AXIS

Issue: Vertical accessibility to a mezzanine above the first floor.,

Analysis: The applicant is requesting a waiver from providing vertical accessibility to a mezzanine above the first floor bar. The second floor contains a night club which is accessed by an existing elevator. The building underwent a $13,800 alteration which consisted of cosmetic work to the first floor. Work done on the second floor was permitted, but the finishes and decorations on the first floor were not included in the permit. Estimates of $17,900 and $23,654 were submitted to substantiate the applicant’s claim that providing access to the mezzanine would be disproportionate.

Project Progress:

The project is under construction and in plan review.

Items to be Waived:

Vertical accessibility to the mezzanine, 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.