Blue Earth County, MN Swimming Pools & Spas: Fencing & Safety Requirements (2026)

Blue Earth County Code Sec. 24-162(a)(10) lists a private swimming pool as a permitted use in the RR district on one condition: it must be completely enclosed within a chain link or similar security fence at least six feet high. The Rural Townsite (RT) district repeats the same standard for private pools at Sec. 24-192(a)(11), and RT also allows public swimming pools, but only as an interim use and only when they meet the same six-foot chain link or similar enclosure under Sec. 24-192(c)(3). Public swimming pools in the RT district carry an added site standard: Sec.

24-193(n) requires them, along with government buildings and schools, to keep a minimum 50-foot setback to any lot line. Because a pool that meets the fence standard is a permitted use in the RR and Conservation districts, no conditional use permit or planning commission hearing is required, but the property owner still needs a construction permit from the zoning administrator under Sec. 24-43 before installing the pool, since it is a structure on the property. The fence has to be in place as part of the pool installation itself, not added later, since the code frames the enclosure as a condition of the pool's status as a permitted use rather than as a separate, optional safety recommendation.