The Florida Building Commission has begun the second and final public comment period for the upcoming edition of the state’s building code.
Proposed changes for the 2023 edition would allow swim-up bars on commercial pools, require automated ORP and pH controls on commercial pools, and further refine the minimum pool-size requirements on properties in the Hotel-Motel-Apartment-Condominium space.
Regarding the latter, proposed changes would require that pools include so many square feet of surface area and generate a minimum flow rate based on the number of units on the property. This addresses something of a loophole in the current edition, which relies partially on water volume, thereby allowing pools with less square footage if they are deeper.
“[The proposed change] allows for the flexibility that the [last] code was trying to get at, but alleviates some of the concerns about really small pools,” said Dallas Thiesen, senior director of government affairs for the Florida Swimming Pool Association.
The public comment period remains open until Friday, Aug. 26.
