Pool permits in Cuyahoga County suburbs

Your city or village. Cuyahoga County is almost entirely made up of incorporated cities and villages, and each one runs its own zoning code and, in most cases, its own building department. There is no county-level pool permit, and Ohio does not regulate private backyard pools at the state level, so the rules you follow in Strongsville and the rules your cousin follows in Solon come from two different city codes.

That has a practical upside. City building departments in the suburbs are usually close by, keep regular hours and have a permit counter where you can ask questions. The downside is that nothing carries over from one suburb to the next, and older inner-ring suburbs often have pool ordinances written decades ago.

Timing follows the same seasonal pattern as the rest of the region. Suburban building departments see a rush of fence, deck and pool applications once the weather breaks in March and April. If you want to swim by Memorial Day, plan to have the survey ordered, the design settled and the application in over the winter, so you are not waiting behind a stack of spring projects.

Strongsville covers pools in Section 1252.29 of its zoning code. A swimming pool is any structure intended for swimming or recreational bathing that holds water more than 24 inches deep, and the definition includes in-ground and on-ground pools, hot tubs and spas. So a spa counts, not only the pool.

Private pools, hot tubs and spas are accessory uses in residential districts. The pool, and any accessory building, structure or other equipment, may not be located in a front or side yard, and must be at least 15 ft from any lot line. The equipment clause matters: a pump and heater pad tucked into the side yard, which is common elsewhere, will not pass here.

Strongsville's fence rules, in Section 1252.17, allow fences, walls and hedges up to 6 ft along side and rear lot lines. In the front yard of an interior lot, only a two-rail fence up to 42 inches is allowed along a side line. Fences and walls over 4 ft and all accessory buildings require a building permit. On a corner lot, fences must stay back from the side street right of way and any sidewalk: 12 ft for a fence 4 ft or lower, 16 ft for one taller than 4 ft.

Brecksville's residential fence regulations set a maximum fence height of 4 ft, allowed in the side and rear yard, meaning from the front wall of the house back to the rear lot line. Fences are not allowed in the city right of way, and perimeter fences must sit within 1 ft of the property line. Brecksville also asks for fence post holes at least 38 inches deep, and for two sets of plans submitted in person, with a site plan or survey showing the property pins.

The 4 ft cap is worth noticing, because 4 ft is also the usual minimum for a pool enclosure. In Brecksville the pool fence ends up at exactly 4 ft, so the grade along the fence line has to be right. On a slope, a fence that is 4 ft tall on the high side can come up short on the low side, and there is no room to simply build it taller. The deep post holes are sensible anywhere in Northeast Ohio: they keep posts below the frost that would otherwise heave them.

Cleveland Heights sets one of the taller pool enclosure rules in the region. Its swimming pool regulations require every swimming pool to be completely enclosed by a wall or fence of sturdy construction at least 6 ft high, built so there is no access to the pool except through a necessary gate, and that gate must be self-closing and self-latching. The city also requires a fence permit for all fencing.

Lots in Cleveland Heights are often narrow and deep, with detached garages at the rear and mature trees throughout. A 6 ft enclosure plus setbacks can leave a modest pool footprint, and access for equipment down a shared or narrow driveway is often the bigger challenge.

Solon publishes its full zoning code online, and like most suburbs it has its own definition of what counts as a swimming pool. Read the definitions section before assuming which rules apply to a small pool or a spa, then find the accessory structure rules for your zoning district, because Solon's residential districts carry different setbacks.

Broadview Heights and Chagrin Falls each apply their own codes. Chagrin Falls is a village with older, smaller lots and a historic downtown, and the river valley puts steep grades behind some homes. Broadview Heights has many larger suburban lots, where grade and drainage tend to shape the design more than the lot lines do. In both, call the building department with your address and ask for the residential pool requirements before we design.

This catches more suburban pool plans than setbacks do. Many Northeast Ohio communities have adopted riparian and wetland setbacks, often based on model ordinances from the Chagrin River Watershed Partners and NOACA. These create no-build strips along streams and wetlands, and structures of any kind are generally prohibited inside them without a variance.

The widths vary by community and by the size of the stream. The Chagrin River Watershed Partners' summary of Ohio regulations lists, for example, a minimum 25 ft riparian setback in Parma for small watercourses and a minimum 25 ft setback from streams in Woodmere, extended to the 100-year floodplain. Larger streams carry much wider setbacks, and several ordinances widen the strip on steep slopes.

If a creek, ditch with a defined bed and bank, or wet area runs along your back line, ask the building department whether a riparian map covers your lot before you design. A pool, a deck and even a fence can be off limits inside the setback.

Suburban building departments in Cuyahoga County tend to be thorough about drawings. Expect to provide:

• A survey or site plan showing the property pins, lot dimensions, house, garage and other structures.
• The pool, deck and equipment pad with distances to every lot line.
• The enclosure: fence type, height, gates and the direction each gate swings.
• Easements from the plat, and overhead wires.
• Electrical plans for bonding, lighting and equipment, handled under a separate electrical permit.
• Grading or drainage notes if the pool changes how water leaves the lot.

Many suburbs will not accept a sketch on an old mortgage survey if the pins are not shown. A current survey costs money but saves weeks.

In the suburbs, the pool enclosure is usually also your property line fence, so you are designing to two rulebooks at once. The pool rules set a minimum height and the gate hardware. The fence rules set a maximum height, where the fence may stand and, in some cities, which side of the fence faces out. Brecksville and Strongsville both limit fence heights by yard, and both treat corner lots more strictly.

Our approach is to draw the fence into the 3D design at the same time as the pool, check it against both sets of rules, and put the gate where people actually walk. A gate that people have to go around the long way gets propped open, and a propped gate defeats the whole barrier.

Many pool enclosures here also use the back of the house as one side. When that happens, the International Swimming Pool and Spa Code calls for alarms on doors that open directly to the pool, a listed safety cover, or self-closing and self-latching doors. Ask your building department which it accepts.

Access and trees, more than soil. Many suburban lots have a single driveway along the house, a detached garage at the back and neighbors close on both sides. Getting an excavator in, hauling spoils out and setting a fiberglass shell may need a crane over the house or garage, or a narrow machine and a lot of trips. Mature trees drop leaves and roots into the plan too. We look at all of it on the site visit.

A complete project includes the pool, the deck, the enclosure, the electrical run from the panel to the equipment and site work. Fiberglass packages from us start at $68,400 installed, which covers the Pentair equipment, a 4 ft concrete deck and startup. Fencing, extra decking, spoils haul-off, dewatering and the panel-to-pad electrical are priced for your yard, and we handle the permits. Financing is available through lenders we work with.