Do I need a permit for swimming pool or spa in Marietta?

Yes. In Georgia, swimming pool or spa generally requires a permit, and Marietta is no exception.

In-ground and most permanent pools and spas require a building permit plus electrical inspection in Georgia, along with a code-compliant safety barrier before final approval. Setbacks are measured to the pool and decking, so confirm side and rear yard requirements before excavation. Cobb County's own permitting office is the Cobb County Development and Inspections, reachable on 770-528-1000 at https://www.cobbcounty.gov/community-development/building-development/permitting. Its online permit portal is https://cobbca.cobbcounty.gov/CitizenAccess/default.aspx. It issues permits for the unincorporated county. If your city does not run its own building department, and many smaller Georgia municipalities do not, this is the office that will handle the job. Cobb County sits inside the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District, created by the Georgia General Assembly in 2001. Every local government in the District, cities included, has to adopt the District's model post-construction stormwater ordinance or an equivalent one at least as effective, so these rules follow you into any city in the county rather than stopping at the unincorporated line. A pool plus its decking adds a meaningful area of impervious surface, and the excavation itself is soil disturbance, so a large pool project is the residential job most likely to attract stormwater or erosion control conditions. In practice the thresholds are aimed at larger development rather than ordinary homeowner work, so most single-family projects sit below them. Cobb County, for example, publishes its trigger as adding more than 5,000 square feet of impervious surface or disturbing more than an acre. Each local government sets its own figures, so check yours before assuming. Where it does apply, the current standard is to retain the first 1.0 inch of rainfall on the site to the maximum extent practicable, which usually means a detention or infiltration feature rather than just grading water to the street. Marietta's pool guidelines require a 10 foot setback from side and rear property lines for pools and pool structures, and no pool may sit on a drainage or sewer easement. HOA or Cobb County Environmental Health approval does not authorize construction. A City of Marietta pool permit must be on site first. The permanent pool fence and barriers must be inspected and approved before the pool is filled, and Zoning Ordinance 710.04(H) requires a fence at least 4 feet high with a self-closing, self-latching gate. Cabanas and equipment shelters need separate permits, and retaining walls not attached to the pool need separate permits, with engineered plans for walls over 4 feet measured from the base of the footing.