Lawton, OK Swimming Pools & Spas: Fencing & Safety Requirements (2026)

Section 6-1-5-183 defines a regulated swimming pool broadly: any manmade body of water at least one foot deep, or intended for wading or swimming, that is not supervised by city authorities. That sweeps in permanent in-ground pools as well as many above-ground and inflatable pools deep enough to meet the one-foot threshold. Once a property has such a pool, the owner, contract purchaser, lessee, tenant, or licensee in possession of the land must maintain, at all times, a fence or other solid structure enclosing either the entire premises or just the pool itself.

The barrier must stand at least four feet tall and cannot have any opening, other than a secured door or gate, large enough to pass a four-inch-diameter sphere, a standard meant to keep a small child from squeezing through a gap in the enclosure. Every gate or door in that enclosure must stay securely closed whenever the pool is not in actual use, and the code goes further than a simple latch requirement: each gate or door must carry a self-closing and self-latching device engineered to keep the opening shut automatically.

The duty runs continuously, at all times, so an enclosure that is technically installed but left propped open, or fitted with a broken latch, does not satisfy the section. The ordinance was added by Ordinance No. 13-28, Section 7, adopted August 27, 2013, and sits in the miscellaneous regulations division alongside the city's barbed-wire and lighting standards rather than in a separate swimming-pool construction code.