KALEX CONSTRUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

Issue: Vertical accessibility to the second floor.

Analysis: The applicant is requesting a waiver from providing vertical accessibility to the second floor of an office/warehouse undergoing a $152,000 alteration. According to the applicant, there will be no public access to the second floor, which contains offices and work space occupied by employees only. The first floor is accessible and has accessible toilet facilities, a conference room, warehouse and archive area. Estimates of $32,000 and $52,822 for platform lifts to the second level were submitted.

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.