West Jordan, UT Swimming Pools & Spas: Fencing & Safety Requirements (2026)

Section 13-8-16 of the West Jordan City Code governs swimming pools of permanent construction that are not enclosed within a building, and it expressly reaches above-ground pools once they hold three feet of water or more, closing off the common workaround of treating a soft-sided above-ground pool as exempt from fencing rules. Two standards apply together. First, the pool must be set back at least five feet from every property line, measured to the water line rather than the pool's outer wall or deck. Second, the pool must be completely surrounded by a fence or wall at least six feet in height, with no openings in the fence larger than thirty-six square inches, a mesh-size limit meant to keep a small child from squeezing through the barrier.

Gates in that fence are singled out for their own hardware requirement: every gate must be equipped with both a self-closing device and a self-latching device, so the barrier closes and locks itself even if a homeowner forgets to secure it by hand. The section does not carve out an exception for pools enclosed by a home's existing yard fence unless that fence itself meets the six-foot height, opening-size, and self-closing gate standards; a four-foot property-line fence common in many West Jordan subdivisions does not, by itself, satisfy section 13-8-16 for a backyard pool.

The rule sits inside chapter 8 of title 13, the citywide land development standards chapter that applies in every zoning district regardless of the underlying zone, so the five-foot setback and six-foot fence apply the same way on an R-1 lot as they do in a planned residential development.