Abington, PA Swimming Pools & Spas: Pool Permits (2026)

Abington Township's swimming pool ordinance, Chapter 149 of the Township Code, was adopted in 1957 and its permit section was last amended March 11, 1976 by Ordinance No. 1420. Section 149-1 covers any bathing place, swimming pool, artificial body of water, or excavation where water can collect more than two feet deep, so long as it sits within 300 feet of a property line of the lot where it will be built. Before construction starts, the owner must secure a building permit from the Building Inspector of Abington Township.

The permit fee runs $10 per 100 square feet or fraction thereof for every aboveground pool, and $25 plus $10 per $1,000 or fraction thereof of the contract price for every in-ground pool, so a $15,000 in-ground pool contract carries a $175 permit fee. The application itself must go beyond a simple form: the applicant has to submit plans, drawings or other data the Building Inspector requires to satisfactorily show how the pool will be fenced and latched and how it will be emptied, tying the permit review directly to the fencing standard in the next section and to drainage.

Because the permit section reaches any excavation capable of holding water over two feet deep, small decorative ponds under that depth fall outside it, but a standard residential in-ground or aboveground pool does not. The Building Inspector administers the chapter, and the code's general references note the pool rules sit alongside the Township's building construction, drainage, plumbing, sewer and water chapters, which a builder may also need to satisfy before the pool permit is issued.