AURORA | Plans are underway for a $1.9 million accessibility update for the city council chambers to bring the space in line with federal standards.
Earlier this year, the city identified a number of accessibility issues with the council chambers not meeting the standards defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act and, in July, brought forward a plan to make the needed adjustments.
The plan would add two ramps, expand the council’s dais and add accessible seating to the audience area of the chamber. Construction is expected to start next year and take six to eight months, with an estimated cost of $1.9 million.
At the July 27 study session, council members were largely supportive of moving the plan forward, though they plan to have further discussion about how council meetings will be adjusted during construction and whether the meetings will have to be virtual.
The chambers will not be able to be used during construction because the audio and visual technology will have to be removed, according to city staff.
“To have to go back and redo construction to try and add (the dais expansion) later on would be more expensive and who’s to say that next election somebody in a wheelchair won’t be elected and then would they be able to access their chair correctly or have all the same mobility options that we have,” Councilmember Amy Wiles said. “So to me I think it’s a no-brainer.”
Councilmember Françoise Bergan had concerns about the cost of the project and said she supported the work so long as the funding wasn’t diverted from other projects.
City Manager Jason Batchelor said the funding will come from the capital projects fund and some money has already been set aside for the work.
The main changes to the chamber would be the addition of ramps from the top of the room to the assembly area, where the speaker podium is for public comment, and a ramp to the dais, as well as the expansion of the dais to ensure enough space for a wheelchair to maneuver behind the desk.
A January assessment of the council chambers determined that there currently aren’t accessible paths available to the dais or the assembly area. The chambers currently have a lift to take wheelchair users from the top of the chambers down to the assembly area, but the lift doesn’t meet ADA standards.
In addition, there are too few wheelchair seating options, the wheelchair accessible spaces are not vertically distributed throughout the chambers and the accessible chairs do not conform to ADA standards. Some smaller issues include signage and switches being too high up on walls, staff desks not providing enough knee clearance and the chamber doors being too heavy.
During public comment at the July 27 meeting, Aly Dewills-Marcano, an Aurora resident who uses a wheelchair, said she is glad that council is finally moving forward with investing in infrastructure that is equally accessible to disabled residents. In her public comments, Dewills-Marcano has frequently encouraged the council to improve the chambers’ accessibility.
Dewills-Marcano also put the cost into perspective, noting the city has identified more than $2 billion in total capital project needs for the next decade.
“These accessibility improvements are expected to add virtually nothing to ongoing operating costs, and they will save the city from significant liability,” Dewills-Marcano said. “Ramps, widened pathways, accessible seating and other improvements require no specialized annual maintenance like the rickety pseudo-elevator we have now. So you may save the city in the long run. And like most accessibility improvements, they will serve everyone, even able-bodied Aurorans.”
To gather feedback on the proposed changes, the city will host a town hall at 6 p.m. Aug. 12 at the Aurora Municipal Center in the Aurora Room. Comments can also be submitted online at the Engage Aurora website from Aug. 5 to Aug. 26.
I’ll put my comments and disgust here on the Sentinel Blog for this project as I believe it is totally unneeded and very expensive and will create a least a half years intrusion, maybe more, of the Council meetings creating more meeting problems than two years of black activists creating undo problems for the Council. Not to mention the black activists will still be around to add even more chaos.
Disrupting the Council meetings and self politicking is what she and this project is all about not so much the project itself.
City Hall was built ten years after the American with Disabilities Act was passed. I have to assume, without study, that the City and architects of the building were in compliance of the act when built. Compliance was a huge issue during those years. Marcano tries to make the point that this is not true. I’ll bet it is true.
Aly Marcano is a socialist, white, activist in a wheelchair and she uses her disability to help create chaos because chaos is one of the main tools that socialists have used historically to gain power for their causes. I have watched her make her comments to City Council at least a dozen times over the past few months saying how hard it is for her and her wheelchair to get to the dais to complain while never trying to be on time making everyone wait for her, obviously on purpose never preplanning her time to speak like everyone else. Then blaming that “damn” elevator.
Two million dollars and total disruption to Council meetings for a half year is too much to pay for one persons wheelchair no matter what rookie Council person Amy Wiles thinks is a “no brainer”. I think its a “no brainer” to not spend another nickel listening to this socialist driven, want to be politician and her cohorts.
If it’s just about the elevator, fix the elevator.
If it’s just about the heavy doors, make them automatic.
If it’s about more space for wheelchairs, count the most wheelchairs ever to be there at one time or think about the average number at any one meeting, historically.
Just don’t close up the meetings for so long. Don’t support the attempt at chaos.
Someone on Council has to be reasonable about this intended project while the City has so few dollars and so many actual needs.