Wheelchair Lift Outside of Building
There are four or five steps to get up to the entrance of our small condo building from the sidewalk, so the developer installed a wheelchair lift. However, since the building is a walk-up, and the two units on the first floor are duplexes, it would be nearly impossible for a person in a wheelchair…
There are four or five steps to get up to the entrance of our small condo building from the sidewalk, so the developer installed a wheelchair lift. However, since the building is a walk-up, and the two units on the first floor are duplexes, it would be nearly impossible for a person in a wheelchair to ever actually live in the building (and have access to their whole apartment).
The wheelchair lift requires at least two inspections every year and a maintenance contract (or risk getting fined), which is not an insignificant expense to a building of only 8 units.
Is there any way we can legally remove the lift? It would be nice to be able to trim a seemingly unnecessary expense from our annual budget.
you will not be able to remove the lift as the main entrance must be handicapped accessible. Unless if you can change it for a ramp which is doubtful you must maintain it.
You can try to get an exemption from MOPD but I doubt it that you shall get one especially since it is already there it will diminish the accessibility capability
I think that a lift just requires a single annual Category 1 inspection and a 5 year full load test.
A recently constructed building would not be allowed to have steps and a lift. That is retrofit to an existing building built prior to the law banning steps. And it isn’t the ideal solution, which is a ramp. SO I don’t understand the problem. Perhaps it is on a recently rehabbed building, even then, if a new C of O is required the examiners generally want some sort of ramp or on-grade entry. Electric lifts on the exterior are a last resort and a maintenance nightmare. I agree that you are probably stuck with it but you should consult with a DOB fixer type, to see what your options may be.
If the building is accessible from the street, a wheelchair user could install their own stair lift between floors in either of the first floor duplexes – or, depending on how the space is configured and/or who they live with, could possibly use just the first floor of a duplex.
Because so few buildings are accessible in this city, the two first floor units could potentially command higher prices than they could without the outside lift = possibly higher comps for the whole building.
This is how the developer was able to get more sellable sqft out of the project while not dealing with height issues of the building and at the same time moving the ongoing expenses of the wheelchair lift to the condo buyers.
My guess this is an issue with a certain development on 16th street?
If recently constructed, then it was required by law. You are stuck with it.
Thanks – yes, this is a recently constructed building. A ramp doesn’t appear to be an option for us.
What Jock is getting at is, if this is an older building, you could replace the lift with a ramp that encroaches past the lot line onto the street by up to 44 inches. However, if you have to go up 4 or 5 steps – that translates to about 30″. The maximum slope of a legal ramp is 1 inch per foot, so you would be looking at constructing a 30′ long ramp. All of your other options would probably be more expensive than continuing to maintain the HC lift.
Is this a recently constructed building?