Sevier County, TN Swimming Pools & Spas: Fencing Requirements (2026)

Sevier County (which includes the gateway communities to Great Smoky Mountains National Park and is home to Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, and Sevierville) regulates swimming pool construction through the Building Inspections Department under the 2018 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code and 2018 International Residential Code, with amendments effective July 1, 2025 covering IBC/IFC provisions. Under ISPSC Section 305 and IRC Appendix AG (Section AG105), a residential pool barrier must be at least 48 inches high measured from the outside finished ground level; vertical clearance at grade may not exceed 2 inches; openings cannot allow passage of a 4-inch sphere; for fences with horizontal members spaced less than 45 inches apart, vertical spacing cannot exceed 1.75 inches. Pedestrian gates must be at least 48 inches tall, self-closing, self-latching, and open outward away from the pool, with the latch release at least 54 inches above the ground or, if lower, located on the pool side at least 3 inches below the top of the gate. Tennessee state law layers an additional alarm mandate on top of the barrier code: under Katie Beth's Law (TCA Sections 68-14-801 to 68-14-807), enacted in 2009 and named for 17-month-old Katie Beth Maynard who drowned in an aboveground pool, every swimming pool at a residential dwelling installed after January 1, 2011 must have a functioning pool alarm. TCA Section 68-14-805 prohibits a local government from issuing a building permit for the construction or substantial alteration of a residential pool unless the project calls for a pool alarm, and bars electrical-wiring approval at inspection unless an alarm system is included. Public, semi-public, hotel, motel, and apartment pools are regulated separately by Tennessee Department of Health rules at Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1200-23-05; private single-family residential pools are exempt from those rules under TCA Section 68-14-322. Sevier County permitting fees and inspections (footing, plumbing, electrical, final) are administered through the Building Inspections Department.