Fire and water—in strict succession. That’s what the Prescott Common Council covered in essence with its discussion of an open burning ordinance sent back to committee Monday, Feb. 11 followed with the first reading of the pool ordinance, due to become law soon, currently pending another reading and enactment. First up, fire!

“We borrowed that from the Mendota Heights ordinance,” Alderman Tom Oss said of the proposed amendments to the City of Prescott “Open Burning” law, ultimately sent back to committee. The partial borrowing from Mendota Heights had to do with subsections 7 through 12 of 2(B) for the ordinance, in which additional stipulations were put on fires within the City’s municipal limits. Specifically, being proposed Monday were the following additions: “(7) Fires shall be permitted for 3 hours maximum to 12:00 p.m. and shall be completely extinguished at completion of activity or 11:00 p.m., whichever comes first.

(8) Only clean dry wood may be burned.

(9) Fires must be supervised at all times by competent per- sons 16+ years old until extinguished.

(10) Only commercial charcoal lighter fluid can be used for starting fire.

(11) Means to extinguish fire must be readily available, i.e. garden hose, water-filled containers.

(12) No fire in winds over 15 miles an hour.”

The proposed additions, which again were ultimately sent back to committee, were the subject of much discussion at the Monday’s Prescott Common Council meeting.

“I have a question,” Alderman Rob Daugherty said. “Where did we come up with the three-hour maximum?”

“We borrowed that from the Mendota Heights ordinance,” Oss replied.

“So on hours of limited daylight, let’s say they wanted to have a fire at five o’clock. Then they could only have it until eight?” Daugherty wanted to know.

“Correct,” Oss said.

“How are we going to monitor that?” Daugherty asked. City Administrator Jayne Brand said that enforcement of the open burning ordinance would be “complaint-based.” Alderwoman Maureen Otwell, meanwhile, had a question of her own. “Does this apply to smokers as well?” she asked of smoldering fires. “Because smokers are often much longer.”

“Right,” she was answered in turn. “An open fire is an open fire. That’s how I see it.” That wasn’t all though. Given that wood is rather porous by nature, just what constitutes ‘dry?’ “Just this dry wood,” one person said. “I mean what percentage. 16 percent? 14? 12? I support leaving the ordinance, as it is. And that's all I have.” As such it was back to committee for open burning, and on to some water for cooling things down—that is, the pool ordinance. Pending a second reading and enactment, in-ground pool construction will require a building permit, with an annual permit required “except for exempt pools.”

“Exempt pools,” meanwhile, are defined in the ordinance as “storable children’s swimming or wading pools with a maximum dimension of 15 feet and a maximum wall height of 15 inches and which are so constructed that it may be readily disassembled for storage and reassembled to its original integrity.” So what constitutes a “swimming pool” outside of this as such? The ordinance outlines this as well.

A “swimming pool,” the ordinance says, “is a body of water or an outdoor structure containing a body of water in a receptacle or other container having a depth for water at any point greater than 15 inches located above or below the surface of ground elevation,” it is made known. Furthermore, “The term includes all structural facilities, appliances and appurtenances, equipment and other items used and intended to be used for the operation and maintenance of a private or residential swimming pool.” Barring the exempt (see above), all such common “swimming pools” so-defined will require a fence, defined as having a four-foot-high fence with no openings larger than three inches square (other than doors or gates). But lest you be worried that Lake St. Croix is about to be closed off from use sans permit, you needn’t worry. As a body of water with a permanent dirt bottom, it wouldn’t qualify.

“All swimming pools of a permanent nature shall have the sides and bottom of a smooth finish, and no sand or dirt bottom shall be permitted,” the ordinance states, in which case, and notwithstanding fluctuating river water levels the beach may be just as good and considerably cheaper—if less residence- based.