COMMUNITY SPACE

Barrier Free Design

As the population grows older and more people opt to live in communities, it is increasingly necessary for Community Associations to be aware of the applicable laws that apply in regard to disabled persons.

There are many areas of the law that the Community Association should consider when making and/or deciding not to make accommodations for the disabled.

 The applicable laws that should be considered in dealing with issues involving parking and community buildings, such as the pool or clubhouse are given below. 

Parking

 Most Community Associations are not subject according to the standards since they are not considered a place of "public accommodation", but "public accommodations" may include a facility open to the general public such as a pool, clubhouse or parking lot that is located on the public property.

"an auditorium, convention centre, lecture hall, or other place of public gathering" is considered a place of public accommodation even though it is a private entity.

Most parking at a public places are private parking for co-owners of the community;

There is still a possibility, of course, that a disabled co-owner could make an argument that if a community place has a guest parking lot or clubhouse that is open to the general public, it may fall under a place of "public accommodation".

The same laws that apply in regard to parking should also be considered when dealing with the club

 All new construction and/or modifications to existing structures must be accessible to individuals with disabilities. house, pool or other common areas.

If the clubhouse or pool is open to the public, a strong argument exists; thus an Association should take a close look at their clubhouse or pool area to determine if there are barriers for the handicapped and whether the removal of such barriers is readily achievable.

If the clubhouse or pool is not open to the public and only co-owners of the community are permitted to use the facilities, it is not likely that the pool or clubhouse would be considered a place of "public accommodation" .

 Accessibility Guidelines set forth the minimum requirements to be met for accessibility which include guidelines on such things as parking spaces, stairs, elevators, windows and doors as well as a multitude of other areas of a building.

Community Associations should have policies and procedures in place to address requests for handicap parking and/or unit or common element modification.

 If a Community Association is presented with a request by a co-owner to designate a handicap parking space near his/her unit, the Association should be cautious if it is considering denial of the request or if it does not think the individual is impaired enough to warrant the designation of a handicap parking space

Guidelines and Space Standards for Barrier Free Built Environment for Disabled and Elderly Persons•A wheelchair has a footplate and leg rest attached in front of the seat. (The footplate extends about 350 mm in the front of the knee). The footplate may prevent a wheelchair from getting close enough to an object.

a.Manually operated equipment must be designed to be easily accessible from a wheelchair.b.Make sure that the coin slots of vending machines etc. are located no higher than 1200 mm.c.Allow a space at least 350 mm deep and 700 mm high under a counter, stand, etc .

Space required for wheelchair footplate

Avoid such

Case study

Country clubIt does not have any such barrier free

design..There is no ramp

Open place (greenyard)

Libraryit doesn’t have any ramp provided

only steps

Lift,,, it is only accessible for a normal person…