Burnham’s Blog

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has a variety of requirements that apply to parking spaces. We come across parking lots that do not fully meet the ADA’s standards when we do ADA compliance reviews. Businesses and other privately owned entities that operate as places of public accommodation or commercial facilities must have accessible parking lots and structures. Even existing parking facilities have an obligation to remove barriers to access that are readily achievable. Low-cost upgrades, such as parking lot restriping to create accessible parking spaces and access aisles, are usually viewed as readily achievable.

New Chicago Human Rights Ordinance disability rights regulations governing accessibility will go into effect on July 1, 2017. Promulgated to provide greater clarity and alignment with federal requirements, these new regulations govern the accessibility of facilities, goods, and services of public accommodations. This post will specifically focus on the components of the new regulations governing accessible design.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) contains specific requirements for objects that extend into circulation paths. During ADA compliance walk-throughs, we periodically see conditions that do not fully comply with these standards. It is important to understand the ADA’s requirements for protruding objects to avoid injury to people with visual impairments. See if you can find the violation of the ADA standards for protruding objects in this picture:

On January 30, 2017, President Trump signed an Executive Order on Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs (Executive Order), referred to as the two-for-one regulation order. This Executive Order has important implications for the development of future regulations such those implementing the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) Title III, the section of the ADA covering private entities that operate as places of public accommodations or commercial facilities.

In April 2016, San Francisco adopted legislation intended to increase access to businesses for people with disabilities. Ordinance No. 51-16, known as the Mandatory Disabled Access Improvements Ordinance (Ordinance), sets forth primary entrance requirements for owners of existing buildings that serve as places public accommodations. The San Francisco Department of Building Inspection (Department) is currently working on the details necessary for implementing and enforcing the new law that improves disability access.