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Springdale planners clear 5-foot pool setback, ask staff to draft excavation rules separately
Summary
At a March 5 meeting, the Springdale Planning Commission moved toward adopting a 5-foot minimum setback for swimming pools and related features and asked staff to draft separate grading rules to address deep excavations.
The Springdale Planning Commission on March 5 reviewed draft ordinance language that would set a 5-foot minimum setback for swimming pools, spas and hot tubs and add several safety and lighting clarifications.
The change responds to ambiguity in current code about how setbacks apply to pools and related features and aims to address nuisance and safety concerns while leaving construction-safety rules about deep excavations to the town's grading code. Commission members directed staff to adopt the five-foot setback in the pool ordinance and to prepare separate grading/engineering language to handle excavation-related risks.
Nyla, community development staff, summarized the draft and the options before the commission, saying, “no swimming pool, hot tub or spa, may be located closer than 5 feet to any property line.” She described an alternate approach that would base a setback on the depth of excavation but told commissioners staff recommended handling excavation limits in the grading chapter rather than in the pool code.
Commissioners pressed for clarifications that staff agreed to add. The commission asked staff to change the language in the draft so subsection C would read that a pool, hot tub or spa “may not be constructed closer than 15 feet from a residential dwelling on adjacent property,” making clear the rule governs construction, not future building placement. Commissioners also asked that pool decking and adjacent surfaces be treated explicitly for drainage: a new point F will require decking and surrounding surfaces to be designed so drainage and spillage do not enter neighboring properties.
On safety, staff asked that pools nearer than 10 feet to a street be fenced; Nyla noted building-code requirements already require a four-foot fence or an automatic cover, and the drafted provision would require a fence in those street-adjacent cases. She also confirmed pool lighting must comply with the town's outdoor lighting ordinance and described how that code treats water-feature lighting — fixtures below water level and aimed horizontally or downward.
Commissioners discussed the excavation-based alternate (a 45-degree “draw a line” concept) at length. Several commissioners, including Tom Kinston (building inspector), and others said excavation safety is a broader grading and construction-safety issue that applies to more than pools. The group’s direction was to keep the pool ordinance focused on setbacks, fencing, lighting and drainage, and to ask staff to draft grading/retaining/ excavation standards in the grading code to address undermining and deep-excavation risks.
Staff said they would: implement the 5-foot minimum setback in the pool ordinance; revise subsection C to reference construction (“constructed closer than 15 feet”); add the drainage requirement for decks as a point F; and prepare complementary language in the grading chapter to address excavation setbacks and structural safety.
The commission did not take a formal vote on an ordinance at the March 5 meeting; members directed staff to revise the draft and return with the edited language and supporting materials at a future meeting.
