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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-11-05; Traffic Safety Commission; ; Receive report regarding the proposed ADA Transition Plan for Public Rights-of-Way and recommend the City Council approve the Planr COMMISSION MEETING OF: CITY OF CARLSBAD TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMISSION STAFF REPORT November 5, 2012 ITEM NO.GA LOCATION: Citywide INITIATED BY: Staff REQUESTED ACTION: BACKGROUND: FEDERAL Receive report regarding the proposed ADA Transition Plan for Public Rights-of-Way and recommend the City Council approve the Plan. The Architectural Barrier Act of 1968 requires universal access to facilities designed, built, altered or leased with federal funds. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 protects qualified individuals from discrimination based on their disability and the requirements of the law apply to employers and organizations that receive financial assistance from any Federal department or agency. In 1990 the Federal government enacted the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which extends comprehensive civil right protections to all people with disabilities. Title II of the ADA is companion legislation to the two previous federal statutes and regulations; the Architectural Barrier Act of 1968 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Title II of the ADA addresses the requirements of local governments in their interactions with people with disabilities. Title II, Subtitle A, of the ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in all services, programs and activities provided to the public by State and local governments, except public transportation services, whether or not they are Federally funded. The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) regulations implementing Title II requires local governments to evaluate and identify barriers that may limit accessibility for people with disabilities and to develop transition plans which describe how they will address the barriers. In accordance with DOJ guidelines, Transition Plans must: 1) Identify physical obstacles in the public entity's facilities that limit the accessibility of its programs or activities to individuals with disabilities. 2) Describe the methods that will be implemented to make the facilities accessible. 3) Provide a timeline to bring facilities into compliance; and Page 1 COMMISSION MEETING OF: (continued) CITY OF CARLSBAD TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMISSION STAFF REPORT November 5, 2012 4) Designate a person who is responsible for implementation of the plan. ITEM NO.GA In conjunction with Title II of the ADA, and so as to provide guidelines for the Public Right-of-Way, the federal Department of Transportation has adopted the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) as its standard for accessible facility design. Key elements of these guidelines include: 1) Provision of accessible routes with public rights of way and to public transportation. 2) Accessible parking requirements 3) Ramp and curb ramp requirements 4) ADA Signage requirements 5) Type and requirements for detectable warnings STATE To provide clarification regarding the implementation of the ADA at a state and local level the State of California enacted its own version of the Federal Legislation which is incorporated within Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations which is known as the California Building Standards Code. LOCAL In response to the enactment of the ADA the Carlsbad City Council adopted Resolution 92-240, on July 28, 1992, which established an ADA Grievance Procedure Policy and a task force to develop a Compliance Action Plan. The Action Plan included an evaluation of City Facilities, services, programs and activities. The public was surveyed to provide input on how the City can better serve the disabled community. The Action Plan included an inventory of non-compliant issues associated with City buildings and other public facilities throughout the City, costs associated with implementation, and a timeline for resolution. The Action Plan was publicized in January of 1993. Due to the preparation of the plan noted above, which focused on City buildings and adjacent facilities and as provided for in the various laws and regulations this Transition Plan is focused on the public right-of-way. Page 2 COMMISSION MEETING OF: (continued) PLAN OVERVIEW: CITY OF CARLSBAD TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMISSION STAFF REPORT November 5, 2012 ITEM NO.6A The development of this Transition Plan is intended to improve walking and/or access conditions for all users of the public right-of-way. Universal access is a planning and design philosophy that serves to meet the goals of the ADA and Title 24 and to emphasize that these improvements benefit all users of public facilities. The amount of public right-of-way area throughout the City of Carlsbad is very large and therefore to prepare a useful plan the study area was focused on areas where the greatest amount of walking can be expected to be found. To find and prioritize these areas, a GIS based ADA priority model was developed. The ADA priority model utilized demographic information, land use maps, zoning, activity centers, destinations, transit stops, street layout, collision data, street classification, and others to predict heavy pedestrian use area to determine the study areas. By developing and implementing the model we were able to focus the efforts of the facility inventory and to base future project priorities on those areas of most concern for public right-of-way access to public programs and facilities. The public destinations include places such as city hall, community centers, recreation centers, post offices, parks, senior centers, libraries, police stations and fire stations. As a result of the priority modeling the City was divided into three tier areas: Tier One (high priority), Tier Two (moderate priority) and Tier Three (low priority) areas. Tiers One and Two, which are shown on Figure 3.2 in the Plan and Exhibit 1 of this staff report, were designated as areas where fieldwork would be conducted to assess barriers within the right-of-way. Tier Three which is the remainder of the City could be the focus of future ADA planning efforts. After completing the fieldwork, the data was classified for the purposes of prioritizing the recommended improvements. In the course of analyzing the fieldwork data, three focus study areas were identified to facilitate a more systematic implementation of the improvements. Focus Study Area "A", which is the most northwestern portion of the City is shown on Figure 5.1 in the plan and Exhibit 2 of this staff report. Focus Study Areas "B" and "C" are shown on Figure 5.2. of the Plan and Exhibit 3 of this staff report. To further refine the prioritization and to identify a program of improvements that will result in completely accessible pathways in a meaningful way for patrons of the public facilities, Focus Study Area "A" was divided into three priority levels: Page 3 COMMISSION MEETING OF: (continued) CITY OF CARLSBAD TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMISSION STAFF REPORT November 5, 2012 ITEM NO. GA 1) Priority Level One: The immediate block adjacent to a building identified as a public facility. 2) Priority Level Two: The area within one quarter mile of Priority Level One along existing roadways. 3) Priority Level Three: The remaining area within Focus Study Area "A". Once this prioritization was completed the location, quantity, type and estimated costs to implement the improvements were identified. As summarized in the Transition Plan the estimated costs for improvements in Focus Study Areas A and Bare: 1) Focus Study Area A -Priority Level One -$950,000 2) Focus Study Area A-Priority Level Two-$720,000 3) Focus Study Area A-Priority Level Three-$2,030,000 4) Focus Study Areas B $1,610,000 Given the size and scope of the project areas and the limitations on public funds, a prioritized, phased and transitional approach is an appropriate method for the City to implement. In accordance with this approach the improvements are programmed for completion based on the following categories: 1) Focus Study Area A -Priority Level One -Near Term (1-5 Years) 2) Focus Study Area A -Priority Level Two-Short Term (5-10 Years) 3) Focus Study Area A-Priority Level Three-Mid Term (10-20 Years) 4) Focus Study Areas B Long Term (20+ Years) The programming and appropriation of funds for these improvements will be implemented thru the adoption of Capital Improvement Program Budget which occurs on an annual basis in conjunction with the adoption of the Operating Budget. CONCLUSION: The ADA Transition Plan for Public Rights-of-Way provides the basis for the systematic construction of improvements that will create completely accessible pathways to public facilities in a meaningful order. In addition to identifying and prioritizing the improvements the plan estimates the cost and proposes a schedule for programming the expenditure of funds that can be adopted and implemented via the City's Capital Improvement Program. Page 4 COMMISSION MEETING OF: (continued) RECOMMENDATION: CITY OF CARLSBAD TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMISSION STAFF REPORT November 5, 2012 ,_ ITEM NO. 6A Receive the report and recommend that the City Council approve the ADA Transition Plan for Public Rights-of-Way and include the necessary appropriations in the adoption of the 2013/14 Capital Improvement Program. NECESSARY CITY COUNCIL ACTION: Approval of ADA Transition Plan for Public Rights-of-Way. Page 5