HAUTE HEADZ SALON

Issue: Vertical accessibility to an elevated platform in a hair salon.

Analysis: The applicant is requesting a waiver from providing vertical accessibility to a platform reached by five risers which will have six hair washing stations located on it. An additional accessible station is located on the accessible entry level. This is a $50,000 alteration to an existing building, and the applicant submitted estimates of $10,004 to $12,269 for install a lift to the platform. The overall project also contains upgrades to accessibility features including a lift from the sidewalk to the entry level, an accessible ramp at the front door, hi-lo drinking fountain, door thresholds and lever hardware. According to the applicant, inclusion of these features constitutes $20,000 of the overall $50,000 budget and the additional cost for a lift would be disproportionate.

Project Progress:

The project is under construction.

Items to be Waived:

Vertical accessibility to the raised platform, 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.