Inflatable pools may not need fences

ROCK FALLS - In preparation for the summer, the City Council will consider changes to the city's temporary swimming pool ordinance. The idea is to provide a couple of options that will allow people with temporary inflatable swimming pools, to secure them without the aid of a fence.

Residents will be able to secure temporary pools with plastic covers. The ordinance does not specify what type of cover. Some pools come with a cover made for that specific model, and elasticized covers to fit most such pools are commercially available. Also, pool owners could use, for example, tarps weighted with water-filled milk jugs.

For those owners who don't want to deal with a cover, the ordinance allows the owner to simply remove the access ladder when the pool is not in use.

The current ordinance states that any owner of a temporary swimming pool deeper than 18 inches must have a 4-foot privacy fence surrounding it.

Sterling and Dixon both have a similar ordinance on the books.

Building Inspector Mark Searing first raised the concern last summer when he noticed many houses around the city with temporary swimming pools in yards without fences.

Searing wanted to change the ordinance in order to give residents a cheaper option when securing a pool that is only out during the warm months of the year.

The ordinance will be given to the full council for its first reading at its Tuesday meeting. The second reading will come at its April 17 meeting.