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.