Issue: Vertical accessibility to the second level of a hotel.
Analysis: The applicant is requesting a waiver from providing vertical accessibility to the second level of a two story hotel undergoing a $375,453 alteration. This does not include the cost to install an elevator between Level 1 and Level 2 of the building, the areas housing the guest rooms. The current lobby is 21 inches below Level 1 and the applicant proposes to install a $33,400 lift to that area. Estimates of $51,800 and $92,450.were submitted as the cost to make the second level accessible. In addition to being in excess of 20 percent of the cost of the alteration, the applicant stated that two guest rooms would be lost to allow elevator installation, reducing the amount of projected revenue for the business.
Project Progress:
The project is under construction.
Items to be Waived:
Vertical accessibility to the second level, 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.