FINE OFFICE BUILDING ADDITION

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 a historic dwelling that was converted to commercial use in the 1980s. The existing first floor contains 1,917 square and a 793 square foot addition is being constructed on that level; the current second floor has 1,191 square feet and will add 987 square feet to that area. The project is being undertaken to add an additional three offices to the law firm. Both the applicant and the building official refer to this structure as a historic building, but no documentation was provided. According to the applicant, the only viable option to provide access to the second floor is a chair lift, which will require modification of the existing stairway for approximately $4,850 to $5,000, plus the cost of equipment. Note: A chair lift will not permit a wheelchair user to travel independently between floors as there is no method of transporting both the individual and the chair concurrently.

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.