New $13 Million Villa Lighting HQ Lacks ADA Access Route
Walkability and accessibility do not happen overnight. With strong leadership and a commitment to these goals, as new buildings are built we can incrementally improve both. However, without the right leadership and tools in place to ensure improvements in walkability and accessibility, we will continue to invest in projects geared toward a single mode — the private auto.
I thought I had hammered this message home to Ald. Matt Villa over the poor accessibility of Loughborough Commons, a suburban style highway-centric big box/strip center in his ward (11th). While that project has improved greatly in the last few years it is clear that was as a reaction to pressure from me. To date, the Burger King & Lowes still lack an ADA access route.
I’ve had numerous conversations with Matt Vila over accessibility and walkability. You’d think he would have learned something and ensured the new $13 million headquarters of his family business would have been accessible. With a reported 80 employees it would be reasonable to assume that some might arrive to work on foot — either walking directly from home or taking public transit.
This project is located in my ward, the 6th, where Ald. Kacie Triplett has been on the job for just shy of two years. Of course I don’t think walkability or accessibility should be left up to each of the 28 Aldermen. They clearly don’t know about these things. We are a small city — only 61.9 square miles of land area. This is less than two square miles larger than Columbia MO (60.1 sq. miles of land) and smaller than Springfield Missouri (73.2). My hometown of Oklahoma City is a whopping 607.0 square miles of land area. So we are small in terms of land area but we are fairly dense despite having lost a half million in population since our 1950 peak of 856,000.
But while Springfield Missouri only has 2,000 persons per square mile we have over 5,700. San Francisco has over 17,000 persons in each of its 46.7 square miles of land area. Manhattan, the prominent NYC Borough, has over 70,000 residents per square mile (22.96 square miles of land area). At our 1950 peak, our density was slightly higher than Chicago’s density in 2000.
The point is the greater the density the greater the likelihood of having a population that walks and uses transit. Regions such as NYC and San Francisco have dense walkable centers with less dense, less walkable fringes. Here we continue to weaken our core. Lowering the standard down to that might be acceptable 20 miles outside of the core. I know of no growing region where the core being reduced to suburban fringe levels of density and non-walkability.
Which brings us back to Villa Lighting’s new facility. It is great they stayed in the city. It is unfortunate the building was made to be arrived at by private car only — not by foot or bicycle (no bike rack out front). On the edge of the region it is more reasonable to do single mode development but not in the core. This facility is a short walk from the #70 Grand bus route and the Grand Metrolink light rail station.
For those who physically can, climbing the hill is the most direct route to the front door. Remember this is all new construction so they created the grades.
There is sufficient room for a stair & ramp to the entrance so the new building can be brought into compliance.
For anyone in a wheelchair this is a fortress.
So once again the pedestrian is relegated to the drive designed for autos. So I’m thinking the architect, Clayco’s Forum Studio, must be out of touch on the ADA. But then I switched from the East to West side of the building.
Here the new sidewalk continues on the side street. They even included a street tree. No curb though.
Hallelujah, an accessible route for tenant spaces on the West side of the building. So this has me even more confused. They are obviously aware of the requirement as they complied here. My only guess is they didn’t do it on the East side claiming it wasn’t feasible due to the grades —- grades they created. We should do better.
There’s “legal” compliance and there’s “practical” compliance. I think we’re seeing compliance with the letter of the law here – an accessible route has been provided to the structure. From the ADAAG:
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206.2.1 Site Arrival Points. At least one accessible route shall be provided within the site from accessible parking spaces and accessible passenger loading zones; public streets and sidewalks; and public transportation stops to the accessible building or facility entrance they serve.
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2. An accessible route shall not be required between site arrival points and the building or facility entrance if the only means of access between them is a vehicular way not providing pedestrian access.
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Advisory 206.2.1 Site Arrival Points. Each site arrival point must be connected by an accessible route to the accessible building entrance or entrances served. Where two or more similar site arrival points, such as bus stops, serve the same accessible entrance or entrances, both bus stops must be on accessible routes. In addition, the accessible routes must serve all of the accessible entrances on the site.
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Advisory 206.2.1 Site Arrival Points Exception 2. Access from site arrival points may include vehicular ways. Where a vehicular way, or a portion of a vehicular way, is provided for pedestrian travel, such as within a shopping center or shopping mall parking lot, this exception does not apply.
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206.2.2 Within a Site. At least one accessible route shall connect accessible buildings, accessible facilities, accessible elements, and accessible spaces that are on the same site.
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EXCEPTION: An accessible route shall not be required between accessible buildings, accessible facilities, accessible elements, and accessible spaces if the only means of access between them is a vehicular way not providing pedestrian access.
I pass by this new building often on my commute via various public transportation options (people here probably don’t even realize that there are mulitple options for various routes). This building is easily accessed by the following:
– #70 Grand bus and Metrolink (as you already mentioned)
– #11 Chippewa
– #57 Manchester
– #58X Big Bend Express
– #410X Eureka Twin Oaks Express
(the two express buses, by the way, are quick ways to get from the SLU Med school area of South Grand to downtown during the two rush hour periods)
So, yes Steve, I completely agree that this new facility is easily served by transit and even by suburban commuter transit. They can and will easily have employees that will use this option of commuting. More thought should have gone into how the building and entries relate to the street, especially since this is a city environment.
^ Just to finish out the thought, I forgot one bus line. This building is also served by:
– #13 Union
I agree, it’s not good or complete access. It boils down to meeting the letter of the law versus meeting the spirit of the law. The current federal regulation has, in my mind, an unacceptable amount of “wiggle room”. I’m sure it’s written in response to concerns expressed from rural areas, but it defines what is legally required even in urban situations. I also have no idea what, if any, requirements the city might have that would be more stringent. While tightening up the federal regulation would serve the larger goal, implementing more-stringent local regulations might be a lot more attainable and enforceable. And from what I can see in your photos, it appears that Ewing lacks a sidewalk, which puts it in the realm of “if the only means of access between them is a vehicular way not providing pedestrian access”. Should the city (have) require(d) a new sidewalk along Ewing? Probably yes, but since they obviously didn’t, it pretty much leaves Villa off the hook in technical, legal terms.
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The other point worth exploring is the difference between access TO the building and WITHIN the building. My read of the regulation noted above is that only one path of travel / access is required to the building. The following regulation seems to offer only a little more clarification and a lot more confusion:
“206.2.4 Spaces and Elements. At least one accessible route shall connect accessible building or facility entrances with all accessible spaces and elements within the building or facility which are otherwise connected by a circulation path unless exempted by: In private buildings or facilities that are less than three stories . . . an accessible route shall not be required to connect stories provided that the building or facility is not a shopping center, a shopping mall, the professional office of a health care provider, a terminal, depot or other station used for specified public transportation, an airport passenger terminal, or another type of facility as determined by the Attorney General.” This probably hair splitting (but hey, it’s what lawyers do), but do exterior doors on the same “story” (as they are here) have to be connected by an accessible exterior route?!
It is essential to get pedestrian accessibility standards into the local land development regulations. Unfortunately, federal ADA guidelines are typically enforced at the local level by planners and engineers who consider them to be less important than stormwater management, parking design, and landscaping improvements.
Without minimum requirements in the zoning ordinance and other land development regulations, this will remain a losing battle (especially in the face of job creation and economic development needs).
For more on promoting walkability and pedestrian access in your community, contact Building Place here.
REASON THE BUILDING SITS SO HIGH ABOVE THE ROAD:
CLAYCO AND VILLA BOYS OPTED TO BURY THE HAZARDOUS MATERIAL ON SITE RATHER THAN CLEAN IT UP.
REASON ADA ON WEST ONLY:
WEST SIDE FOR FUTURE TENANT – THEY FIGURED THEY’LD HAVE TO. NOT ON THE EAST SIDE BECAUSE VILLA DOES NOT EMPLOY PEOPLE IN WHEELCHAIRS.
REASON THE BUILDING IS SO BAD:
CLAYCO & FORUM STUDIO, ZONING
REASON NO TREES ALONG THE STREET AS REQUIRED:
GOOD QUESTION FOR ALDERMAN MATT VILLA
I had a chance to drive by this afternoon – this place is BIG! One fundamental question is whether this is an office-warehouse facility (private workplace) for Villa or if it also includes a retail showroom, open to the public? If it’s primarily a warehouse, its access requirements are significantly less stringent than if it includes a retail operation. A workplace just needs to make reasonable accomodations for their employees; a place of public accomodation (retail store) must be accessible to all potential customers.
Steve, if you like to talk to aldermen about accessability and walkability I wish you would talk to them about why the city is SELLING some of it’s walkable property. Yes, you read right, they are selling it. At the recent Southampton Neighborhood meeting I asked alderwoman Donna Barringer about the walkways I have seen that have been closed off by privacy fences. She told me that those people had to buy the strip of property from the city. Evidently if there is no opposition from their neighbors the city sells them the strip of land. What I would like to know is how does one know when this is about to happen? It happened on my block and nobody from the city told me anything. I certainly would have been opposed to it had I known. To late now, the walkway has been torn out and sodded over and is now a part of someones yard.
@ jimmy z. Villa lighting no longer does retail.
Dennis, are you talking about public sidewalks, fronting the street and incorporating and easment between the street and the sidewalk, or are you talking about gangways between buildings? Or something else? I’m not quite clear on your precise meaning. Seems funny though that somone would tear out a public sidewalk, only to have it trampled and walked upon as if the sidewalk were still there. Seeding and reseeding, and “hey you kids, get off my lawn!”.
CC, I hope for the sake of Clayco Craporation and Villa that it was a brownfield site, and not a Superfund site. Of course, considering the criminal chicanery which went on during the Bush administration, (hmm, wouldn’t being an “administration” imply an ability to “administrate”?) I wouldn’t be surprised if they received a little “assistance” from the EPA.
Samizdat – If I may, I think Dennis is referring to the midblock walkways running between houses, across alleys, and then out through to the next street. Some consider these security breaches. They are great for friendly neighbor access. Unfortunately, they are also great escape routes for vandal teens or worse.
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There are only a few of these around the city, with Southampton having maybe three or four of them. The old walkways (only about 4 or 5 feet wide) are a cool throwback to the days of unlocked doors and total walkability.
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Unfortunately, the world is a different place now. Lots of people prioritize personal security over everything else.
These people decide to stay in the city and build a new building when the economy is in the tank and your bitching about sidewalk access! Jesus H
Dumb me, thanks for clearing it up to Samizdat what I was talking about. Yes, the mid-block walkways, and they are usually much wider than a gangway, about as wide as a driveway. I dont consider them a breach of security. If a neighborhood has people out walking around all the time it will naturally have less security. People don’t commit crimes if they feel there are eyes upon them. Breach of security? HA! Thas what I call all the stupid blasted privacy fences that have sprung up in the last decade. There was a time when I could look across several back yards and if I saw something or someone suspicious I could call the police. But with the privacy fences I can’t see beyond my own yard anymore so if someone is breaking in next door I guess they just get away with it.
Bottom line is I don’t like the way the city handles the situation. Everyone on the block should have a say in these so called sell offs of neighborhood property.
Sorry, in that second to last comment of mine I ment to say, if a neighborhood has people out walking around it all the time it will have LESS CRIME.
Thanks guys, for clarifying that for me. Yes, I know what your talking about now. I believe there is one of those walkways on Clayton near DeMun. It even has a name, which escapes me at the moment. As for the whole affair coming to light only when the jackhammers are pulled off of the truck and put to use, well what can one say. It’s not who you know, it’s who you…I share your disgust with the manner in which bidness is done in our podunk little berg. I wonder how much the City asked for that little strip. It would seem, if this were run fairly, they would have put the property on the open market, and asked for bids. You know, so they could get the best price. For our property, the taxpayer’s. Hmm, I wonder if there is any law which governs the sale of City property. ‘Twould seem, if no open bidding process were followed, this sale may be, oh, what’s that word? Il-il-il-something. Oh, that’s right, illegal. Snarkiness is fun! As for BillyX, do you think Steve P. and others who share physical limitations of any sort are fully vested as citizens? If so, then why would you not advocate for the fullest of accommodation to their needs? As our nation’s populace ages, we will find ourselves facing a growing segment of our citizenry needing the very accommodations which were designed to allow free access to all of our citizens. One would think that fighting for good design and accessible public, institutional, residential, commercial, and industrial spaces would benefit us all. Because, as you know, we are all getting older. No one is immune from that fate. Not even me. Which sucks the big one, but waddya gonna do?
Villa Lighting got out of the retail business in 2002 or 2003. This is an office and warehouse facility only, and is not open to the general public.
In speaking to some of their employees, those who choose to ride bicycles to work are allowed to keep them inside the building.
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