Inground pools in Richfield, Ohio

The village sits in the middle of the township. It was founded in 1809, incorporated in 1967, and had 3,729 residents at the 2020 census across about 9.3 square miles. The township wraps around it and runs to the county line, bordering Brecksville to the north, Boston Township to the east, Bath Township to the south and Hinckley Township in Medina County to the west. Children in both attend Revere Local Schools, the district Bath and Richfield formed together in the early 1950s.

Your mailing address won't tell you which one governs your lot, since both use Richfield. Your property tax bill or the county's parcel records will. We check before we draw anything, because the zoning office, the setbacks and the fence rules all depend on it.

Richfield is the most rural stretch of our Summit County service area. The township's R-1 Rural Residential district requires at least 2 acres per home and a 200 foot lot width, and its Conservation District requires 5 acres. The village has its own R-1 Rural Residential district. The Richfield Heritage Preserve covers 336 acres of woods, streams and two lakes, and the old Richfield Coliseum, home to the Cavaliers from 1974 to 1994, was torn down in 1999.

We sampled the USDA soil survey around the village and township. The most common soil is Rittman silt loam, with Ellsworth and Mahoning silt loams close behind, all formed in glacial till. Rittman has a dense fragipan starting 18 to 36 inches down, and the USDA describes a perched water table 10 to 27 inches below the surface from November to April. Mahoning is somewhat poorly drained. Several map units come with 6 to 12 percent slopes, some of them eroded.

Put together, a Richfield pool often means a sloped yard, a spring dig that takes on water, and dense clay spoils that make poor fill. We plan for pumping, grade the deck to shed water away from the pool and house, and use retaining walls where the ground falls away. Footings in Summit County are set for a 38 inch frost depth.

The township zoning resolution, effective January 2, 2023, treats a private pool as a structure for permits and zoning, and it has to meet all required yard setbacks. Its pool section is specific:

• All in-ground pools and spas must be secured by a fence at least 4 feet high and no more than 6 feet high.
• The fence can't have openings, holes or gaps larger than 3 inches in any dimension, except for doors and gates. That is tighter than the 4 inch opening many codes allow.
• Doors and gates need locking devices to prevent unauthorized entry.
• The wall of a garage or other accessory building may stand in for part of that fence.
• Construction, plumbing, electrical work and inspections must meet county or state codes.

In the R-1 district, the required yards are 85 feet in front, 60 feet in the rear and 20 feet on each side, with 40 feet for accessory buildings. We confirm with the township zoning inspector which side yard applies to a pool on your lot. Township fences can be up to 48 inches in a front yard and 72 inches in side and rear yards. You get the zoning certificate from the township zoning inspector, and building work falls under Summit County Building Standards. If the home is on septic or a well, Summit County Public Health must review any new structure other than a fence.

The village zoning code treats a pool as a structure that needs a permit and must conform to all required yard setback lines. It hands construction, plumbing, electrical, inspection and safety requirements, including fencing, to the village or Summit County building codes. The village has adopted the Summit County building code, and the county's Division of Building Standards does residential plan review and inspections for Richfield. Permits start with the village Planning and Zoning Department.

The village code doesn't set its own barrier numbers, and Ohio has no statewide barrier rule for backyard pools (the Residential Code of Ohio deleted its pool section). Where a town is silent, we build to the model International Swimming Pool and Spa Code barrier standard, which calls for a barrier at least 48 inches high, openings that won't pass a 4 inch sphere, and self-closing, self-latching gates. Confirm the details with the village Planning and Zoning Department and Summit County Building Standards before you order a fence.

The village fence rules add a twist. Side and rear fences can reach 6 feet in residential zones, but at least 25 percent of the fence's surface must be open to light and air. A solid board privacy fence won't pass, so we plan a style that meets both the barrier rule and the openness rule.

With room to work, Richfield owners often choose larger pools and fuller projects. Liberty fiberglass packages run from $68,400 installed up to $103,900 for the Virtuous 16x40, and the one-piece shell handles freeze and thaw well. ICF concrete pools suit sloped sites and custom shapes, and their insulated walls hold heat into fall. Budgets on a big lot should allow for the extras: fencing, added patio, dewatering, dirt haul-off and a long electrical run when the pool sits well away from the house. We work with PoolLoan.net and HFS Financial on financing.

Richfield is a straight run west from our shop, and we also build in Bath, Brecksville, Broadview Heights, Fairlawn and Copley. Whichever side of the village line you are on, we sort out the right office before the first drawing.