Pool builders in Fontana-on-Geneva Lake, WI

Pool builders in Fontana, WI.

Pool projects for Fontana, at the west end of Geneva Lake - shoreline parcels, established resort-era lots, and the permitting that comes with building near the water.

Fontana-on-Geneva Lake occupies the western end of the lake, and it carries a mix of housing stock that is unusual even for this shoreline: resort-era properties, later infill, and a good number of homes that have been substantially rebuilt on their original footprint. Pools here span the same range, which is why so much of the work is remodelling rather than new construction.

For lakeside parcels the shoreland rules govern, as they do along the north shore at Williams Bay. The shore yard - 75 feet from the ordinary high water mark - excludes swimming pools, and the 35 feet closest to the water is additionally a no-touch buffer where vegetation removal is prohibited apart from a view and access corridor limited to 35 percent of the frontage. Owners planning a pool with a lake view need to understand that the view is protected by rules about what may be cleared, not just by where the pool sits.

Away from the immediate shoreline, Fontana lots behave much like any inland parcel and the constraints become ordinary ones: access, spoil, drainage and the village permit. The dividing line is not obvious from a street address, which is why the first thing worth establishing is whether a given parcel is inside the shoreland at all - anything within 1,000 feet of the lake is, for land disturbance purposes. The shoreland section of our pool planning guide puts that question ahead of any drawing.

Older pools here frequently reach the remodel-or-replace question at the same time as the deck around them, and it is generally cheaper to answer both at once than to renew a deck over a structure that is about to be rebuilt.