Inground pools in Rootstown, Ohio

Rootstown is one of the larger townships in Portage County, and most of it still reads as open country. The busy part is the town center where State Route 44 meets Tallmadge Road. Northeast Ohio Medical University has been on SR 44 since 1973, and the Rootstown Local Schools campus sits across the street from it. Away from that corner, homes spread out along township roads, and the township park on Case Avenue is one of the few pieces of public open space.

The zoning map explains the lot sizes you see. In the R-1 district the minimum lot for a single-family home is 1.5 acres with 150 feet of width at the building line, and the O-C district asks for 5 acres. Only the R-2 subdivisions drop to 13,500 square feet. On most Rootstown parcels, room for the pool is not the question. The questions are where the well and septic system sit, which way the ground drains, and how far you want to walk from the back door to the water.

There are also two older lake neighborhoods. Sandy Lake and Muzzy Lake have their own Lake District zoning, written for the tight cottage-style lots that were there before the modern rules. If you live on one of the lakes, the numbers below change a little, and we point that out where it matters.

We ran points around the township through the USDA soil survey. Canfield silt loam came back again and again, with Wooster, Geeburg, Ellsworth and Loudonville soils on the slopes. Canfield formed in glacial till and has a fragipan, a dense, brittle layer that water moves through slowly. In most years, the survey shows water perched on that layer less than two feet down through late fall, winter and early spring.

That shapes the job in a few ways. A dig in March or April can collect water faster than you would expect for ground that looks dry on top, so we plan the pumping before the excavator arrives. The fragipan also means rain that soaks in tends to move sideways, so we grade the deck and surrounding yard to shed water away from the pool and the house. On rural lots we also map the septic field and the well before we pick a spot, since Portage County Health handles both and neither should end up under a patio.

Rootstown Township issues its own zoning permits, and its zoning office lists swimming pools, fences and decks among the projects that need one. The rules are in Section 310.09 of the township zoning resolution for the residential districts:

• Pools go in the rear yard only.
• The pool must be at least 10 feet from the side and rear lot lines.
• Every pool must be completely surrounded by a fence or wall at least 4 feet high and no more than 8 feet high above natural grade.
• The fence can have no opening, hole or gap larger than 3 inches in any dimension, except doors and gates. A garage or shed wall may serve as one side of it.
• Doors and gates need locking devices that keep people from getting in uninvited.

That 3 inch figure is worth noticing. Many Ohio codes use a 4 inch opening, so an off-the-shelf aluminum or ornamental panel that passes elsewhere might not pass here. We check the spacing of the fence you want before it is ordered.

In the Sandy Lake and Muzzy Lake districts, Section 340.09 keeps the same fence language but drops the pool setback to 7 feet from the lot line. Township-wide, a fence built right on a property line needs a written agreement between the two neighbors, and the township points to Ohio's line fence law in Chapter 971 of the Revised Code.

Building-side permits are handled by the Portage County Building Department, which lists pool wiring among the electrical work it permits and inspects and requires a licensed electrical contractor for it. We pull the township zoning permit and coordinate the county electrical permit and inspections as part of the job.

For most Rootstown families we start with a fiberglass pool from Liberty Composites. The shell arrives finished, the install is quick, and the smooth gelcoat surface stands up to freeze and thaw without the surface wear that plaster sees. On the big R-1 lots, owners sometimes want more: a long lap shape, a spillover spa, or a pool set far out in the yard with a wide patio and an outdoor kitchen. That is where ICF concrete makes sense, because it takes any shape and its insulated walls hold heat. Latham vinyl liner pools cover the custom-shape option for less money up front.

Rural lots bring a practical point. The pool may end up a long way from the electrical panel, and that trench is part of the planning. We would rather tell you at the design stage than on install day.

Our fiberglass packages start at $68,400 installed. That covers the shell, Pentair LED lighting, a Pentair variable-speed pump and DE filter, a 4 foot concrete deck around the pool, a startup kit and the electrical hookup at the equipment. On top of the package, a Rootstown project may need: the barrier fence the township requires, a larger patio, dewatering if we dig in the wet months, hauling off the excavated clay, and the electrical run from your panel to the equipment pad. We price each of those in the design so you see the full number early, and we work with lenders, including PoolLoan.net and HFS Financial, if you want to finance it.

Township zoning review is usually the quick part. Weather is what moves the calendar. With a perched water table sitting shallow until spring, we like to dig once the ground has had a chance to drain, and we keep an eye on the forecast rather than forcing a date. Because we are four miles away, a rained-out morning costs us an hour, not a day.

Rootstown is the closest community we serve, and plenty of our work runs along SR 44 between here and Ravenna. We also build in Kent, Hartville, Tallmadge and Streetsboro, so if your address sits near the township line, the same crew and planning come with it.