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Comments from the City's Building Official, Paul Palzer: <br /> The requirement for fences around pools came from the State Building code. Many of the code <br /> requirements are designed to protect occupants, especially children under 12. A quick stat is that <br /> drowning is the second leading cause of death for children under 15 in the US. It is the number one <br /> cause of unintentional deaths of children ages 1-4. More than half of the deaths occur in backyard <br /> pools or spas that do not have proper pool fencing or pool covers. The majority of drowning incidents <br /> have occurred while the child's supervisor assumed the child was safely indoors. The fence <br /> requirements is for the pool not the current resident that resides at the location for the next owners <br /> will surely be a family with children or grandchildren and a new pool owner may not be fully aware <br /> of the dangers a pool can present for his children or neighbor children. A proper pool fence with a <br /> self-closing, self-latching gate is akin to seatbelts in a vehicle. I recommend the website <br /> poolsafety.gov run by the US Consumer Protection Department for informational reading. A proper <br /> pool fence works 24/7, a pool cover only works when the owner remembers to close it and insures <br /> that the material has not lost its integrity. <br /> I reviewed major cities in the southern US who have many more pools than in Minnesota and <br /> all require pool fencing and many are more restrictive than Centerville's requirements. Let me know <br /> if you need more information. <br />