Hanover County, VA Swimming Pools & Spas: Fencing & Safety Requirements (2026)

Section 26-247(d) governs where a pool can sit relative to a required protective fence or barrier wall around it. An accessory swimming pool that is open and unenclosed may occupy a required rear yard, but the edge of the water cannot come closer than six feet to the rear lot line or ten feet to a side lot line, and the Code requires a walk space at least three feet wide between the pool walls and the protective fences or barrier walls that surround it, which confirms that a fence or barrier wall enclosing the pool is a prerequisite for the setback to apply.

The Zoning Ordinance defines a swimming pool broadly, at Section 26-6, as any structure intended for swimming, recreational bathing or wading that contains water over twenty-four inches deep, covering in-ground, above-ground and on-ground pools, hot tubs, spas and fixed wading pools. A pool counts as a structure for zoning purposes and is therefore also subject to the general yard and setback rules of Article 5, Division 2 unless Section 26-247(d)'s specific pool standard controls. Because a pool is a structure, its construction also requires a building permit under Section 26-342 before work begins, in Hanover County outside the Town of Ashland, and Building Inspections reviews the barrier and setback compliance as part of that permit.