mark handler
SAWHORSE
Builders design homes easy for disabled to navigate
http://www.lohud.com/article/20120120/NEWS02/301200049/Builders-design-homes-easy-disabled-navigate
12:52 AM, Jan. 20, 2012
Contractor Martin Watters earns his living renovating upscale Manhattan home renovations, yet people kept suggesting he focus on the disabled.
This business idea eventually led Watters and his partner, Daniel Szalai, to form ADA Lifestyles of New York and to open a model ranch home during the summer on an industrial stretch of Ardsley to showcase universal design, a home-construction concept that creates attractive, stylish spaces that anyone, regardless of ability, can live in or visit.
Aging baby boomers and a heightened awareness about home design that doesn’t work for the disabled are expanding the demand for universal design. It also got a ***** from Westchester County lawmakers in September when they adopted design standards requiring that 50 percent of new construction using county money be accessible to the disabled — meaning bigger bathrooms, wider hallways and doors, and the elimination of stairs, among other design features. The law took effect in September.
Rockland County also encouraged accessibility-conscious residential construction last year by incorporating elder- and disabled-friendly recommendations into the new county comprehensive plan. The new plan recommends that municipalities speed up the permit process for residents seeking to modify their homes with ramps, grab rails, wider doorways or chair lifts.
“Part of the reason for my getting involved with this issue is knowing what the demographics are and becoming, and wanting to make it clear to the developers that this needs to be part of their planning,” said Harriet Cornell, the Rockland County Legislature’s chairwoman, who in 2010 led the county’s Project Tomorrow: Aging in Place initiative.
An example of universal design is constructing lower counters with no cabinets below so that someone in a wheelchair can move their wheelchair and feet under the counter, among other modifications.
“We also designed the sink with the drain at the back so if somebody is in a wheelchair and they have problems with getting burned with pipes, all the pipes are out of the way,” said Watters, 52, a Yonkers resident who became a paraplegic after a 1987 motorcycle accident at Bear Mountain.
Bill Stoner, associate state director for livable communities at AARP New York, said universal design is gaining traction in New York and nationally. In addition to pushing for universal design in Westchester County, AARP New York also successfully got a law enacted in Suffolk County that mandated greater accessibility in new home construction.
“We did a survey in Westchester County and nearly 90 percent of people said they wanted to stay in their homes as long as possible,” said Stoner, who noted the design changes would help make homes elder-friendly.
Universal design and compatibility with the federal Americans With Disabilities Act is already a hallmark of complexes that are specifically used for the elderly or disabled. Tappan Zee Manor in Nyack has ramps and elevators, and has made other modifications to the former hotel it occupies.
Bathrooms at Tappan Zee Manor have grab rails, wide doorways and sinks with no cabinets below so that the independent and assisted-living center’s 80 residents can ease up to the basins to wash their faces or brush their teeth.
There are kitchen-style sinks and counters in the Tappan Zee Manor’s rooms, although they aren’t as low as in ADA Lifestyles’ show home at 459 Saw Mill River Road. Resident Ronnie Kramer, 83, who has lived at Tappan Zee Manor for two years, said the kitchen counter’s height in her room is not an issue.
“I don’t have to wash dishes, clean, cook,” said Kramer, who uses a wheelchair and praises the staff at Tappan Zee Manor. “I don’t have to do anything but to enjoy my life at this age.”
Much of ADA Lifestyles’ design and construction is high-end, using upscale brands like Kohler and Gaggenau. Melvyn Tanzman, executive director of Westchester Disabled on the Move, said many people with lifelong disabilities do not have the means to buy homes, much less outfit them with high-end brands.
Still, Tanzman said that a company like ADA Lifestyles will satisfy the needs of Westchester’s aging, affluent homeowners who don’t want to move out of their homes and prefer to renovate. Tanzman also said that disabled veterans who have subsidies from the federal Department of Veterans Affairs may also be a market for a company like ADA Lifestyles.
Watters and Szalai, 36, of Long Island said the goal of ADA Lifestyles of New York is to banish the institutional look from a disabled person’s home. He recalled a visit to his showroom by the 7-year-old disabled son of a client whose house he will build in New Jersey. “He came up the ramp on his own, went through the space for probably half an hour or 40 minutes,” Watters remembered. “When he was leaving he said to his mom, ‘When can we move in?’ ”
http://www.lohud.com/article/20120120/NEWS02/301200049/Builders-design-homes-easy-disabled-navigate
12:52 AM, Jan. 20, 2012
Contractor Martin Watters earns his living renovating upscale Manhattan home renovations, yet people kept suggesting he focus on the disabled.
This business idea eventually led Watters and his partner, Daniel Szalai, to form ADA Lifestyles of New York and to open a model ranch home during the summer on an industrial stretch of Ardsley to showcase universal design, a home-construction concept that creates attractive, stylish spaces that anyone, regardless of ability, can live in or visit.
Aging baby boomers and a heightened awareness about home design that doesn’t work for the disabled are expanding the demand for universal design. It also got a ***** from Westchester County lawmakers in September when they adopted design standards requiring that 50 percent of new construction using county money be accessible to the disabled — meaning bigger bathrooms, wider hallways and doors, and the elimination of stairs, among other design features. The law took effect in September.
Rockland County also encouraged accessibility-conscious residential construction last year by incorporating elder- and disabled-friendly recommendations into the new county comprehensive plan. The new plan recommends that municipalities speed up the permit process for residents seeking to modify their homes with ramps, grab rails, wider doorways or chair lifts.
“Part of the reason for my getting involved with this issue is knowing what the demographics are and becoming, and wanting to make it clear to the developers that this needs to be part of their planning,” said Harriet Cornell, the Rockland County Legislature’s chairwoman, who in 2010 led the county’s Project Tomorrow: Aging in Place initiative.
An example of universal design is constructing lower counters with no cabinets below so that someone in a wheelchair can move their wheelchair and feet under the counter, among other modifications.
“We also designed the sink with the drain at the back so if somebody is in a wheelchair and they have problems with getting burned with pipes, all the pipes are out of the way,” said Watters, 52, a Yonkers resident who became a paraplegic after a 1987 motorcycle accident at Bear Mountain.
Bill Stoner, associate state director for livable communities at AARP New York, said universal design is gaining traction in New York and nationally. In addition to pushing for universal design in Westchester County, AARP New York also successfully got a law enacted in Suffolk County that mandated greater accessibility in new home construction.
“We did a survey in Westchester County and nearly 90 percent of people said they wanted to stay in their homes as long as possible,” said Stoner, who noted the design changes would help make homes elder-friendly.
Universal design and compatibility with the federal Americans With Disabilities Act is already a hallmark of complexes that are specifically used for the elderly or disabled. Tappan Zee Manor in Nyack has ramps and elevators, and has made other modifications to the former hotel it occupies.
Bathrooms at Tappan Zee Manor have grab rails, wide doorways and sinks with no cabinets below so that the independent and assisted-living center’s 80 residents can ease up to the basins to wash their faces or brush their teeth.
There are kitchen-style sinks and counters in the Tappan Zee Manor’s rooms, although they aren’t as low as in ADA Lifestyles’ show home at 459 Saw Mill River Road. Resident Ronnie Kramer, 83, who has lived at Tappan Zee Manor for two years, said the kitchen counter’s height in her room is not an issue.
“I don’t have to wash dishes, clean, cook,” said Kramer, who uses a wheelchair and praises the staff at Tappan Zee Manor. “I don’t have to do anything but to enjoy my life at this age.”
Much of ADA Lifestyles’ design and construction is high-end, using upscale brands like Kohler and Gaggenau. Melvyn Tanzman, executive director of Westchester Disabled on the Move, said many people with lifelong disabilities do not have the means to buy homes, much less outfit them with high-end brands.
Still, Tanzman said that a company like ADA Lifestyles will satisfy the needs of Westchester’s aging, affluent homeowners who don’t want to move out of their homes and prefer to renovate. Tanzman also said that disabled veterans who have subsidies from the federal Department of Veterans Affairs may also be a market for a company like ADA Lifestyles.
Watters and Szalai, 36, of Long Island said the goal of ADA Lifestyles of New York is to banish the institutional look from a disabled person’s home. He recalled a visit to his showroom by the 7-year-old disabled son of a client whose house he will build in New Jersey. “He came up the ramp on his own, went through the space for probably half an hour or 40 minutes,” Watters remembered. “When he was leaving he said to his mom, ‘When can we move in?’ ”