CAI-NJ June 2017

ACCESSIBILITY... from page 18.

State Now it gets interesting. New Jersey has its own law governing accessibil- ity. Commonly called the New Jersey Barrier Free SubCode, more formally TITLE 5. COMMUNITY AFFAIRS, CHAPTER 23. UNIFORM CONSTRUCTION CODE, SUBCHAPTER 7. BARRIER FREE SUBCODE, (N.J.A.C. 5:23-7) . Since our discussion concerns re-paving projects, the Barrier Free SubCode speaks to re-paving projects in § 5:23-7.13 Existing facilities – “(a) Construction projects in existing buildings or facilities shall comply with the Rehabilitation Subcode, N.J.A.C. 5:23-6.” T he Rehabilitation SubCode provides complete relief from compli- ance with the Barrier Free SubCode where the cost to comply is deemed too excessive. N.J.A.C 5:23-6 (k) “In a building required by the barrier free sub- code to be accessible, where the space altered is a primary function space, an accessible path of travel to the altered space shall be provided up to the point at which the cost of providing accessi- bility is disproportionate to the cost of the overall alteration project; a cost is disproportionate if it exceeds 20 per- cent of the cost of the alteration work”. If the costs are not excessive, the community must comply with the cur- rent Barrier Free SubCode. Areas of expected compliance would be changes to the striping layout to accommodate current requirements for the number and sizes of acces- sible, and van accessible, parking spaces and loading areas. After all, it is only the cost of the paint. However,

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