COBB THEATRES 12 AT COUNTRYSIDE MALL

Issue: Vertical accessibility to all rows of seats in a stadium style movie theater complex.

Analysis: The applicant is requesting a waiver from providing vertical accessibility to all rows of seats in a new, $4,285,000 12-screen movie complex. The theaters range from 104 to 286 seats each. Each theater has required accessible seating locations in the center of the auditorium with adjacent companion seats. No accessible seats are located on the aisles. Estimates were submitted that it would cost an additional $52,200 to $54,600 per screen to make each row accessible.

Project Progress:

The project is under design.

Items to be Waived:

Vertical accessibility to all rows of seats, 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.