Most designers are well aware that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is federal law which is enforced by the U.S. Department of Justice, who may file lawsuits in federal court to enforce the ADA. The courts may order compensatory damages, civil penalties or back pay to remedy discrimination. The California Code of Regulations, Title 24, Part 2, also referred to as the California Building Standards Code or the 2007 California Building Code has been certified by the Department of Justice to meet or exceed the ADA Standards for Accessible Design for new construction and alterations. Architects and Designers, what are our professional responsibilities regarding accessibility?
- Inform our clients of their liability for accessibility issues.
- Identification of compliant accessibility features.
- Identification of non-compliant accessibility features.
- Identification of necessary accessibility upgrades.
- Identification of the pathway to full compliance. Only through an on-site survey can a trained professional understand and interpret each site’s features and deficiencies and recommended corrections.
The California Building Code requires documented accessibility compliance upon application for a building permit.
Both State and Federal accessibility guidelines have specific provisions allowing certain features of a facility to be constructed without providing for full and strict compliance with the minimum requirements. These allowable deviations are called “Exceptions”. Many of these exceptions have conditions attached that must be satisfied in order to be utilized. In many cases, California’s guidelines require that a determination of “unreasonable hardship” be found in order to be eligible for a specific exception. California’s definition and conditions for the unreasonable hardship can be found in Section 202 of the California Building Code. The ADA does not allow cost to be a factor in determining whether or not a facility, or portion thereof, be made accessible in new construction. Under the ADA, the requirement that new construction be accessible does not apply where an entity can demonstrate that it is structurally impractical to meet the requirements of the regulation.
In existing buildings, the provisions of this section do not apply when legal or physical constraints would not allow compliance with the building standards or equivalent facilitation without an unreasonable hardship. See section 1091.5. CBC Section 1134B.2.1, Exception 1, of the California Building Code states that when the construction cost of a proposed alteration, structural repair or addition does not exceed the January 2010 “ENR US20 Cities” average construction cost index threshold ($128,410.90 Jan. 2010), 20% of the cost of the project must be spent on upgrading the following existing elements: 1) an accessible entrance, 2) an accessible route to the altered area, 3) at least one accessible restroom for each sex,4) accessible public telephones (if any), 5) accessible drinking fountains.
When alteration costs exceed the ENR average construction cost index, the obligation to spend 20% of the alteration cost on the path of travel becomes a minimum instead of a maximum one. It is at the building agencies discretion to determine how much over the 20% constitute a hardship.
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