ADA Shop Talk Episode 036 – Remove carpet due to allergies?…, Path of Travel Obligation, Seismic Retrofit., Vertical Dimension of a Parking Stall 11A or 11B?

Questions answered this episode:

Frank – Our down town businesses do not have parking facilities but are adjacent to a few city owned parking lots. The parking lots are located across an alley behind the business. Some of these businesses have an entrance at the rear as well. The question is, does the city have an obligation to provide paths of travel from the parking lot to each rear entrance of the businesses or is an accessible path of travel required only to the public side walk that eventually will lead to the front entrances of the buildings? If a path of travel to the rear entrances is required, who would responsible to provide it, the City or the owner of the business. Thank you and I’m looking forward to seeing you in Ontario this coming September.

A Sanchez – City Police station needs a seismic retrofit. This will only involve structural reinforcement, shear wall, pads, beams. There are no improvements to the office. Is there an exemption for accessibility upgrades for seismic reinforcement only? Thank you

David -It is back-to-school time at our university and as usual, the accommodation requests start coming in. The latest one that has come across my desk is in regards to a student with allergy issues. This student has requested that the carpet be removed from their dorm room due to their allergies. In your opinion, is this an impairment that is covered by the ADA (BTW: we are in California)? Does the student need to provide some verification of the need? If we do need to address it, how far do you believe we would need to go to accommodate this student? If we remove carpet in a dorm room, what precludes us from having to remove carpet from other areas this student frequents (classrooms, dormitory family rooms, etc.) And then does this open us up to dealing with window coverings, upholstered furniture, etc?

Jose – In 11A 1109.A.8.1 Vertical Clearance is 8 feet 2 inches, which is 98 inches in vehicular passageways in the same parking level. In 11B-503.5 The Vertical clearance is 114 inches, which is 9 feet 6 inches, my question which vertical dimension will apply when applying the code in a Commercial Building parking establishment.?

We are excited to announce that Paul Klein & Mark Wood have been asked to be part of the Building Officials panel for the CASI Accessibility Codes and Standards Summit October 19th & 20th 2017 at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco.

Please join us for a special two-day event designed for expert-level CASp and building officials, architects and inspectors, to learn Accessibility Codes and Standards. Take advantage of this rare opportunity to obtain information directly from National Level (ADA specific) and California (CBC-specific) industry experts. You can register and obtain more information here.