Kenner, LA Swimming Pools & Spas: Fencing & Safety Requirements (2026)

Under the Unified Development Code's accessory-use standards, an accessory swimming pool that is open and unenclosed may sit in a required rear or side yard only if the water's edge stays at least four feet from a rear or interior side lot line, and the pool must include adequate handholding provisions for safe entry and exit. The core safety requirement is that every swimming pool or open water feature be protected by a safety fence or barrier, and that barrier must be approved by the Director of the Department of Inspections and Code Enforcement before the pool passes inspection.

The code also sets a maintenance-access standard: a walk space at least three feet wide must run along at least fifty percent of the pool's exterior, between the pool walls themselves and the protective fence or barrier wall, so the barrier cannot simply hug the coping on all sides. Because the barrier approval runs through the Director rather than a fixed universal height or self-closing-gate spec printed in this section, pool permits are reviewed case by case against these standards; a homeowner installing an in-ground or above-ground pool applies through Inspections and Code Enforcement, which checks the setback, the barrier, and the walk-space clearance together before signing off.

Pools that fail to maintain the required barrier or the three-foot service walkway are treated as noncompliant accessory structures under the same article that governs temporary buildings and utility screening for the same zoning districts.