San Jacinto, CA Swimming Pools & Spas: Fencing & Safety Requirements (2026)

Section 17.315.060(C) of the San Jacinto Municipal Code covers swimming pools in the chapter on fences, walls, and hedges. It requires a swimming pool, hot tub, spa, or the entire property on which any of these are located to be walled or fenced to prevent uncontrolled access, and it ties the standard to the California Building Code. The section itself prints no barrier height or gate hardware numbers, so the Building Code supplies them. The city also adopts the Uniform Swimming Pool, Spa and Hot Tub Code, 2024 Edition, with all appendices, tables, and indices, as the "Uniform Swimming Pool, Spa and Hot Tub Code of the City of San Jacinto" (§ 15.04.070).

The zoning code repeats the link. Under § 17.405.050(E)(3), residential swimming pools must have pool fencing that complies with the fence chapter, and pool lighting must be directed downward and illuminate only the pool and immediate seating area(s).

The ordinary fence rules still apply to the pool barrier. Section 17.315.080 requires plans to go to the Director, including a plot plan drawn to scale showing lot lines, public rights-of-way, driveways, and existing buildings, and a fence or wall can be installed only after a building permit is issued. Table 3-4 in § 17.315.020 caps front yard fences at 4 ft. in most zones and side or rear yard fences at 6-ft, or 8-ft in Industrial Zones. Gates in fences and walls are wrought iron, vinyl, or a similar material acceptable to the Director, and only pedestrian gates three feet wide are permitted on the street side return area of corner lots (§ 17.315.070(A)(3)). Barbed wire, razor wire and electrified fencing are among the prohibited materials.