BOATHOUSE RESTAURANT

Issue: Vertical accessibility to the second floor of a restaurant.

Analysis: The applicant is requesting a waiver from providing vertical accessibility to the second floor of a two story wood frame building undergoing a $150,000 alteration. The structure is over 100 years old and structurally would not support the additional of an elevator to the second level. The 3’8” stairwell can accommodate egress needs, but is too narrow to permit installation of a lift. According to the applicant, $28,000 of the overall budget has been allocated to accessibility features (18 per cent) and the additional expense of an elevator would be disproportionate. The building official’s estimate includes the current $150,000 and does not reflect any work done during the preceding three years. All seating and service on the second floor are duplicated on the accessible first level.

Project Progress:

The project is under construction.

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.