THE GALLERY

Issue: Vertical accessibility to the second floor.

Analysis: The applicant is requesting a waiver from providing vertical accessibility to an art gallery and bar located on the second floor of a commercial building. According to the building official, the tenant moved into the existing space but did no work that would have required a building permit. The owner wants to expand into an adjacent area, increasing the occupant load, thus requiring additional toilet facilities, egress and sprinklers. The project will cost $12,736 and although no estimates were provided, it is highly unlikely that a platform lift could be installed that would not be disproportionate to the cost of construction. An interior lift would also encroach into first floor tenant space and providing one outside would not allow an accessible route and would result in the loss of a parking space.

Project Progress:

The project is under design.

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.