New Berlin, WI Swimming Pools & Spas: Pool Permits (2026)

Section 238-5 of the New Berlin Code of Ordinances requires the property owner to obtain a building, plumbing, and electrical permit from the Chief Building Inspector before installing an in-ground pool, with the fee set by the Common Council rather than fixed in the code text itself. Section 238-6 spells out what the application must contain. It has to be filed by the landowner at the Chief Building Inspector's office and include the pool's proposed address, a description of the land, the construction material planned for the pool, its size, and the type and height of fence proposed for the pool or the surrounding property.

The application must also come with a plat plan drawn to scale showing every existing building on the premises, the pool's distance to those buildings, its distance to the exterior lot line, its distance to the right-of-way line of any adjacent street or highway, and the location of any septic tank and filter bed, since § 238-9 separately requires pools to sit at least 15 feet from a seepage bed and five feet from a septic tank. Pool drainage and filter discharge must be dechlorinated and directed to roadside ditches, drainage easements, or storm sewers rather than onto a neighbor's property. The permit process was most recently updated by Ordinance No. 2711 on May 27, 2025.