Swimming pools owned by homeowners

associations, apartments and country clubs will be regulated under new

guidelines approved by the Fayette County Commission last week.

Fayette's new regulations go

a step further than state rules that go into effect in December. The state's

regulations affect only pools that are open to the general public.

"We feel this would be

a much more effective ordinance for our community than what the state

is going to implement Dec. 31," said Rick Fehr, the county Health

Department's environmental health director.

State regulations were developed

in response to a death last year from bacteria contracted from a leaking

diaper in a public swimming pool in Marietta. But the so-called "Michelle's

Law" doesn't go far enough, said Fayette Commissioner Linda Wells.

"I felt that it was very

important for our citizens to be protected whereever they swam,"

she said.

The county's law requires that

pool owners have approved plans in place for preventing disease transmission

and be inspected annually. It provides for a $300 fee for review of the

plan and an annual $100 inspection fee.

Standards for pool construction,

maintenance and operation also are included.

Pools owned by individual homeowners

are not regulated by the ordinance.

Commissioners also adopted

a new set of regulations designed to reduce the amount of concrete covering

Fayette County land.

The rules "encourage"

developers to use alternative paving methods that allow rainwater to seep

into the ground.

Plans are to eventually require

alternative paving in some circumstances, but those requirements will

need to mesh with new federal regulations that are still "in a state

of flux" according to county officials.

"I wish it had come to

us with more teeth," said Commissioner Glen Gosa, who has been the

commission's most active environmental advocate. "But I understand

th e apprehension at this stage."