JOE ZESSKI: Hello, welcome to Ask About the ADA, the podcast where we answer questions about the Americans with Disabilities Act and how it applies to everyday life in the community. On this week's episode, we're going to look at two different questions that relate to Title II of the law. That's the part of the law that deals with state and local government, their program, services, and activities. With that being said, let's jump right in.
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Our first question is one that we often get at the Northeast ADA center, and it goes like this. I found ADA standards for accessible parking in parking lots, but I've never found anything that deals with on street parking that's either marked out or metered. Are there any standards or requirements? Well, while the 2010 ADA standards for accessible design, the physical access requirements for the ADA don't contain any scoping or design requirements for on-street parking, there is guidance out there.
The trick is that it is not enforceable. Title II of the ADA does apply to street parking and other programs, services, and activities of state and local governments, of course, but there is no official enforceable standard, as I just said, for on street parking. However, the Public Rights of Way Accessible Guidelines, or PROAG, which are from the US Access Board, are often considered to be the best practice and used by a lot of State and local governments as their guide when implementing accessible parking in downtown areas.
In section R 214 of the PROAG, it states the following. When on street parking is provided on a block perimeter and the parking is marked or metered, a subminimum number of parking spaces must be accessible and comply with certain technical requirements for parking spaces that can be found in chapter 3 of the PROAG. So here's what that means.
For all the parking spaces up to 100 total spaces on the block perimeter, one must be accessible. And for every 50 additional parking spots on a block perimeter between 101 and 200 parking spaces, one additional parking space must be accessible. So if you had 103 parking spaces, then you would be required to have two accessible parking spots. If you had 160 parking spots, you would need to have three accessible parking spots.
Now, when there are more than 200 parking spots on a block perimeter, then you have to have 4% accessible. Now, in terms of the design of the parking spots themselves, this is addressed in section 309 of the PROAG. These technical requirements really hinge on the width of the adjoining sidewalk, where the width of an adjacent sidewalk or right away exceeds 14 feet.
An access aisle at least 5 feet wide must be provided at street level for the full length of the parking spot, and it also has to connect to a pedestrian access route. The access aisle cannot encroach on the vehicle traveling. An access is not required where the width of the sidewalk or the available right away is less than or equal to 14 feet. When an access aisle is not provided, then the parking spot must be located at the end of the block face.
This allows for closer distance and closer proximity to curb cuts to access the adjacent sidewalk. When you're looking at alterations where the street or the sidewalk adjacent to the parking spots are not altered, an access aisle is not required if the parking spots are located at the end of the block. All of this detail can be found in the Public Rights of Way Accessible Guidelines.
You can look for this resource on the Access Board website, www.access-board.gov. Keep in mind again that these are not enforceable standards yet, but these are guidelines and best practices that a lot of towns and a lot of cities have used as their guidance when creating accessible downtown parking spaces.
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With our second question, we turn from on-street parking to a different municipal service. This question comes from a person with a disability. My town agreed to come onto my property to pick up my garbage. I have a disability. And I'm not able to do any heavy lifting. I asked if my town would pick up my backyard waste, but they refused.
They cited it was against their policy. Should they have refused to make this accommodation? Well, there's not a 100% clear answer, but likely not. Again, Title II applies to state and local governments, and that's what we're dealing with here with municipal services. Your town has to at least consider modifying its policies to accommodate a homeowner with a disability.
Your town has to at least consider modifying a policy to accommodate a homeowner with a disability. Since the town has already provided a somewhat similar accommodation, the new request does need to be given consideration and probably should be granted. Now, the town might be able to demonstrate that this would cause an undue burden. An undue burden comes from Title II and as well Title III of the ADA and refers to a significant difficulty or expense that would be caused by granting a modification or accommodation.
So the town can look at that, but given what it has already done in terms of providing a modification, likely, the town should provide some sort of accommodation to you.
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That's it for this week's edition of Ask About the ADA. Hope you found it interesting and informative. Once again, I'm Joe Zesski, the program manager at the Northeast ADA Center. We are always glad to take your questions about the Americans with Disabilities Act, how it applies to you, your life, your business your work, whatever it might be. Please feel free to call us at 800-949-4232, or email us at northeastada@cornell.edu.
Look for the Northeast ADA on social media, and of course, I have to thank all those who make the podcast possible. Thanks to Grace Fairchild, our student worker who is our editor and producer for the show. Thank you as well to Peter Quinn of the Yang Tan Institute's media team for doing final editing and touch ups, and again, thanks to our technical assistance team for providing these questions and answers. I hope you'll join us again for our next episode, and we can continue the conversation together.
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