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

58(2)(h) of the zoning code opens with the baseline rule: private swimming pools are accessory uses, and they are permitted only upon the issuance of a building permit. Beyond the permit itself, the section lays out siting standards a homeowner has to meet. No private pool, including the areaway that surrounds it, may sit closer than ten feet to any lot line, and the pool plus any other accessory structures on the property cannot cover more than fifty percent of the rear yard area. Electrical safety is built into the same subsection: a pool cannot be built directly under or over electric lines, and it has to stay at least five feet from underground lines or ten feet from overhead lines, with every electrical connection complying with applicable local and state electrical codes.

Equipment such as pumps, filters and heaters must be housed and muffled so as not to create a nuisance and kept at least twenty feet from a lot line, and the code requires an unobstructed areaway of at least three feet around the pool itself. Drainage is regulated too: pool water cannot be discharged onto a neighbor's property, into the sanitary sewer, or directly into a navigable waterway without the affected owner's written consent. All of this applies alongside, not instead of, the separate fencing and gate-lock requirements the same subsection imposes.