On Monday night the Shawnee City Council will debate whether to change regulations for homeowners hoping to build swimming pools on their properties.
Right now current city code calls for a four-foot fence around pools, or a pool cover that complies with national safety guidelines. However, this code doesn't comply with the International Building Code. International Building Code calls for all pools to have fences at least six feet tall, regardless of what kind of pool cover the owner has.
READ: See what's on Monday's agenda
41 Action News spoke with Councilman Eric Jenkins, who owns a private pool and is installing a six-foot fence. He said the fence will give him peace of mind knowing kids won't accidentally wander into his backyard.
"How safe do you want to be?" asked Jenkins. "It kind of gets into that category and I'd like to err on the side of safety than everything is going to be OK because we have this pool cover."
Not all council members agree with Jenkins. Some believe it should be up to the homeowner to decide what kind of fence to install.
It's also important to note that current homeowners will not be impacted by this rule change. It would only affect people installing pools in the future.
They will debate this issue at the council meeting on Monday, Feb. 22 at 7:30 p.m.
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Terra Hall can be reached at terra.hall@kshb.com.
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