36 CFR Parts 1190 and 1191 ADA and ABA Accessibility Guidelines - Preamble (Discussion of Comments and Changes)

Incorporation of Guidelines for Play Areas and Recreation Facilities

In separate rulemakings, the Board developed supplements to ADAAG covering play areas and recreation facilities. These supplemental guidelines, developed independently from this rulemaking, were finalized after the Board published the proposed rule.

On October 18, 2000, the Board issued final guidelines for play areas.¹² The guidelines are one of the first of their kind in providing a comprehensive set of criteria for access to play areas. They cover the number of play components required to be accessible, accessible surfacing in play areas, ramp access and transfer system access to elevated structures, and access to soft contained play structures. The guidelines address play areas provided at schools, parks, child care facilities (except those based in the operator’s home, which are exempt), and other facilities subject to the ADA. The Board developed the guidelines through regulatory negotiation, a supplement to the traditional rulemaking process that allows face-to-face negotiations among representatives of affected interests in order to achieve consensus on the text of a proposed rule. The regulatory negotiation committee represented a variety of interests, including play equipment manufacturers, landscape architects, parks and recreation facilities, city and county governments, child care operators, and people with disabilities. The committee submitted a report to the Board upon which the guidelines are based. The Board published the guidelines in proposed form for public comment in April 1998 and finalized them according to its review and analysis of the comments it received.

On September 3, 2002, the Board finalized guidelines that address access to a variety of recreation facilities covered by the ADA, including amusement rides, boating facilities, fishing piers and platforms, golf courses, miniature golf, sports facilities, and swimming pools and spas.¹³ The requirements are largely based on recommendations prepared by the Recreation Access Advisory Committee, which the Board had established for this purpose. These recommendations are contained in a report, "Recommendations for Accessibility Guidelines: Recreational Facilities and Outdoor Developed Areas," which the Board had made widely available as a source of guidance pending the development of guidelines. The Board published the guidelines in proposed form in July 1999, and made them available for public comment for six months. During the comment period, the Board held public hearings on the proposed guidelines in Dallas, TX and Boston, MA. In an effort to provide the public with an additional opportunity for input on the rule before it was finalized, the Board published a summary of changes it intended to make to the guidelines. This summary was published on July 21, 2000, and was made available for public comment for two months. During the comment period, the Board held informational meetings on the summary in Washington, DC and San Francisco, CA. Approximately 70 comments on the summary were received.

The Board issued a notice on September 3, 2002, making the final guidelines issued for play areas and recreation facilities applicable to federally funded facilities covered by the ABA.¹⁴ No comments were received in response to the notice.

The Board has integrated the guidelines for play areas and those for recreation facilities into this final rule. Referenced standards and definitions have been added to Chapter 1 (sections 105 and 106), scoping provisions have been incorporated into Chapter 2 (sections 234 through 243), and technical provisions are provided in Chapter 6 (Plumbing Elements and Facilities) and Chapter 10 (Recreation Facilities and Play Areas). In addition, various provisions and exceptions have been integrated into existing scoping provisions in Chapter 2 (sections 203 through 206, 210, 216, and 221) and technical provisions in Chapter 3 (section 302 and 303). These criteria have been editorially revised to fit into the new structure and format of the revised ADA and ABA accessibility guidelines. No substantive revisions have been made in incorporating them into this final rule. While the Board has otherwise sought to avoid technical chapters that are based solely on an occupancy type, it has located the technical provisions of the play areas and recreation facilities guidelines into a separate chapter. Since these guidelines are new and comprehensive in their coverage of a variety of distinct facility types, the Board felt that users could more readily familiarize themselves with the requirements if they remained localized in a separate chapter.