Issue: Vertical accessibility to all levels of a historic hotel.
Analysis: The applicant is requesting a waiver from providing vertical accessibility from the lobby to guest rooms The property is undergoing a $759,560 alteration which includes new electrical system, plumbing, air conditioning, stucco, paint, railings, pool, windows and doors with a new fire alarm and sprinkler system. According to the applicant, installation of a ramp to the first floor would severely damage the historic significance of the lobby sand there is no room to provide either a lift or elevator to the area. An exterior ramp is not feasible since electrical transmission equipment is located in the four foot area between the building and property line. The applicant provided documentation that the building is historic.
Project Progress:
The project is in plan review.
Items to be Waived:
Vertical accessibility to all levels, as required by Section 553.509, F. S.
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.