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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 02-21-2017-13-4 - Information Item - Memorandum - Update on Expanded Orange County Facilities Accessibility Self-Assessment INFORMATION ITEM m V uMUO uuu� UIp�IuWuu9u9uWuuUumr f ( Pi III m ��O p0V uV ouuuuuum uuuuuuuu,mwm''p, u.•III "M Pry. RI' .., I IN To: Board of Orange County Commissioners From: Brennan Bouma, Sustainability Coordinator Date: February 21, 2017 Subject: Update on Expanded Orange County Accessibility Self-Assessment Summary The purpose of this information item is to provide a brief update in advance of a final detailed report on the Orange County Facilities Accessibility Self-Assessment effort and its expansion to assess all sidewalks on County-managed property and to enter a previous petition response into the public record. Much of this item consists of the response which was originally emailed on February 16, 2016 answering the petition from Commissioner Jacobs during the meeting of the Board of Orange County Commissioners (BOCC)on February 2nd, 2016. What has been added is a brief update on the status of the expanded Accessibility Self-Assessment and a plan for the delivery of the final report. With the combined effort of several disabled County volunteers, the Orange County Human Relations Commission, the Disability Awareness Council, and many County staff, all 46 facilities and 5.1 miles of sidewalks have been assessed on a set of more than 50 accessibility criteria. Assessments took place over more than a year's time and in the end 470 action items were identified The delivery of the final report was postponed until April 2017 to allow time to address findings from the Summer-Fall 2016 County sidewalk accessibility assessment. The full assessment report will be delivered in writing. Staff will be available to present the report at that time or when the Accessibility Capital Investment Plan (CIP) item is covered in more detail during BOCC CIP work sessions in the Spring. Efforts to improve the accessibility of the County's facilities and sidewalks for all County residents are underway. While these adjustments and repairs continue, further efforts and investments can be added to continually improve the accessibility of County's documents, technology, programs, and services for those with hearing and visual impairments. Background During the meeting of the Orange County Board of Commissioners on February 2nd, 2016, Commissioner Jacobs asked for staff to include an assessment of the following in the ongoing comprehensive assessment of facilities accessibility: sidewalks, elevators (braille), documents, and technology. This response contains relevant information to inform the related petition of Commissioner Price from the same meeting to assess accessibility for the hearing-and vision-impaired. The Board may recall that the Facilities Accessibility Self-Assessment began June 2, 2015 and Staff provided a report on the progress of the Assessment on December 15th, 2015. While several facilities remain to be assessed through this initiative, ongoing facilities maintenance work continues to address some of the assessment's most common findings. Asset Management Services (AMS) Facilities Maintenance technicians are also responding using updated preventive maintenance protocols to match the current ADA standard for correcting and maintaining door opening pressures. Through the assessments, the departmental safety teams and other representatives have also been trained to identify and address barriers to accessibility on an ongoing basis. P.O. Box 8181 * 131 West Margaret Lane,3rd Floor* Hillsborough, North Carolina 27278 Telephone: (919)245-2626 E-mail: bbouma @orangecountync.gov 2 Sidewalk Accessibility and Connectivity: The County is responsible for maintaining the sidewalks on its own property. The original Facilities Accessibility Self-Assessment measured the width, slope, and surface integrity of all sidewalks connecting an accessible parking space and the main accessible entrance(s)of all County facilities. In response to Commissioner Jacobs' petition, The County Sustainability Coordinator partnered with the County Transportation Planner and other staff from the Planning and Inspections Department to plan and conduct the sidewalk accessibility assessment. After recruiting the assistance of a very capable intern from the UNC Sustainable Triangle Field Site, the assessment was expanded to include a more comprehensive assessment and mapping of County sidewalks, and also the bike racks, and bus stops on County-managed property. Field work was conducted throughout the Fall of 2016 and all of the findings were entered into the County's Geographical Information System (GIS)database so that it would be most useful for future planning efforts. The additional benefit to accessibility of the mapping effort is that Asset Management Services knows exactly where to go throughout the County's 5.1 miles of sidewalks to verify and address the possible accessibility issues that were identified. Beyond this assessment, large-scale sidewalk assessments and improvements are conducted on an ongoing iterative basis by the County and by municipalities within the County. The County assesses and plans for pedestrian infrastructure improvements during the Comprehensive Transportation Planning (CTP) process. The last CTP was created in 2013 and these plans are often updated every 4 or 5 years and public input on sidewalk improvements and other transportation priorities is sought in this process. Many of the main roads and sidewalks both inside and outside of the jurisdiction of Orange County's municipalities are managed by the NCDOT. In the fall of 2015, James Davis reached out to the accessibility specialist at NCDOT and learned that resources may be available to assist with accessibility assessments and improvements along NCDOT-maintained roads such as Churton Street(NC 86)and NC 70. Staff will renew that connection and will get more information about what level of assessment is possible and on which corridors in the County. Municipalities throughout Orange County have their own ongoing processes in place for assessing and addressing sidewalk connectivity and maintenance issues. The Town of Hillsborough developed a comprehensive "Community Connectivity Plan" in 2009 (updated in 2013)to assess sidewalk issues and prioritize improvements and they have a current"Sidewalk Connections Project". No later than April of this year, the Town of Hillsborough will begin a 7-month project to increase accessibility along a large section of Churton Street in downtown, in a project called the "Churton Street Access Improvements Project". Chapel Hill's sidewalk priorities are laid out in their 2014 Bike Plan. They have historically assessed their sidewalk infrastructure through regular"Mobility Report Cards." Accessible Signage (braille and other) and Elevators: One of the six sections of the Facilities Accessibility Assessment Checklist relates entirely to high-contrast and tactile signage, braille and other types of wayfinding assistance for the visually impaired. Beyond the ADA standards, assessment teams have consistently identified opportunities to increase visual contrast on stairways and at abrupt changes in the slope of sidewalks and interior walkways. Several types of signage improvements have been identified in the Facilities Accessibility Assessments, including a lack of braille on some County elevators such as the Whitted meeting room elevator. County staff will begin upgrading signage this Spring and will address any remaining signage concerns in the next fiscal year. Hearing Impairment Technologies,Website, and Document Accessibility: To assist County residents with hearing impairments, the County's telephone device for the deaf(TDD) number is listed first on the "Contact" page of the County website. This TDD line is answered by the Housing, Human Rights and Community Development Department and allows for residents and County staff to communicate through text over the telephone lines. Several other technologies are also now available for convenient text communication (Ex- email, instant messenger, etc) but the County maintains this equipment in the case that some residents may still rely on the TDD system. County staff in the Housing, Human Rights and Community Development Department are unaware of any TDD calls in the 3 past 2 years. That said, there may be a need for a face-to-face visual communication device for those who may not know sign language. Staff is evaluating an industry standard portable face-to-face visual communication device called the "Ubi Duo 2" available for purchase at an estimated $2,000. Several accessibility features were also integrated into the redesign of the County website to assist those with visual impairments (Ex-descriptive captions for pictures, high-contrast colors that do not rely on red and green, etc.). County staff will continue to evaluate and potentially improve these features in order that they meet the needs of our disabled residents. The extent to which the County's paper documents which are produced for the public (pamphlets, brochures, posters, etc.) are digitized, and the extent to which those and other digital materials are accessible is an open question that staff continues to study.With hundreds of current public-facing documents and thousands of historical records, assessing their accessibility is likely to be a major undertaking, and the standards for measuring their accessibility are less clear. County staff recommends addressing this issue as a possible second phase.