NADERPOUR & ASSOCIATES

Issue: Vertical accessibility to the second floor of an office building.

Analysis: The applicant is requesting a waiver from providing vertical accessibility to the second floor of an office building undergoing an alteration. All services provided on second floor are duplicated on the first floor A conference room is also located on the accessible first floor. The building would be eligible for the federal elevator exemption, but Section 553.509, F. S. requires that vertical accessibility be provided to all levels above and below the occupiable grade. Section 206.3, Florida Accessibility Code, allows the Commission to waive the state requirement to the less restrictive standards in ADAAG. No overall project cost was provided, but estimates of $54,927 and $27.763 were submitted as documentation for the cost of a lift.

Project Progress:

The project is in plan review.

Items to be Waived:

Vertical accessibility to the second floor, as required by Section 553.509, Florida Statutes.

553.509: Vertical accessibility - Nothing in sections 553.501-553.513 or the guidelines shall be construed to relieve the owner of any building, structure or facility governed by those sections from the duty to provide vertical accessibility to all levels above and below the occupiable grade level, regardless of whether the guidelines require an elevator to be installed in such building, structure or facility, except for:

(1) Elevator pits, elevator penthouses, mechanical rooms, piping or equipment catwalks and automobile lubrication and maintenance pits and platforms;

(2) Unoccupiable spaces, such as rooms, enclosed spaces and storage spaces that are not designed for human occupancy, for public accommodations or for work areas; and

(3) Occupiable spaces and rooms that are not open to the public and that house no more than five persons, including, but not limited to equipment control rooms and projection booths.

Waiver Criteria: There is no specific guidance for a waiver of this requirement in the code. The Commission’s current rule, authorized in Section 553.512, Florida Statutes, provides criteria for granting waivers and allows consideration of unnecessary or extreme hardship to the applicant if the specific requirements were imposed.