Passaic, NJ Swimming Pools & Spas: Fencing & Safety Requirements (2026)

Chapter 143, Floodplain Management Regulations, is the only place in the Code of the City of Passaic that speaks to pool enclosure fencing by name. Section 143-15D requires that fences located within a designated floodway have openings large enough to pass debris and floodwater, barbed-wire, split-rail or strand-style fencing qualifies, while chain-link, lattice or picket fencing with little open area does not. The section then addresses the conflict pool owners actually run into: a fence built around a pool to satisfy the Uniform Construction Code's requirement to limit climbing will often have small, tight openings that fail the floodway permeability test.

Where that happens, Section 143-15D requires the owner to obtain a variance under Section 143-7 rather than defaulting to one rule or the other. Variance applications go to the City of Passaic Zoning Board of Adjustment, which under Section 143-7's hardship definition requires a showing that is exceptional, unusual and peculiar to the property, ordinary cost or inconvenience does not qualify. Foundations for any fence over six feet also have to conform to the Uniform Construction Code regardless of location. The City Engineer serves as the Floodplain Administrator under Section 143-3 and coordinates with the Construction Official on enforcement of these flood provisions.

Outside a mapped floodway, Passaic has not enacted a separate municipal pool-barrier ordinance; the statewide Uniform Construction Code, enforced locally through the Division of Code Enforcement under Chapter 107, sets the self-closing-gate and barrier-height requirements for every residential pool citywide.