September 2009 Developments - 48

Construction & Design by Jim Carson Federal Accessibility Guidelines ADA Tips for Resort Managers odern resort and operations management professionals face many challenges in today’s competitive environment. Creating an exceptional vacation experience is a key to success. A basic understanding of federal accessibility guidelines—especially the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)—is important in providing the best vacations for owners with physical limitations. ADA regulations are available at www. ada.gov. This is particularly important for managers of older properties, which may have been built before 1991 when the standards were ﬁrst published. Even in properties not required to be in compliance, the resort staff can make simple adjustments. Managers need to understand the height and reach limitations imposed on individuals with disabilities (especially those in wheelchairs) to best serve their needs. For instance, wheelchair users cannot (1) reach top mount freezers in most refrigerators, (2) use microwaves mounted over ranges, or (3) reach objects in overhead cabinets. Simply switching to a side-by-side refrigerator or one with a bottom freezer improves accessibility. Countertop microwaves are an easy solution as well. Even in newer resorts, the manager may discover that required accessible elements have been overlooked by designers or building ofﬁcials. There is still an option to attempt to bring the deﬁciencies into compliance. ADA provides the opportunity to use alternate methods or technologies to the published standards if they result in equivalent or greater accessibility for users. This concept, known as Equivalent Facilitation, is important for property and operations managers to understand. It can be as simple as offering a freestanding check-in desk at the required lower height if the main desk is too high. In the event of a challenge to the alternate accessible element, the responsibility for demonstrating equivalent M facilitation lies with the resort. There is, unfortunately, no process for certifying alternate designs. Managers should also be wary of so-called “accessibility consultants” soliciting for their services. While there are many well-qualiﬁed individuals in this business, there are also some unscrupulous individuals. They may claim that they have found numerous ADA violations and offer their consulting services for a fee to help you avoid litigation. The best practice would be to refer them to your company’s architecture or construction division for them to submit qualiﬁcations for consideration; most companies will require references and professional liability insurance for their consultants. If your company does not have this division in-house, you should still request those qualiﬁcations on your own. As resorts evolve over time, change is inevitable. Units must be refurbished, and new facilities may have to be added to meet the changing needs of owners. When alterations or additions are made to resort facilities the new construction may be required to comply with ADA guidelines. Additions are always required to comply with the guidelines, while alterations have some leeway. ADA addresses alterations of primary function areas like building lobbies, which are required to the maximum possible extent to have an accessible path of travel to the altered area, as well as restrooms, telephones, and drinking fountains that are in compliance. ADA guidelines provide relief from the accessible path of travel requirement if the cost of alterations exceeds 20% of the cost of the total alteration. The guidelines provide an exception to compliance for residential dwelling units but unfortunately, vacation ownership units are considered by the code to be transient lodging. An experienced resort architect or interior design professional can help determine the requirements when you undertake an alteration or addition. ADA does provide some relief from the guidelines for historically signiﬁcant buildings. Qualiﬁed historic buildings under the National Historic Preservation Act are exempt from the requirements for accessible routes, entrances, and toilet facilities if it is determined the alterations would threaten or destroy the historic signiﬁcance of the building. State historic preservation ofﬁcers, who are state appointed ofﬁcials, work with federal, state, and local governments (as well as private companies) to implement accessibility standards in historic properties. They would make the ﬁnal determination as to whether an exemption is warranted. ARDA’s Construction & Design Committee and members of the Accessibility Task Force continue to work to make sure accessibility standards are clearly written and take in to account the unique conditions that distinguish vacation ownership resorts from hotels and residential condominiums. We welcome your questions and comments and will continue to provide informational updates on items of interest to the ARDA community. Jim Carson is a principal at NCG Architects, and he serves on ARDA’s Construction & Design Committee’s Regulatory Task Force. His ﬁrm has designed numerous award-winning resort properties, including Marriott’s Grande Ocean Resort (1994 ARDY winner) and Tucker’s Point Club (2008 ARDY winner). His e-mail is jcarson@ ncgarch.com. 48 Developments • September 2009

September 2009 Developments

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September 2009 Developments