Ridgefield makes progress toward ADA compliance
RIDGEFIELD — The town’s Commission for the Disabled foresees making the town fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 a yearslong process but the town is chipping away at it year by year.
“We are required to be compliant today, so we do our best to make sure we are meeting the needs of all of our residents, visitors and staff. That’s likely to be a yearslong process,” ADA coordinator Tony Phillips said.
“There will be a long checklist, some little things, some big things that need to be addressed, but generally speaking, the ADA requires our town programs to be accessible. But, it doesn’t stipulate how we make them accessible, so that’s where the tricky nuance comes in,” he said.
The ADA — signed into law in 1990 — was created to ensure people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as others. Under its second title, local and state governments are required to make their services, programs and facilities accessible to all individuals with disabilities.
The town realized numerous improvements needed to be made to public spaces that would allow universal access several years ago. The Commission for the Disabled started working with the selectman’s office to implement changes gradually, including a budget line item that contributes money toward ADA projects annually.
“I allocated $75,000 we spend every year toward ADA compliance, I don’t know many communities that are doing that,” First Selectman Rudy Marconi said.
The commission began a townwide assessment in 2017 and later contracted the Institue for Human Centered Design to survey the town’s needs and make ADA-compliant recommendations in 2018. Almost four years later, the commission is finalizing their work with IHCD and reviewing their suggestions.
Phillips said he’s had “probably less than a handful” of individuals in need of accessibility changes in his seven years working with the town, which he’s been able to resolve “relatively quickly.”
Since beginning the survey, the commission has made multiple changes to increase accessibility to town buildings and spaces including installations of ADA-compliant water fountains, doorknobs, ramps and a special elevator.
The issue the commission faces is trying to retrofit ADA-compliant elements with predated buildings, such as the police and fire departments.
“When I think of the stock of buildings we have, many of them were built before 1990. Everything that was built before 1990 didn’t need to adhere to the ADA,” Phillips said. “If you have to go back and retrofit something, there’s an added cost to that, rather than looking at something brand new and just making it universally accessible from the getgo.”
Per ADA guidelines buildings constructed before 1990 have to make reasonable modifications for accessibility. In years past when a meeting was held on an upper level in a building lacking a stairlift or elevator, the solution was to build an elevator. However now, the meeting location is changed to a more accessible place, Phillips said.
Going forward, the town plans to continue addressing compliance issues by renovating public bathrooms, school playgrounds and sidewalks, in addition to other needs that arise. Ridgefield’s Commission for the Disabled Chairman Donald Ciota said the town has received few complaints about accessibility and remains vigilant to residents’ needs.
“This is something we try to stay ahead of the curve because it is the law but more importantly it’s the right thing to do,” Ciota said.
“This is important because there are a lot of people out there who don’t have advocates. It’s one thing if you have family members that are there for you, but we have to think of those who don’t have that, who need just a little bit of assistance, a little bit of accommodation and they can live normal lives,” he added.