Tamarac, FL Swimming Pools & Spas: Fencing & Safety Requirements (2026)

Sec. 5-148 spells out the physical standard a Tamarac pool barrier must meet before the building inspector will sign off on final approval. The barrier "shall take the form of a screened-in patio, a wooden fence, a wire fence, a rock wall, concrete block wall or other materials," chosen to match the architecture of the property, but a wooden fence's boards, pickets or louvers must be spaced and built "so as to make the fence nonclimbable and impenetrable," and rock or block walls must likewise be nonclimbable.

The minimum height is four feet, and the barrier must enclose either the pool itself or the entire premises on which the pool sits, so that the enclosed area entirely prohibits unrestrained admittance. Every gate in the barrier must carry a safety lock and closing mechanism operable only from inside the enclosure, preventing a small child outside from opening it. Sec. 5-147 ties this directly to permitting: the city will not issue a pool construction permit unless a permit for the safety barrier is obtained at the same time, and if the yard is already enclosed, the barrier permit requirement is waived only if a building inspector examines the existing fence and finds it satisfactory.

Sec. 5-148(b) does allow the board of adjustment to modify the height, form or general construction of a barrier or its gates in individual future cases, but only on a showing of good cause and necessity, not as a matter of routine variance. These barrier rules exist specifically to prevent unsupervised access to backyard pools, particularly by young children, and they apply regardless of whether the pool is in-ground or above-ground once it meets the article's Sec. 5-146 definition.