JOHN KING (PUT GOD 1^st INVEST, INC.)

Issue: Vertical accessibility to all levels in a historic building.

Analysis: The applicant is requesting a waiver from providing a vertical lift at the main entrance to the building and installing a ramp at the side entrance. Installing the lift would change the façade of the historic structure, which is not permitted. The request also entails a request from providing 2 platform lifts in the interior to create a accessible path of travel throughout the structure. The building is undergoing a $159,049 interior alteration and an estimate of $14,700 was submitted for the cost of two lifts with an additional $2,400 cost of installation. Toilet facilities on an accessible route are also planned for the project.

Project Progress:

The project is in plan review.

Items to be Waived:

Vertical accessibility to all 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.