BAOLI MIAMI RESTAURANT

 

Issue:  Vertical accessibility to the second floor of a restaurant.

 

Analysis:  The applicant is requesting a waiver from providing vertical accessibility to the second floor of a restaurant undergoing an alteration.  The project previously received a waiver for the first floor which contains a restaurant and an outdoor courtyard.  The second floor is not open to the public and is used for offices and storage rooms.  The alteration work will add an outdoor bar area and increase the occupant load of the building.  According to the applicant, installation of a mechanical elevator or lift would damage the historic integrity of the building and decrease usable seating space and employee work areas.  A preliminary estimates of $772,000 was submitted as the cost of construction, which may be modified prior to the Council’s review.  The cost of a lift would be $43,371 - $46,112 and $25,000 - $30,000 to prepare the building for installation.  An elevator would be $68,000 - $76,000 plus preparation work.

 

Project Progress:

 

The project is in plan review and partial construction.

 

Items to be Waived:

 

Vertical accessibility to the second floor, 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.