[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township
of Towamencin 6-3-1963 by Ord. No. 25. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Zoning — See Ch. 153.
The following words, when used in this chapter, shall have the
meanings ascribed to them in this section:
Any natural person, association, partnership, firm or corporation,
whether profit or nonprofit.
Any artificial excavation created by grading earth or enclosure
intended or utilized for storage of water for bathing or swimming
purposes in which the depth of water stored therein above or below
ground level exceeds two feet in depth.
It shall be unlawful for any person desiring to construct or
erect a swimming pool to commence construction thereof until a permit
shall have first been obtained from the Zoning Officer of Towamencin
Township.
Within 60 days of the effective date of this chapter, all persons
who presently maintain a swimming pool within the Township of Towamencin
shall register such fact with the Township Zoning Officer on a form
to be supplied for this purpose.
No person presently maintaining a swimming pool within the Township
of Towamencin and within 300 feet of any property line of the property
on which it is located shall continue to maintain such pool unless
access to the same shall be restricted by protective fencing, protective
plantings or such other impediments as shall be approved by the Zoning
Officer upon recommendation of the Board of Supervisors of the Township
of Towamencin, after registration. Approval, if granted, shall be
evidenced by a certificate of approval issued by the Township Zoning
Officer. Such certificate of approval shall be revocable in the event
the enclosure no longer provides reasonable protection.
The enclosure of existing facilities as provided for in § 139-4 hereof shall be accomplished within 60 days of the date of notification issued by the Township Zoning Officer that facilities existing as of the date of registration are inadequate. Said notification shall further set forth the minimum facilities acceptable to the Township.
[Amended 6-7-1965 by Ord. No. 30; 10-8-2014 by Ord. No. 14-12]
A.
No person shall henceforth construct a swimming pool or maintain
a swimming pool constructed hereafter within the Township of Towamencin
and within 300 feet of any property line of the property on which
it is located unless the same shall be entirely surrounded by a substantial
wire mesh or solid fence not less than 48 inches nor more than six
feet in height and which shall contain no vertical interspace of more
than two inches, except as hereinafter set forth, and no horizontal
rail or component or ornament on the outside or inside usable as a
footstep and which shall satisfy the minimum requirements:
(1)
Wood
picket: three-fourths-inch stock, vertical interspace of three inches.
(2)
Iron
picket: from one-half-inch bar stock, vertical interspace of four
inches.
(3)
Chain
link. Vertical chains shall be No. 11 gauge minimum wire and a maximum
of two inches apart.
(4)
Woven
or other solid fence. Strength shall be equivalent to one of the foregoing,
satisfactory to the Zoning Officer.
(5)
All
gates in such fence shall be secured by a lock when the owner or tenant
is absent from the premises and by an effective safety latch at all
other times.
(6)
A dwelling
or accessory building may be used as a part of the required enclosure.
B.
Exception. Aboveground pools shall be exempt from fencing requirements
if they meet the following requirements:
(1)
Pool
walls shall be 48 inches high, and the vertical distance of the top
of pool wall structures to the nearest horizontal surface, whether
it be the ground or nearby retention structures, decks or walkways,
must be 48 inches or greater. (NOTE: No retaining wall, deck or other
structure with horizontal surface may be located less than six feet
horizontally from the pool wall without at least a forty-eight-inch-high
insurmountable barrier and/or locking gate preventing access from
such a structure/surface to the surface of the pool.)
(2)
Ladders
must be removed and secured away from the pool when not in use.
(3)
Ladders
affixed to the pool must have a locking feature.
(4)
It
shall be required that all aboveground pools have an insurmountable
barrier of 48 inches around the entire perimeter of the pool, with
locking gates (48 inches high) at all points of access to the pool.
All applications for permits shall be made in writing, in duplicate,
and shall include plans, drawings or other data as may be required
by the Zoning Officer and shall satisfactorily indicate the method
of fencing the facility. A fee shall be chargeable for all permits
in accordance with a schedule to be adopted by the Board of Supervisors.[1]
Any person who shall violate any of the provisions of this chapter
shall, upon conviction thereof before a District Justice, be sentenced
to pay a fine of not more than $300 and costs of prosecution, and
in default of payments thereof, to imprisonment for not more than
30 days in the Montgomery County Jail. Each day's continuance
of the violation shall constitute a separate offense.
