Metropolis Of Arvada Releases Draft ADA Transition Plan, Opens Public Remark

March 4, 2021

The city of Arvada today launched Access Arvada, a public feedback process to gather input from Arvada residents on the city’s draft ADA transition plan. The draft plan, also released today, focuses on Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability for state and local government services. The city strives to provide accessible programs, services and facilities for people with disabilities. A public comment period for the ADA transition plan runs from March 5 to March 26, 2021.

A more accessible city helps all residents and visitors. For example:

• Building safe and reliable infrastructure such as sidewalks serves residents throughout their lives, from young families to aging residents with limited mobility.
• Providing a website that is well suited for people with disabilities makes it easier for anyone to find information online.
• Providing interpretation and translation services to visitors to facilities and events in the city enhances our policies and programs by incorporating more perspectives and experiences from our community.

The city of Arvada commissioned Meeting the Challenge Inc. (MTC) to carry out an on-site review of ADA compliance in the city’s facilities, parks and leisure facilities, as well as the public right of way. The report provides an analysis of the data collected from 25 facilities, 112 urban parks and recreational facilities, and nearly 800 miles of public right of way to identify and describe obstacles set out in the 2010 ADA Accessible Design Standards (ADA Standards) applicable) and priorities for removing barriers as recommended by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

The draft ADA Transition Plan is designed to manage the removal of barriers to accessibility across the city. Given that changes require resources, the results have been prioritized according to the difficulty and cost of removing obstacles and, for pedestrian facilities, the volume of pedestrian traffic.

For buildings, parks and golf courses in the city, the prioritization of the barrier distance for access to the program is complex. All determinations of conditions that did not comply with the technical provisions of the ADA standards were reviewed by the city to determine whether each determination could restrict or prevent access to a service, program, or activity. From there, each finding was assigned a value related to the difficulty and cost of removing obstacles.

The city’s transition plan for pedestrian facilities is prioritized on the assumption that certain facilities are more likely to generate more pedestrian traffic. For example, the sidewalks in front of a school or in the Arvada Center are more likely to experience high levels of pedestrian traffic than the sidewalks in front of houses in a quiet, residential area.

Public comments are an essential step in developing the draft ADA transition plan. Arvada residents and community organizations have several options to review and provide feedback on the draft ADA transition plan. The draft ADA transition plan and a survey are available on the city’s engagement platform SpeakUp.Arvada.org. The draft ADA transition plan and a PDF survey are also available at arvada.org/access-arvada. Residents who wish to request the map and survey in a different format should call 720-898-7367 or email the city at [email protected].

This press release was produced by the city of Arvada. The views expressed here are the author’s own.