Transcript

My name is Jake Reese; I’m a Project Manager with LRA Constructors, a general contractor here in Albany.  And today I am going to talk about the 2010 ADA Standards for accessible design.   

These standards were actually published back in September, 2010, and there was a sort of a grace period there, and they have not taken affect as of last month, March 15, 2012.  The Americans with Disabilities Act requires the Department of Justice to provide ADA Standards consistent with the United States Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board, otherwise known as The Access Board.  So basically what has happened since 2004 was the last time they did any updates to these ADA Standards, the Department of Justice has taken those 2004 updates along with federal input, private input and meshed these into what is now the 2010 ADA Standards for accessible design.  

The standards are separated into two titles, Title II, which is your state and government facilities or public entities and then Title III, which is your public accommodations and commercial facilities.  Basically, your public and private sectors is how they divided it.  The reason that it’s important to both contractors, obviously construction and design professionals is obviously these design standards, which were published back in 2010 are not taking affect as of March 15, of this year, which means that any new construction or renovation project that starts after that date must comply with the new standards.  

Generally speaking, the new standards – there’s two main things that I look at with the new standards.  The new standards – and they’ve had a quite some time to clarify and determine questions that they give us a much more comprehensive approach to any ADA requirements and so there’s a lot more detail in these standards that we’re going to have to be aware of.  

Second of all, in the past, the Department of Justice was charged with enforcing these requirements.  Now, the local building officials will be charged with this.  So in the past where they may have, you know, obviously been concerned with life safety, the ADA was not necessarily under their umbrella, but now will be.  So I think these rules will probably be enforced on a much stricter, much more frequent basis.  

Some general changes have to do with the design and construction of assembly areas, reach range requirements, water closet clearances, and stuff like that.  Some of the more specific requirements or changes have to do with our handicapped accessible ramps in terms of clearances and landing sizes and what not.  Again, there’s all of this information is important to all of us in the construction industry, but it’s also important to owners and developers as well because many of these changes will have an effect, both on the cost of construction, but also on the overall permitting process, and certainly on the occupancy process in terms of being able to obtain a Certificate of Occupancy to be able to start a business or open a business.  So that’s what makes them important to everybody.  

For more information or additional questions, please contact me at LRA at 883-8473.