Issue:
Vertical accessibility to the upper levels of a sorority house.
Analysis: The applicant is requesting a waiver from
providing vertical accessibility to the upper two floors of a sorority house
undergoing a $3K50,000 alteration. The
project is a 1,700 addition to the ground floor and no work is being done to
other areas of the building. The project
consists of the addition as well as construction of a new accessible parking
space and access aisle; accessible entry door; two accessible toilet rooms;
accessible drinking fountains and an interior ramp. Estimates of $52,000, $62,000 and $69,800
were submitted as the costs to install an elevator.
Project Progress:
The
project is under design.
Items to be Waived:
Vertical accessibility to the upper two levels, 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.