Condominiums and the FHA and ADA - Part I of 3

The word condominium is a funny word when it comes to the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), because the word condominium is not found in either documents.


Webster's New World Dictionary defines condominium as "one of the units in a multi-unit dwelling, each separately owned; also, the dwelling as a whole."  Let's go to the 2009 International Building Code (IBC) for greater definition and direction.  Building classification R-2 says: Residential permanent - apartments, dorms, live / work units, vacation time-share properties. 

IBC section 1107.6.2 Group R-2 say: Accessible units, Type A units and Type B units shall be provided in Group R-2 occupancies in accordance with Section 1107.6.2.1 and 1107.6.2.2.  We are getting closer.

IBC Section 1107.6.2.2 Group R-2 other than apartment houses, monasteries and convents says: In Group R-2 occupancies, other than apartment houses, monasteries and convents, accessible units and Type B units shall be provided in accordance with Sections 1107.6.2.2.1 and 1107.6.2.2.2.  We are almost there. 

IBC Section 1107.6.2.2.2 Type B units says: Where there are four or more dwelling units or sleeping units intended to be occupied as a residence in a single structure, every dwelling unit and every sleeping unit intended to be occupied as a residence shall be Type B unit.

That is the condominiums and where the jurisdiction is found for the private area (living area) of the condominium.  A condominium will have two kinds of spaces, private spaces as we have just discussed and common spaces which will be discussed in a later posting.

Let us know your thoughts and/or questions. You can post them here or on our FaceBook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Access-Technologies-Services-Inc/268659564730.  You can also contact us at hfalstad@accessts.net or call us at (702) 649-7575.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Hank


The above are opinions of Hank Falstad, AIA, Managing Senior Associate of Access Technologies Services, Inc. (ACCESS).  See our web site for additional information:  www.accessts.net.

Now We Get Real Technical...

The Fair Housing Act of 1968 and the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 covers housing built for first occupancy after March 13, 1991.  Housing are apartment and condominium buildings, not single family homes or row homes with three or less units in one building.  Housing will have public spaces and private spaces.  Public space are common use areas such as; rooms, spaces or elements inside or outside of building that are3 made available for the use of residents of a building or the guests thereof.  These areas include hallways, lounges, lobbies, laundry rooms, refuse rooms, mail rooms, recreational areas, and passageways among and between buildings.

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act of 23008 have no grandfathering and also covers public spaces.

TITLE 42 – THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE

CHAPTER 126 – EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES

            Sec. 1210.  Findings and purpose

(a)      Findings

The Congress finds that

(3) discrimination against individuals with disabilities persists in such critical areas as employment, housing, public accommodations, education, transportation, communication, recreation, institutionalization, health services, voting, and access to public services;

(5) individuals with disabilities continually encounter various forms of discrimination, including outright intentional exclusion, the discriminatory effects of architectural, transportation, and communication barriers, overprotective rules and policies, failure to make modifications to existing facilities and practices, exclusionary qualification standards and criteria, segregation, and relegation to lesser services, programs activities, benefits, jobs, or other opportunities;

It is the opinion of ACCESS, the Fair Housing Act "first occupancy after March 13, 1991 covers only the private spaces which are the spaces inside the unit, not the public spaces outside the unit.  The Fair Housing Act has a requirement 2-Accessible and usable public and common use areas.

Accessible.  When used with respect to the public and common use areas of a building containing covered multifamily dwellings, means that the public or common use areas of the building can be approached, entered, and used by individuals with physical handicaps.  The phrase "readily accessible to and usable by" is synonymous with accessible.  A public or common use area that complies with the appropriate requirements of ANSI A117.1 - 1986, a comparable standard or these guidelines is "accessible" within the meaning of this paragraph.

Today, we have the ICC A117.1 - 2009.  ANSI A117.1 is a building code document, very similar to:

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Accessibility Guidelines for Buildings and Facilities; Architectural Barriers Act (ABA) Accessibility Guidelines; Final Rule

36 CFR Parts 1190 and 1191

Federal Register / Vol. 69, No 141 / July 23, 2004

Guidelines effective September 21, 2004

Both documents are the standards for the "safe harbor" for design and construction to be in compliance with the International Building Code (IBC) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  Building code does not grandfather the public areas in apartment and condominium buildings.

In conclusion, it is the opinion of ACCESS that public spaces in apartment and condominium buildings are required to comply with the ADA.

Let us know your thoughts, or have any questions.  You can post them here or on our FaceBook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Access-Technologies-Services-Inc/268659564730.  You can also reach us at hfalstad@accessts.net or call us at (702) 649-7575.

Hank


The above are opinions of Hank Falstad, AIA, Managing Senior Associate of Access Technologies Services, Inc. (ACCESS).  See our web site for additional information:  www.accessts.net.

Private vs. Public Spaces

A frequent question is what needs to be ADA accessible in buildings? 


All public spaces need to be accessible.  Employee work areas are what ACCESS calls private spaces and are an employment issue, covered under subchapter 1.  All employee work areas are required to have an accessible route to the work area, a turnaround space and an accessible route to exit the work area. 


A more challenging situation is in the lodging industry which has both public spaces and private spaces.  The entrance door on the outside of the unit is public space and needs to be accessible; the inside of the entrance door is private space and not required to be accessible unless that room has been designated as an accessible room.  All accessible rooms are either guest rooms with mobility features or guest rooms with communications features, and not more than 10% of guest rooms required to provide mobility features complying with 806.2 shall be used to satisfy the minimum number of guest rooms required to provide communication features complying with 806.3.


Mobility features are wheelchair, walkers, canes, crutches, etc.  Communication features are all hearing and sight related.  The number of guest rooms required to be accessible comes from a table and is based on the number of rooms on that property.  The other guest rooms have only one accessible requirement; entrance, doors and doorways providing user passage into and within guest rooms hat are not required to provide mobility features complying with 806.2 shall comply with 404.2.3;  door openings shall provide a clear width of 32 inches minimum.

Give us your thoughts and questions on the above.  You can post them here or on our FaceBook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Access-Technologies-Services-Inc/268659564730.  You can also reach us at hfalstad@accessts.net or call us at (702) 649-7575.

Hank


The above are opinions of Hank Falstad, AIA, Managing Senior Associate of Access Technologies Services, Inc. (ACCESS).  See our web site for additional information:  www.accessts.net.

Accessibility of Hotel Room Doors

ACCESS has written an opinion on this item before; it is worth revisiting because no one is getting the hotel entrance door correct.

There are hotel rooms with mobility features (these are the typical wheelchair accessible rooms), and then there are the standard guest rooms, some of which are required to have communication features (hearing impaired).  The inside of the standard hotel room is private space and is not subject to PL101-336 The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, with an effective date of January 1, 2009, Title III Nondiscrimination on the basis of disability by public accommodations in commercial facilities.  

In the opinion of ACCESS, the entrance door exterior is public space; the entrance door interior is private space with no accessibility requirements unless the space is designated to have mobility features or is a space used for hospitality to entertain the general public.  

We are seeing the standard hotel room entrance door that swings into the hotel room with an 18 inch doorway maneuvering clearance on the pull side parallel to the door; this is inside the unit.  Being private space, there is no accessibility requirement for the inside of the entrance door.  This 18 inches has added a minimum of 30 square feet to the room size.  

My feeling is that the hospitality industry and the guest have gotten so accustomed to the additional room size that we may not see any change.  The bottom line is that 18 inches maneuvering clearance on the pull side is not required in standard rooms in the opinion of ACCESS.  The challenge may be to get building officials who enforce the International Building Code (IBC) and the ICC/ANSI A117.1 to understand the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) guidelines.

Questions?  Leave your comments here or post on our FaceBook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Access-Technologies-Services-Inc/268659564730#!/.  You can also contact us at hfalstad@accessts.net or call us at (702) 649-7575.

Hank

The above are opinions of Hank Falstad, AIA, Managing Senior Associate of Access Technologies Services, Inc. (ACCESS).  See our web site for additional information:  www.accessts.net.

Are Railings Required When There is Only One Stair? The Answer is Yes!

In the ADA & ABA Accessibility Guidelines; Final Rule written by the Access Board and published on 07.23.04 (ADAAG; Final Rule), with an effective date of 09.21.04, we find the following section:

Chapter 5 general site and building elements.
505 Handrails.
505.2 Where Required.
“Handrails shall be provided on both sides of stairs and ramps.”

In ADAAG; Final Rule, we also have Section 106 Definitions, but stairs is not defined.


The same is true for ICC/ANSI A117.1-2003:

Chapter 5 general site and building elements.
505 Handrails.
505.2 Where Required.
“Handrails shall be provided on both sides of stairs and ramps.”


There is also the following section in International Building Code (IBC) 2006:

Chapter 10 Means of Egress.
1009 Stairways.
1009.10 Handrails.
“Stairways shall have handrails on each side and shall comply with Section 1012.”
Exceptions:
4.  “In Group R-3 occupancies, a change in elevation consisting of a single riser at an entrance or egress door does not require handrails.”   


So, the IBC does not require handrails at an entrance or egress door where there is one riser in the stair.  What does the Americans with Disabilities Act say, and for that we need to go to Webster’s New World Dictionary, where one finds the definition of a stair:  “a single step, as of a stairway.”  From the definition of stair, in the opinion of ACCESS, handrails are required.

Questions?  Post your comments here or on our FaceBook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Access-Technologies-Services-Inc/268659564730.  You can also contact us at hfalstad@accessts.net or call us at (702) 649-7575.

Hank

The above are opinions of Hank Falstad, AIA, Managing Senior Associate of Access Technologies Services, Inc. (ACCESS).  See our web site for additional information:  www.accessts.net.

How Stupid Can Handrails in Elevators Be?

In the ADAAG; Final Rule, written by the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board), published on July 23, 2004, with an effective date of September 21, 2004, there is Section 407 Elevators, with 14 pages of elevator requirements but nothing specifically on elevator car handrails.  In the ICC/ANSI A117.1-2003 Commentary, there are Sections 407, 408, and 409 on elevators with 23 pages of elevator requirements but nothing specifically on elevator car handrails.  In the ADAAG; Final Rule Section 505 or ICC/ANSI A117.1-2003 Section 505 Handrails, there is no requirement for handrails in the elevator car.  

In the IBC-2006, Section 1009 Stairways has a Section 1009.10 called Handrails; Section 1010 Ramps has a Section 1010.8 called Handrails; and there is also Section 1012 Handrails.  IBC-2006 has Section 1007 Accessible Means of Egress with Section 1007.4 Elevators; Section 1109.6 Elevators states that elevators must comply with 3001.3; 3001.3 states that elevators shall conform to ICC/A117.1.

So, we have no requirement for handrails to be in elevator cars in the opinion of ACCESS.  Now, if one chooses to put handrails in an elevator car and call it a “handrail,” is there a requirement?  In the opinion of ACCESS, the answer is yes, and the design criteria must be that of Section 505 from both ADAAG and ICC/ANSI A117.1-2003.

 

Questions?  You can comment here or on our FaceBook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Access-Technologies-Services-Inc/268659564730.  You can also contact us at hfalstad@accessts.net or call us at (702) 649-7575.

Hank

The above are opinions of Hank Falstad, AIA, Managing Senior Associate of Access Technologies Services, Inc. (ACCESS).  See our web site for additional information:  www.accessts.net.

In Public Accommodations and Services Operated by Private Entities, Can Services Be Denied?

The answer is yes.  The answer is found in the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), as amended in 2008 with an effective date of January 1, 2009.  Title 42 – The Public Health and Welfare – Chapter 126 – Equal Opportunity for Individuals with Disabilities:

Subchapter III – Public Accommodations and Services Operated by Private Entities.
12182 Prohibition of discrimination by public accommodations.
(b) Construction.
(3) Specific construction.
“Nothing in this subchapter shall require an entity to permit an individual to participate in or benefit from the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages and accommodations of such entity where such individual poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others.  The term ‘direct threat’ means a significant risk to the health or safety of others that cannot be eliminated by a modification of policies, practices, or procedures or by the provision of auxiliary aids or services.”

This amendment writing is much more onerous than the original for a public accommodation.  The words, “…or by the provision of auxiliary aids or services,” are really all encompassing.  The question now really becomes:  must the public accommodation have these auxiliary aids or services in place?  In the opinion of ACCESS, the answer is no.  So, the proper answer is to deny the individual to participate, based on a “direct threat” to the health and safety of others, but to at the same time agree to provide auxiliary aids and / or services based upon the specific needs known, and providing adequate time for the public accommodation to acquire those needs.

Let us know what you think.  Leave your comments here or on our FaceBook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Access-Technologies-Services-Inc/268659564730. You can also contact us at hfalstad@accessts.net or call us at (702) 649-7575.


Hank



The above are opinions of Hank Falstad, AIA, Managing Senior Associate of Access Technologies Services, Inc. (ACCESS).  See our web site for additional information:  www.accessts.net.