ADA

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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BUILDING ENERGY EFFICIENCY STANDARDS

Title 24, Part 6, of the California Code of Regulations

Effective January 2010, the California Energy Commission promulgated changes to the “2008 Building Energy Efficiency Standards”, for residential and non-residential buildings.

I recommend a visit to their website at www.energy.ca.gov/title 24 to familiarize the design team with these important changes which will affect non-residential projects.  Even though we don’t document energy compliance, the following are some highlights of interest to designers from a summary of changes compiled by Mazi Shirakh, P.E.:

• Revisions and clarification to Sections 130-134, Mandatory requirements for Lighting Systems and Equipment related to Luminaire Power determination, sign lighting controls, and other clarifications.

• Updates for compliance to require side-lighting (§131) and day-lit areas near windows, change definition of day-lit area and requirements for daylighting controls.  Update skylight requirements to include smaller buildings (8,000 sf vs. 25,000 sf), buildings with 15 ft ceiling heights (§143(c)).

• Add requirements for occupant sensors in new indoor areas including small offices, multipurpose rooms less than 1,000 sf, classrooms, and conference rooms(§132(d)).

• Compliance credit for high efficacy load shedding ballasts to reduce energy use when signaled (§146).

• Demand response controls to reduce indoor lighting when signaled (§146).

• Revise the outdoor lighting compliance procedure and update outdoor lighting power densities, require outdoor lighting to meet title 24 standards when alterations replace 30% of fixtures (§147).

• Revised Cool Roof requirements for low-slope roofs and add prescriptive Cool Roof requirements for steep-sloped roofs (§143).

• Refinements to additions and alteration requirements for non-residential buildings (§149).

• Revisions and clarifications to Section 118, Mandatory Requirements for Insulation and Roofing Products including introduction of Solar Reflectance Index (SRI) for cool roof compliance.

• Revisions and clarifications to section 119, Mandatory Requirements for Lighting Control devices.

• Changes to Joint Appendix JA4 for wall, roof, and floor assemblies.

We are very interested in your comments and feedback, please email us at feedback@aaidesign.com

Detectable Warnings

When working on projects involving site pedestrian and vehicular circulation, pay close attention to the CBC requirements for detectable warnings at hazardous vehicular areas outlined in CBC Section 1133B.8.5.  Where a curb, railing or other element does not separate a walk from a vehicular way, a continuous 36” wide detectable warning is required.  There are a variety of products available ranging from mortar bed set concrete tiles from HANOVER and WASSAU to cast-in-place, replaceable and surface mount composite products.  The CBC requires that the detectable warning contrast visually with adjoining surfaces, either light on dark or dark on light.  Designers should contact the appropriate agency’s Building Official, or Building Inspector to confirm that the color selected contrasts visually with the adjoining surfaces.  This is especially critical when the adjoining surface is integral colored concrete. Unfortunately, some jurisdictions interpret California Title 24 to require safety yellow (Federal Color 3538).

We are very interested in your comments and feedback, please email us at feedback@aaidesign.com

Required Plumbing Fixture Calculations

When calculating the minimum number of required plumbing fixtures required in commercial sanitary facilities, it is highly recommended that the designer confirm with the local Building Department if they calculate using data from the 2007 California Building Code tables, 2007 California Plumbing Code tables, or some combination of the two.  Minimum plumbing fixture determinations using the two sources will yield different occupant loads and fixture counts.

Many jurisdictions, such as the City of San Jose, utilize CBC Table 2902.1 and Occupant Load Table 1004.1.1., while others may use CPC Table 4-1 and CPC Occupant Load Table ‘A’, or some mixture of the two codes.  For example, the City of Cupertino requires that the most restrictive calculation method be used.

We are very interested in your comments and feedback, please email us at  feedback@aaidesign.com