City to mull shrinking of handicapped spaces

A proposed ordinance to reduce the size of handicapped parking spaces and the gap between them in Las Vegas has drawn fire from the leader of Southern Nevada's largest disabled-rights organization.

Vince Triggs, longtime director of the Southern Nevada Association for the Handicapped, says the bill to be introduced at Monday's City Council meeting will be "a step backward for the entire community" if it is passed in its present form.

The bill calls for the city to reduce the size of handicapped spaces at new developments from a width of 9 feet to 8 feet. It also would require a 5-foot access aisle on only one side of those handicapped spaces instead of the current two such aisles that sandwich each space.

The city attorney's office and planning department say the proposed ordinance would meet the minimum federal standards established by the Americans With Disabilities Act.

The proposed ordinance comes in the wake of complaints from area developers who claim that too much space is allotted for handicapped parking.

"We always encourage more than the minimum standards of the ADA," Triggs, a former Nevada assemblyman who has been director of the 1,500-member SNAH since 1981, said Wednesday.

"That is true for handicapped parking, handicapped-accessible bathroom stalls and other reasonable accommodations that give disabled citizens freedom to have the accessibility to the things we all enjoy."

Bob Genzer, a planning supervisor for the city, said efforts were made to accommodate everyone from developers to the disabled.

"We consulted Planning Commissioner Stephen Quinn, who is both a contractor and the father of a disabled child, and he felt the federal standards were sufficient," Genzer said.

"We initially wanted better (than the ADA) standards, but when we started getting a lot of complaints through the Building Department's permitting process, we decided to take a second look and perhaps go back to the old standards."

The current ordinance went into effect at the start of this year and applies only to new businesses or businesses that make changes to existing property. All other businesses within the city limits are required to meet the minimum ADA standards.

Triggs said no city official contacted his organization to let him know that reduction of the handicapped spaces was being considered. He reckons that a good number of eligible developments would reduce the size of handicapped spaces should the proposed ordinance pass as it now reads.

Triggs noted that 12 percent of Southern Nevada's population is disabled.

No action will be taken on the bill until public input has been gathered. On Monday, the council will assign it to a recommending committee of two or more council members and set a date for a hearing. Chief Deputy City Attorney Val Steed said that hearing probably will be July 20.

From there, the bill must be revised and published. It should go before the entire council for a vote in mid-August or early September.

Triggs said he will attend the recommending committee's hearing to represent the views of the disabled community.

City Councilman Larry Brown, who sponsored the proposed ordinance, was vacationing Wednesday in Pennsylvania and was unavailable for comment. His ward liaison, Patrick Smith, said Brown was approached by the city's Planning Department to sponsor the bill.

"This is being proposed to help alleviate some of our traffic and parking woes," Smith said. "Because we have been requiring more landscaping (for business), more room has to be made to accommodate everyone with adequate parking."

A recent memo from City Attorney Brad Jerbic to the council reads in part: "It has been suggested that the federal standards provide adequate accessibility and will reduce hardship on the development community that is said to have resulted from the application of the city standards."

Under the current city ordinance, a business that wants to establish two spaces for handicapped parking must provide 18 feet for the spaces and an additional 15 feet for the aisles to accommodate wheelchair lifts -- a total of 33 feet.

The proposed ordinance would reduce the area to 16 feet for the spaces and 5 feet for the one aisle between them -- a total of 21 feet.

Triggs said the elimination of one of the access aisles may be a bigger bone of contention than the reduction of the size of the spaces.

"There are no standards for wheelchair lifts -- they can be on the right, left or rear," Triggs said. "With only one access aisle, a person would have to navigate his car or van in backward if his lift is not on the side where the access aisle is available. And he would have a foot less (parking) space in which to do it."

Triggs also said the ADA was never meant to hurt the businesses community.

"We do not want the situation to be onerous or burdensome on businesses, especially smaller ones like convenience stores," he said. "But instead of making such a major change to a good ordinance, we would support a change that would allow for businesses that felt they did not have the available space to apply for a waiver.

"But the way this proposal now reads, it is a step backward for the entire community, not just the disabled community."

If the proposed ordinance passes, the city would go from being more progressive than Clark County to being less disabled-friendly in regard to handicapped parking.

The county ordinance requires spaces for handicapped parking to be 9 feet wide, but it mandates only one 5-foot access aisle on either side of the space, as the city now is proposing. The county requires handicapped spaces to be 19 feet long, the city 18 feet. That would not change under the proposed ordinance.

The county does not have similar legislation proposed to change its rules on handicapped parking.

Triggs said the average citizen doesn't know the difference between city or county jurisdiction or where the boundaries are located.

"We have come a long way since the days when we had to fight hard to get any handicapped parking spaces or handrails in bathroom stalls," Triggs said. "Because we have made such tremendous progress, I hate to see us take any step backward."

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