL MINIMUM MINIMUM
APPLETON Yes 24” 48”
BELOIT No
DEFOREST No
KENOSHA Yes 24” 48”
LACROSSE Yes 30” 48”
MADISON No
MIDDLETON No
WAUKESHA Yes 42” 48”
The State of Wisconsin does not regulate residential swimming pools. The US Consumer Product Safety
Commission, PoolSafely.gov, and Safe Kids, along with several insurance companies, all recommend a
48” fence, however they do not require it.
Again, we are asking for your assistance in amending City of Janesville Ordinance 15.01.280 SWIMMING
POOLS – GENERAL to make the temporary pool exempt or at the very least, change the minimum
fencing requirement to be at a reasonable height of 48”, which still provides a sufficient degree of
protection and keeps Janesville in line with its comparable cities.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me via email or telephone. I look forward to
hearing from any or all of you.
Thank you in advance for your time and assistance with this matter. I hope that you will agree that it
would be very relevant to the City of Janesville residents to amend the requested ordinance.
Sincerely,
Tracy Schroeder