Elevator Req. for Apartments over Commercial

[eyan50495]

Hi - I am designing a 10-12 unit apartment building (2nd floor residential only) over a large commercial space and was wondering if an elevator would be required for accessibility and if it's not provided, if the units still need to be Type B (this is a NYS project).

Looking at Title III of the ADA, I see a snippet about >3 stories or >3000 SF per floor.

Thanks

 

[Paul Sweet]

ADA Title III is for commercial buildings open to the public. Apartments would fall under the FHA Fair Housing Amendments.

https://www.huduser.gov/publications/pdf/fairhousing/fairintro.pdf

"The ground floor is defined as a floor of a building with a building entrance on an accessible route. The ground floor may or may not be at grade.
The definition of ground floor further provides that where the first floor containing dwelling units in a building is above grade, all units on that floor must be served by a building entrance on an accessible route. This floor will be considered to be a ground floor."

 

[classicT]

You may want to check out this thread -> https://www.thebuildingcodeforum.co...n-of-ground-floor-and-accessible-route.34397/

 

[Yikes]

Is the apartment building 100% privately funded? Or is it public housing, e.g. are any public funds used to purchase the property construct or manage the apartments, or are there project-based rental vouchers from a government source?

 

[eyan50495]

Is the apartment building 100% privately funded? Or is it public housing, e.g. are any public funds used to purchase the property construct or manage the apartments, or are there project-based rental vouchers from a government source?

I believe it will be privately funded from a private developer.

 

[Jay Smith]

1107.7.1.1 requires an accessible entrance and Type B units on at least one story containing dwelling units. The accessible route doesn‘t specifically require an elevator, but that’s the most likely solution to providing an accessible route to the story above the commercial space.

 

[arwat23]

The Fair Housing Act would apply to this project given the info you provided. Since there are no residences on the "first floor", the second floor (where the apartments are) would be considered the "ground floor" for accessibility reasons and must be on an accessible path.

You don't necessarily need an elevator, but you need an accessible route to the units.

 

[eyan50495]

Thank you all for the information! We determined we would need an elevator if the 'ground floor' was determined to be on the 2nd level. FHA applies as we are >3 units.

 

[eyan50495]

1107.7.1.1 requires an accessible entrance and Type B units on at least one story containing dwelling units. The accessible route doesn‘t specifically require an elevator, but that’s the most likely solution to providing an accessible route to the story above the commercial space.

True - if it was possible, technically, it could be accomplished w/ a ramp even though that would be a horrible use of space.

 

[Yankee Chronicler]

I believe it will be privately funded from a private developer.

Private developers develop public housing projects, and Section 8 projects. Don't "believe" anything. As Ronald Regan said about the Russians, "Trust, but verify."