AURORA | Aurora has completed the first phase of the Americans with Disabilities Act self-evaluation and Transition Plan, which was approved by the city council at the beginning of September, to move forward.
“The ADA is very, very focused on having a plan,” Karlyn Shorb, Aurora’s ADA Title II coordinator, said to city council Aug. 25. “I think we’ll be really in a good place, because we’ll have a plan moving forward.”
The transition plan comes from the federal ADA law amendment, passed in 1991, which requires cities and states to remove barriers to accessibility in public facilities, sidewalks, parks, programs and digital spaces, Shorb said.
Compliance is guided by the ADA, and also by the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Federal Fair Housing Act and the Architectural Barriers Act, Shorb said.
Colorado’s House Bill 21-1110 recently mandated accessibility for government digital services, as well.
“This ADA Transition Plan is a living document, intended to be periodically monitored and updated,’ according to city council documents.
Phase one of the city’s self-evaluation focused on Aurora’s public rights-of-way, including sidewalks, curb ramps and pedestrian push buttons. According to Shorb, the field data showed compliance gaps, including 95.9% of curb ramps were not compliant with ADA standards, 92% of pedestrian push buttons were non-compliant, and 77.9% of sidewalks were non-compliant.
“This is something that’s been common with cities,” Shorb said. “It’s not unique to our city. The ADA, the federal government didn’t give cities and municipalities a lot of guidance for a long time on what being compliant with curbs, curb ramps and sidewalks looked like.”
She said it’s probably been nearly 22 years.
This level of non-compliance is not unusual for a city of Aurora’s size, as many municipalities across the country are still working toward full compliance, Emily Shuman, the director at the Rocky Mountain ADA Center, said.
“Accessibility is an ongoing process that requires ongoing attention and investment as communities grow and change,” Shuman said. “Particularly with sidewalks. They’re susceptible to changes in the environment, the elements wear and tear.”
Although there is no official ranking system for ADA compliance among cities, Aurora’s efforts to identify barriers and develop an improvement plan align with best practices, Shuman said.
ADA is currently not included in building codes, meaning that new projects can be constructed out of compliance. This is usually done unintentionally, because designers, builders or business owners may not realize specific requirements exist or are important, Shuman said.
Most enforcement is done after a complaint is filed, she said. Many ADA advocates and experts are having ongoing discussions about whether a more proactive, code-based enforcement should be created to improve accessibility outcomes, Shuman said.
Aurora worked with consultants to create an 11-goal transition plan for addressing right-of-way deficiencies. According to Shorb, key recommendations include:
- Undertake a comprehensive review of city policies related to the right of way and determine whether to fully or partially adopt the Department of Justice’s PROWAG (Public Right of Way Accessibility Guidelines) standards.
- Adopt and implement a policy directing that, as streets are resurfaced, any adjacent non-compliant curb ramps are reconstructed.
- Adopt and implement a policy on preferred locations and accommodation, including prioritization criteria for improvements.
- Develop a system to prioritize ADA replacements outside of the annual maintenance program, focusing on areas with the highest needs.
- Integrate ADA compliance data into the city’s existing geospatial database (GIS) for improved tracking and planning.
- Integrate ADA compliance into the city’s asset management framework and capital planning processes.
- Adopt a policy and procedure to guide staff in communicating with individuals with disabilities, including the implementation of effective alternative communication and language access plans.
- Create a citywide service animal policy.
- Establish an internal working group to improve communication and training on ADA compliance across all departments.
- Update the transition plan and GIS database annually to reflect progress and new needs.
- Continue to review internal policies and practices, with a focus on staff training and resource development.
“We don’t have to make the improvements tomorrow,” Shorb said. “For the public right of way, it would be a 200–250-year plan. So really, in order, we have to just change our policy to make sure that we’re saying when we repave a road, we should be replacing that curb ramp.”
Councilmember Angela Lawson asked Shorb about funding priorities and how the city will ensure improvements reach older neighborhoods, not just areas benefiting from the city’s “Build Up Aurora” capital campaign.
“I didn’t see one slide about allocations,” Lawson said.
Lawson asked whether funding would be distributed by ward or targeted to older infrastructure, and Shorb said that prioritization policies will decide future investments, based on traffic, community feedback and safety needs. She said the city is “not there yet,” but it is a recommendation that the department is creating criteria for.
The city is now preparing Phases Two through Four, which will cover emergency services and operations, city buildings and facilities and parks, recreation, and open space.
Aurora has expanded ADA training for staff, launched a grievance process for residents and added accessibility policies to the employee onboarding process, Shorb said.