Lauderhill, FL Swimming Pools & Spas: Pool Permits (2026)

The City of Lauderhill's Land Development Regulations, Section 5.40, governs commercial and private swimming pools built as a residential accessory use. Under Section 5.40.1, a development order or building permit is required for all new residential accessory pool construction completed after August 26, 2002, and for any other new swimming pool built after March 27, 1995. The same permit requirement extends to later improvements or repairs affecting the pool, the pool terrace, the pool barrier or enclosure, pool accessories, or a pool clubhouse. Pools that received their development order before those dates were not grandfathered indefinitely: Section 5.40.1 required the property to be brought into compliance with the Land Development Regulations within eighteen months of adoption, by February 26, 2003.

Section 5.40.2 defines a swimming pool broadly to include any in-ground, above-ground, or on-ground structure holding water over 24 inches deep, plus hot tubs and nonportable spas, so above-ground pools and large spas trigger the same permitting duty as an in-ground pool. Once permitted, the pool must also meet the setback standards in Section 5.40.5, twenty-five feet from a front lot line and five feet from rear and side lot lines for a screened enclosure, the drainage rule in Section 5.40.6 barring pool water or backflush from draining onto neighboring property, and the barrier standards in Section 5.40.4.

The Planning and Zoning Division and Building Division review and issue the development order and permit; the Code Enforcement Board handles violations after a permit or a barrier standard is not honored.