Inground pools in Pepper Pike, Ohio

Pepper Pike is a small city by population, 6,796 people at the 2020 census on a little over 7 square miles. Homes in its A-1 area district need at least an acre, and U-1 lots must be at least 125 feet wide at the building line. Along with Moreland Hills and Hunting Valley next door, it belongs to the east side country around the Chagrin valley. Pepper Creek, which becomes Luce Creek in Hunting Valley, cuts through on its way to the Chagrin River.

So the question in Pepper Pike is rarely whether a pool fits. It is where on the lot it satisfies the setbacks, stays out of the ravine, keeps clear of big trees and their roots, and still looks right from the back of the house. On a one acre lot the 35 foot and 80 foot rules take a real bite out of the usable yard, and the 80 foot rule depends on where your neighbors' houses sit, which we measure rather than assume.

The USDA soil survey around Pepper Pike is mostly Mahoning and Ellsworth silt loams, the clay-rich glacial till soils common across Cuyahoga's east side. Mahoning is somewhat poorly drained and Ellsworth moderately well drained, and both hold water in spring. Where the land breaks toward the creeks, the survey maps Ellsworth on 25 to 70 percent slopes.

One soil we sampled deserves a mention. Mitiwanga silt loam is only 20 to 40 inches of till over sandstone bedrock, with a seasonal water table 6 to 12 inches from the surface from November to June. A pool is dug a lot deeper than 40 inches. If your lot is on Mitiwanga, or on the bedrock phase of Mahoning or Ellsworth, rock can change how the dig goes, so we check with test holes before the design is final instead of discovering it with the excavator.

Plenty of Pepper Pike homes are also on septic. The Chagrin Valley Times reported about 1,200 septic systems in the city while it works on sewer extensions along Gates Mills and Shaker boulevards. A pool, its deck and the excavation route all have to stay off the tank and leach field, and we plan that from the survey up.

Pepper Pike's residential packet says any site improvement goes to the Architectural Board of Review before a building permit is issued. The board meets on the second and fourth Friday of each month, and the applicant has to attend. For a pool, it wants two sets of a site plan showing property lines, the house, the pool, the deck, the fence, the location and screening of the pool equipment, distances to neighboring houses, and the dimensions of the pool and all surrounding paving, plus material details and photos. The fee is $75 each time plans are submitted or resubmitted, which is one more reason to get the drawings right the first time.

The board also has a say on grade. Section 1488.16 requires the pool to be at or below natural grade. On a sloping lot, the board may allow up to half the perimeter to sit above grade, never more than 2 feet, if it approves the retaining walls. That is the rule that decides how a pool on a hillside lot here gets built.

• Setbacks under Section 1488.13: in U-1, at least 35 feet from any lot line and 80 feet from a neighbor's living quarters. In U-2, U-3 and U-4, 65 feet from a residential lot line and 155 feet from a neighbor's residence. Distances are measured from the water line, and the deck does not count.
• A walkway at least 4 feet wide around the pool, drained away from it. Our standard 4 foot concrete wrap deck is built to that width with the slope in it.
• An enclosure at least 4 feet high all the way around, with horizontal members on the pool side and vertical members no more than 4 inches apart. Gates must lock and stay locked when nobody is using the pool.
• The fence must be in place before the pool is filled.
• Lights must be shaded away from neighbors and streets, and Section 1488.08 says no lights shall illuminate a pool unless it is at least 150 feet from any lot line of an adjacent U-1 property.

That last rule matters because our fiberglass packages include Pentair LED lights. We ask the Building Department how it applies to your lot before the lights go on the plan, rather than find out at inspection. Pepper Pike's general fence rules add that side and rear fences are capped at 6 feet, must be at least 25 percent open and cannot be stockade or board-on-board, and fences also go through the board.

After board approval, the Building Department reviews the construction documents. The pool permit carries a $600 deposit, a $150 flat fee plus the state fee, and plan review billed hourly. Then come nine inspections, from staking and walls through bonding, underground electric and wiring to a final after the landscaping is restored. Wiring follows Article 680 of the National Electrical Code. Fence permits are separate. With the Architectural Board of Review calendar in front of it, a Pepper Pike project needs more lead time than most, so for a spring or summer build it pays to start the paperwork in winter.

Pepper Pike yards have room for the larger Liberty shells, like the Devotion at 16 by 40 or the Heavenly at 16 by 38, and a spillover spa or a sheer descent fits the scale of these lots. ICF concrete is the pick for a custom shape or a pool that has to sit into a slope, and its insulated walls hold heat, which helps under a tree canopy. Our packages run from $68,400 to $103,900 installed, and the fence, extra patio, spoils haul-off, dewatering and the long electrical run common on deep lots are priced on top. Financing is available through lenders such as PoolLoan.net and HFS Financial.

We also build in Chagrin Falls, Solon, Bainbridge, Twinsburg and Macedonia, so the east side and the Chagrin valley are familiar territory.