City councillor once saved toddler from drowning and now wants more pool fencing
Samantha Craggs | CBC News | Posted: April 14, 2016 9:44 AM | Last Updated: April 14, 2016
City getting public input on tougher pool fencing rules after pool industry opposes changes
Maria Pearson has as good a reason as any for staunchly defending changes to Hamilton's pool enclosure bylaw.
Twenty-eight years ago, the Stoney Creek councillor jumped into her own backyard pool and saved a three-year-old girl from drowning.
Pearson was mom to a toddler. She had an above-ground pool, and her daughter knew to stand back against the wall until Pearson had removed the solar blanket.
I'll tell you, that's a moving moment. It can happen in a split second. - Maria Pearson, Ward 10 councillor
But the other little girl – a neighbour Pearson was babysitting – "walked right out onto the blanket and went down, under the blanket," Pearson said. In that heart-stopping instant, Pearson didn't think. She just plunged into the water.
"I'll tell you, that's a moving moment," she said. "It can happen in a split second."
Pool safety is a hot issue at city hall lately as councillors ponder changing Hamilton's pool enclosure bylaw. The changes have met with resistance from the pool industry and at least one councillor said he had received hundreds of emails about it from residents.
Under the proposed changes, water structures at least half a metre (two feet) deep would require a four-sided fence around them, with a latched gate and fence material that allows visibility. Right now, pools require so-called property fencing, and pools can be attached to a home or deck. City staff argue that doesn't stop a child from walking out of the house and into the pool.
The pool industry has responded. City council received a dozen letters at Wednesday's council meeting, most from people who sell pools and argue that education is more effective than a so-called "double fencing" law.
Council put off ratifying the changes to the bylaw. Instead, the city will invite public feedback at a May 4 general issues committee meeting and decide then.
It all comes down to safety being No. 1, and we believe this is going to cause more problems. - Dana Simpson, The Pool Shoppe
Dana Simpson will be there. She's general manager of The Pool Shoppe, a 44-year-old family business on Hamilton Mountain. At peak season, the shop employs 72 people.
Lots are getting smaller and smaller, she said, which means customers are putting pools in increasingly smaller yards. So the "double fencing" law – a fence around the backyard, then a four-sided fence around the pool – makes it more difficult for them.
"It may actually prevent someone from getting a pool," she said.
But Simpson says even more, education, not tighter fencing laws, are the answer to water safety. With the new law, parents will have "a false sense of security" when their kids are in the yard, and may not have properly educated their kids on pool safety.
"It all comes down to safety being No. 1," she said, "and we believe this is going to cause more problems."
Kids can still get past a gate or fencing, Simpson said. But if parents are relying on the fencing, they may not have been as vigilant about educating or checking on the kids.
Pearson, who represents Ward 10, is undeterred. The main protestors seem to be the pool industry, she said.
Pearson nearly drowned herself once. The girl she saved is now 31, and "she hasn't gone near a body of water since."
With both experiences, Pearson said, "you realize how fast it can happen."
"If it saves one life, it saves one life."