La Habra, CA Swimming Pools & Spas: Fencing & Safety Requirements (2026)

Section 15.05.020 amends CRC Appendix CI, Section 115922, to require that when a building permit is issued for a new or remodeled swimming pool or spa at a private single-family home, the pool or spa be equipped with an isolating enclosure plus at least one of seven other drowning-prevention features listed in Section 115922(a), such as approved safety pool covers, self-closing and self-latching exit alarms, or door alarms on the residence. The amended item #1 requires the enclosure itself to meet Section 115923 and to isolate the pool or spa from the private single-family home; any wall of the residence or an accessory structure used to complete that isolation enclosure must have door openings equipped with the self-closing and self-latching protection described in Section 115922(a) items #4 or #5, and a door protection device used to satisfy the enclosure requirement cannot be counted again toward the separate second drowning-prevention feature.

La Habra Municipal Code Section 15.04.020 separately amends CBC Section 3109.2, the statewide California Swimming Pool Safety Act provision, to state that new or remodeled pools or spas at private single-family homes must have an enclosure complying with this amended CRC Appendix CI. Both amendments were adopted by Ordinance CC 2025-12 on November 3, 2025, repealing the prior Ordinance 1848 version of the residential code chapter. A prefabricated above-ground pool under 18 inches deep and 5,000 gallons at a Group R-3 single-family home is exempt from the building permit itself under amended CBC Section 105.2, but the enclosure and drowning-prevention rule still applies to any pool covered by the Pool Safety Act once a permit is pulled for construction or remodeling.