...
...Building inspectors for Rome and Floyd County plan to beef up enforcement of a state law requiring 4-foot-tall fences around private swimming pools.
“You’re not going to keep a teenager out without a 10-foot fence, but you are going to keep a toddler out,” Chief Building Official Howard Gibson said.
Gibson cited recent child deaths when he sought support for the crackdown Wednesday from city and county commissioners serving on the Joint Development Oversight Committee.
Click here to see a PDF of the state law governing pools and spas.
Since May, backyard pools in Floyd County have claimed the lives of a 2-year-old girl, a 3-year-old boy and a 22-month-old girl.
The committee backed Gibson’s plan to start requiring separate fence permits along with pool permits, as a way to track compliance.
“We’ll initiate that within the next two to three days,&#
County Manager Kevin Poe said some wells in the southwest and northwest parts of the county are drying up because of the drought. |
0148; he said.
Inspectors also will respond to complaints about existing pools as part of a code enforcement initiative.
The Development Over- sight Committee meets monthly for updates from the planning, environmental and building inspection departments.
Water level concerns
Eric Lindberg, director of environmental services, said the Joel Sulzbacher Roman Holiday riverboat is undergoing a U.S. Coast Guard inspection in Florida this week and will be delivered “any day now.”
Low river levels, however, have officials mulling a delay in launching the publicly owned tour boat. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea to put it in right now,” Rome Commissioner Wright Bagby Jr. said.
The boat will likely remain for some time on the trailer that will haul it from Florida, although Lindberg said he has taken reservations for trips in October.
Officials also spent some time discussing effects of the ongoing drought.
Lindberg said residents of a Radio Springs Road neighborhood complained their stream had been diverted, but his investigation showed a lack of rain caused the small waterway to dry up.
Some wells are going dry in the southwest and northwest parts of the county as the water table sinks, County Manager Kevin Poe said.
Lindberg is planning an educational campaign to show residents how local water resources are intertwined.
“We just need to be good neighbors,” he said. “Know that when you draw from a well or fill up a pond, it can affect a stream.”
City Manager John Bennett noted the county has more water than many areas of the state, but he said it becomes less accessible in a drought.
.jpg)