Issue: DCA10-DEC-214. Bemmie Eustace. Interplan LLC, Petitioner, is requesting clarification regarding Section 11-2.2 of the Florida Building Code, Building.

Petition asks the question, “Is the toilet room configuration requirement of the federal 2010 Standards for Accessible Design an acceptable alternative under the Florida Building Code, Chapter 11, Florida Building Code, Building” The Petitioner requests clarification on whether the toilet room specifications in the 2010 Standards for Accessible Design, 603.2.3 are considered to be equivalent to Section 11-22.2 of the Florida Building Code, Building.

Background:

1. The specific situation is the design of a small restaurant in an existing shopping center’s tenant space in unincorporated Orange County. The design layout requires the toilet room door to swing into the clear floor space of the lavatory.

2. Section 11-4.22.2, Florida Building Code, Building, states, “All doors to accessible toilet rooms shall comply with Section 11-4.13. Doors shall not swing into the clear floor space required for any fixture.”

3. Section 603.2.3 Door Swing, 2010 Standards for Accessible Design, states, “Doors shall not swing into the clear floor space or clearance required for any fixture. Doors shall be permitted to swing into the required turn area..

Exception 2: Where the toilet room or bathing room is for individual use and a clear floor space complying with 305.3 (30” x 48”) is provided within the room behind the arc of the door swing, doors shall be permitted to swing into the clear floor space or clearance required for any fixture.”

4 The Standards for Accessible Design were issued by the U. S. Department of Justice on September 10, 2010,. The implementation date for alterations and new construction in the updated standards is March 15, 2012; however, the Department of justice specifically allows the use of the updated standards immediately.

5 The Florida Building Commission established a Law and Codes Workgroup to use the Standards for Accessible Design as the base for proposed changes to Chapter 11, Florida Building Code, Building, incorporating the more restrictive Florida-specific standards adopted by the Legislature. No changes to Section 603.2.3 are anticipated, thus allowing the layout proposed by the petitioner.

6 Section 11-2.2, Florida Building Code, Building, defines equivalent facilitation as, “Departures from particular technical and scoping requirements of this code by the use of other designs and technologies permitted where the alternative designs and technologies used will provide substantially equivalent or greater access to and usability of the facility. Departures from the explicit technical and scoping requirements of this code for any element voids any other applicable presumption or rebuttable evidence that the element has been constructed or altered in accordance with the minimum accessibility requirements of the ADA.

Staff Recommendation:

Question: Is the toilet room configuration requirement of the federal 2010 Standards for Accessible Design an acceptable alternative under the Florida Building Code, Chapter 11, Section 11-2.2 equivalent facilitation?”

Answer: No. Acceptable means, “Acceptable to the code official or authority having jurisdiction: The code official charged with the administration and enforcement of thus code is the local building official or his/her authorized representative.”