Inground pools in Macedonia, Ohio

Macedonia is a Nordonia Hills City Schools town with Cuyahoga Valley National Park just to the west, and the land falls toward the valley and the creeks that drain into it. Plenty of backyards here are not flat. Some slope gently. Others end at a wooded ravine.

The soil survey reflects that. Sampling across the city, we found mostly Ellsworth and Rittman silt loams, with Mahoning and Fitchville in flatter spots and Lobdell and Holly soils along the streams. Several of the Rittman units are mapped on 12 to 18 percent slopes and flagged as eroded. Ellsworth formed in dense till, and the USDA notes a perched seasonal water table 11 to 24 inches down from November to May. Rittman has a fragipan, a dense layer that slows water moving down, with a perched water table 10 to 27 inches below the surface from November to April.

Put those together and a Macedonia pool usually needs two things beyond the shell. The first is grading, because water running downhill toward a pool deck is what undermines concrete and floods equipment pads. The second is a plan for groundwater in the dig, especially for a spring start. On steeper lots, a retaining wall can create a flat terrace for the pool and patio, and it is often cheaper to build it with the pool than to add it later.

Macedonia's pool barrier requirement is in Section 1377.02 of the building code, last updated in 2017. It applies to any in-ground family pool with at least 18 inches of water, and it says:

• The pool must be completely surrounded by a fence or wall at least 4 feet high.
• No opening, hole or gap can be larger than 4 inches in any direction, except doors and gates. On a picket fence, the space between pickets cannot exceed 4 inches.
• An accessory building can form part of the enclosure, and so can the house.
• Every gate or door through the enclosure needs a self-closing, self-latching device. A house door that forms part of the enclosure is exempt.

Using the back of the house as one side of the enclosure is allowed, and it often saves fence. Just remember that any gate in the pool fence has to close and latch on its own.

The zoning code, Section 1171.16, controls what kind of fence you can put up and where. In side and rear yards, an open fence can be up to 5 feet tall and a privacy fence up to 6 feet. Privacy, open and chain link fences are not allowed in front yards. An open or privacy fence also has to stay at least 10 feet from any house or accessory building on the neighboring lot.

The part that surprises people is near the property line. To build close to the line, the fence has to be maintenance free, be removable from your side, or come with a written access agreement from the neighbor. Otherwise it stays at least 3 feet off the line. The code also says the city will not issue that fence permit unless the adjacent owner signs off on the property line and fence location, or you provide a certified survey to the neighbor and the Building Department. If you are not sure where your pins are, a survey early in the process saves a lot of back and forth.

One more detail for wooded lots. Where a yard backs onto woods, the Planning Commission can approve a 6 foot decorative fence fitted with coyote rollers. It is a niche rule, but on a ravine lot with small kids or pets it is worth knowing about.

Rules vary by zoning district, so here is the R-1 district as an example. The minimum lot is 20,000 square feet. Buildings and structures must be at least 10 feet from a side lot line and 5 feet from the rear lot line. Accessory buildings and structures combined cannot cover more than 35 percent of the rear yard, and going over that takes a conditional use approval from the Planning Commission.

That coverage cap is the one to watch. A pool, a wide deck, a paver patio, a shed and a pergola can add up quickly on a smaller lot. How the city counts each piece against the limit is a question for the zoning inspector, and we ask it with the site plan in hand before the design is final.

The Building Department at 9691 Valley View Road issues permits and runs inspections, with a building commissioner, an assistant commissioner and a zoning inspector on staff. The city offers next-day inspections when they are requested by 3 p.m. the business day before. All contractors have to register with the city before working in Macedonia, and we do. The city engineer handles engineering questions, and the Service Department handles storm water and drainage complaints, which is one more reason to get grading right on a sloped lot.

On most Macedonia lots we lead with fiberglass. A Liberty shell goes in fast, which matters when a sloped yard is open to the weather, and the one-piece shell has no liner seams or plaster for freeze-thaw to work on. When a slope or a ravine edge calls for a shape a mold cannot give, we build an ICF concrete pool with insulated walls that hold heat. Vinyl liner pools from Latham are available for a custom shape at a lower starting cost.

Fiberglass packages start at $68,400 installed and include Pentair equipment, LED lights and a 4 ft concrete deck. On a sloped lot, the items outside the package matter more: the fence, grading, any retaining wall, extra patio, hauling away the clay we dig out and pumping the dig if it takes on water. We price those after walking the site so you can plan the whole project, and we work with lenders if you want to finance it.

Macedonia is about 18 miles from our Ravenna shop, close to Longwood Park, the 300 acre city park around the 1924 Longwood Manor. We build across the Nordonia Hills area and in Twinsburg, Solon, Hudson, Brecksville and Aurora, with the same crew on every job.