This thread is a day old and so far the majority make an excuse for not taking action. Swimming pools are dangerous always. The codes, if correctly applied, mitigate some of the danger but certainly not all of it. The premise that an existing pool can be replaced and not tow the line with all available code is just wrong.
The people making the excuses will say, "It's not my decision." ... "I don't agree but my hands are tied."
To you I say: Write the correction. Let the recipient appeal. You readily admit that it is the right thing to do. Be on record for trying to do the right thing. You will be surprised at how many people would be too embarrassed to argue in favor of a dangerous swimming pool. If you do it often enough, perhaps the people that are in charge will see the light.
I have the experience to back this up. I always wrote a correction to install GFCI protection on swimming pool equipment circuits when a service panel was replaced. Countless electricians complained. The argument was that the existing circuit didn't have GFCI protection so I can't force them to install GFCI now. They bolstered their position with the fact that no work was done to the pool. I was singled out as a rogue inspector. That had merit.
I just didn't give a damn. I said screw you...put it in or I'll never approve it. Some went over my head... the person over me was loathe to override me when it comes to pool safety. I finally set it in stone. I can tell you that an easy way to end the bitching is to suggest that we ask the owner what they think about getting electrocuted on a hot Sunday afternoon.
So my point is that you are the final arbiter of what is safe. You can lay the blame on the State or a supervisor but in your heart you know better.
For all of my years with LA County I wrote pool barrier corrections every time I found an issue. It didn't matter why I was there. Could be a re-roof, a water heater, a furnace....it was the same result. For the first twenty years, that was County policy.... Then the managers grew weary and soft. The department morphed into a public relations whore.