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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>62987</law_id><section_number>15.2-921</section_number><catch_line>Ordinances requiring fencing of swimming pools</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="15.2">Counties, Cities and Towns</unit><unit label="subtitle" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="II">Powers of Local Government</unit><unit label="chapter" level="3" order_by="1" identifier="9">General Powers of Local Governments</unit><unit label="article" level="4" order_by="1" identifier="1">Public Health and Safety; Nuisances</unit></structure><text>
						<section><p>For the purposes of this section:
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Fence</span>&#x201D; means a close type vertical barrier not less than four feet in height above ground surface. A woven steel wire, chain link, picket or solid board type <span class="dictionary">fence</span> or a <span class="dictionary">fence</span> of similar construction which will prevent the smallest of children from getting through shall be construed as within this definition.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Swimming pool</span>&#x201D; includes any outdoor man-made structure constructed from <span class="dictionary">material</span> other than natural earth or soil designed or used to hold water for the purpose of providing a swimming or bathing place for any person or any such structure for the purpose of impounding water therein to a depth of more than two feet.
		Any <span class="dictionary">locality</span> may adopt <span class="dictionary">ordinances</span> making it unlawful for any person to construct, maintain, use, possess or control any pool on any property in such <span class="dictionary">locality</span>, without having a <span class="dictionary">fence</span> completely around such <span class="dictionary">swimming pool</span>. Such <span class="dictionary">ordinances</span> also may provide that every gate in such <span class="dictionary">fence</span> shall be capable of being securely fastened at a height of not less than four feet above ground level; that it shall be unlawful for any such gate to be allowed to remain unfastened while the pool is not in use; and that such <span class="dictionary">fence</span> shall be constructed so as to come within two inches of the ground at the bottom and shall be at least five feet from the edge of the pool at any point.
		Violation of any such <span class="dictionary">ordinance</span> may be made punishable by a fine of not more than $300 or confinement in jail for not more than thirty days, either or both. Each day&#x2019;s violation may be construed as a separate <span class="dictionary">offense</span>.
		Any such <span class="dictionary">ordinance</span> may be made applicable to <span class="dictionary">swimming pools</span> constructed before, as well as those constructed after, the adoption thereof. No such <span class="dictionary">ordinance</span> shall take effect less than ninety days from the adoption thereof, nor shall any such <span class="dictionary">ordinance</span> apply to any <span class="dictionary">swimming pool</span> operated by or in conjunction with any hotel located on a government reservation.</p></section></text><history>Code 1950, &#xA7; 15-18.1; 1958, c. 123; 1962, c. 623, &#xA7; 15.1-29; 1997, c. 587.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
