PALM BAY HIGH SCHOOL PRESS BOX

Issue: Vertical accessibility to a press box at a football field.

Analysis: The applicant is requesting a waiver from providing vertical accessibility to a new, 250 square foot press box estimated to cost approximately $102,000. The press box will be located at the top of an existing concrete bleacher system at a high school football field. The press box would be eligible for an exception to vertical accessibility under Section 206.2.7 of ADAAG; however, this exemption is preempted by Section 201.1.1 of the Florida Accessibility Code. The Commission may, however, waive the Florida requirements to the less restrictive provisions of the federal code. According to the applicant, installation of an elevator to the area would cost an additional $174,000.

Project Progress:

The project is under design.

Items to be Waived:

Vertical accessibility to a press box 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.