Sacramento City Critical Of Woman's Front Yard Oasis

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) -- A Sacramento homeowner is making a splash with her brand new pool. City planners approved the pool, but now they say there's a problem.

"The tile here is from Japan. It's called Fujiwa," said Nance Curry-Singleton.

As she shows us the touches that make up the "wow factor" of her front yard oasis, architectural design expert Curry-Singleton glows with pride.

"I mean, it's gorgeous," she said.

No argument here. There's a pool, fountains and even a kitchen.

"Oh, and we can't forget the blender for margaritas," she said.

This was no inexpensive renovation:

"This is over $100,000," she said, referring to the pool.

It's money well spent, she believes, and her neighbors love it.

"It is a little unusual, but she has a wall around it so I don't see it," said a neighbor.

"I think it looks real nice. I have no problem with it at all," said a neighbor.

But city code enforcement does have a problem; not with the pool in the front yard concept, but with the amount of concrete around it.

"Typically speaking, we allow 40 percent of that area to be paved with impervious surfaces. In this incident, the applicant paved more than that 40 percent of the front yard set back area," said Sacramento City Planning Department spokesman Greg Bitter.

"He says to me, 'well you're gonna have to knock all of this out and plant grass or whatever,' and I said, 'you're kidding me?'" said Curry-Singleton.

"It is unusual for this to happen," said Bitter.

But it may not have to happen. Curry-Singleton is appealing to the city's planning commission. She points out she's already paid a $3,000 variance and made a number of changes.

"You have to meet me halfway on this," said Curry-Singleton.

The pool design was approved and Curry-Singleton feels someone dropped the ball when they didn't immediately challenge her pool deck design – a pool that's making a splash tonight in more ways than one.