SANCTUARY 7 PILATES

Issue: Vertical accessibility to all levels in an exercise classroom.

Analysis: The applicant is requesting a waiver from providing vertical accessibility to each of the three levels in an exercise classroom designed for spinning bicycles. The building is being repaired after a vehicle crashed into it, and the scope of work is estimated to be $125,000. The lowest level of bicycles in the classroom in question is accessible and is closest to the instructor. According to the applicant, the is not necessarily cost-related, but if each spinning level were made accessible via a ramp system, it would reduce the number of machines that are available for clients.

Project Progress:

The project is in plan review. A portion of it has been completed and undergoing subsequent fire-4related repairs. As part of the project, some new elements, such as accessible toilet facilities, are being added.

Items to be Waived:

Vertical accessibility to each level for spinning bicycles, as required by Section 553.500, 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.