7-ELEVEN #1032305

Issue: Vertical accessibility to the basement area of a hotel building.

Analysis: The applicant is requesting a waiver from providing vertical accessibility to the basement area containing a convenience store in a four story hotel. The building is recognized by the National Register of Historic places, and the applicant only relates to the 1,961 square foot tenant space previously occupied by a convenience store and will house a 7-Eleven store when the alteration is complete. The project will cost $256,826 to make the proposed changes. The building’s façade cannot be altered because it would damage the historic significance of the structure and the existing building’s structural design and load bearing structural frame member locations prohibit modifications due to technical infeasibility. Cost estimates of $7,820 for a ramp and $22,770 were submitted.

Project Progress:

The project is under design.

Items to be Waived:

Vertical accessibility to the basement tenant space, 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.