28 CFR Part 36 Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability by Public Accommodations and in Commercial Facilities NPRM: Preamble (2008 Title III NPRM Preamble)

Fishing piers and platforms. (Section-by-Section Analysis)

Sections 206.2.14 and 237 of the 2004 ADAAG require at least twenty-five percent (25%) of railings at fishing piers and platforms to be no higher than 34 inches high, so that a person seated in a wheelchair can fish over the railing, to be dispersed along the pier or platform, and to be on an accessible route.  (An exception permits railings to comply instead with the model codes, which permit railings to be 42 inches high.)  If gangways (where only one end of route is attached to land) and floating piers (where neither end is attached to land) are involved, a number of exceptions are provided from the general standards for accessible routes in order to take into account the difficulty of meeting accessibility slope requirements due to fluctuations in water level.  In existing facilities, moreover, gangways need not be lengthened to meet the requirement (except, in an alteration, as may be required by the path of travel requirement).

Question 44:  The Department is interested in collecting data regarding the impact of this requirement on existing facilities.  Are there issues (e.g., space limitations) that would make it difficult to provide an accessible route to existing fishing piers and platforms?