GOV
Overview
Approximately 50,000 people living in the City of St. Louis have disabilities. “Disability” refers to a lot of different kinds of impairments that people experience—difficulty seeing, hearing, walking, thinking, learning, managing emotions, and various other human conditions. Leading “ordinary” lives is often hard for people with disabilities. For example, the inability to read a menu, go up steps, or hear directions can make it difficult to order food, visit neighbors, or find a location.
The City of St. Louis cannot solve all those problems. But it can make its facilities and programs more usable—“accessible“—for people with disabilities by removing barriers to access. This ADA Transition Plan endeavors to do just that.
ADA Transition Plan
With input from the public, community stakeholders, and various City departments, the Board of Public Service has developed an ADA Transition Plan that will guide us as we work to remove barriers to access in City streets, parks, and buildings
About the Project
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 requires that all state and local agencies with more than fifty (50) employees perform a “self-evaluation” of their programs, services, and activities and identify the policies, procedures, conditions, and circumstances that keep the agencies’ programs and facilities from being fully usable and accessible for people with disabilities (sometimes called “barriers to access”). Upon identifying these barriers, each agency is required to create a “Transition Plan” in which it schedules and describes the elimination of those barriers to access.
This ADA Transition Plan focuses on the pedestrian assets within the public right-of-way (sidewalks, curb ramps, and pedestrian signals); parks and facilities maintained by the Department of Parks, Recreations, and Forestry; and City-owned facilities maintained by the Facilities Management Division as well as those administrative documents, policies, and procedures relating to those facilities, including those issued by the Department of the President.
With over 2,000 miles of sidewalk, over a hundred parks, and hundreds of buildings, the self-evaluation will be ongoing and will coincide with the elimination of the previously identified barriers.
As a living document, the Plan will expand as future evaluations are completed, inform future work, and maintain records of completed work. Save for major modifications, the plan will be updated as needed by the Office on the Disabled through the Design Division of the Department of the President, Board of Public Service.
Survey
The Board of Public Service and Office on the Disabled developed a community engagement survey to gather information on how residents access the programs, services, and activities throughout the City and provide an opportunity to identify any barriers to access. A total of 337 responses were received and used to develop priorities and guide the first round of ADA improvement projects. A copy of the survey and the results are included in Exhibit 4-1 of the Framework Document.
Community Engagement
The City hosted a series of meetings to answer residents' questions, gather feedback, and provide information on how citizens and organizations can assist the City in the development of the Plan. Past meeting materials can be viewed below.
Past Meeting Materials
Project Schedule
| Phase 1 of the ADA Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan | |
|---|---|
| Winter 2020 |
Project kickoff
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Develop the framework of Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan
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| Spring 2020 |
Develop a City-wide prioritization map
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Develop a priority list for future self-evaluations
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| Summer 2020 |
Data collection
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Community engagement
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| Fall 2020 | |
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Review policies and procedures
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| Winter 2021 through Spring 2023 |
Self-evaluation: City buildings, properties, and parks
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| Summer 2023 through Winter 2024 | Public comment period |
| Winter 2024 | Adoption |
It's a Fact
The City has been removing barriers long before the ADA; on June 19, 1974, the City enacted ordinance 56770 to construct "slanted curbing" (i.e. curb ramps) at intersections.
Contact Us
Office on the Disabled
David Newburger, Commissioner
Andrew Lackey, Deputy Commissioner
Phone: (314) 622-3686
Board of Public Service
Eric Bothe, P.E., Project Manager
Phone: (314) 641-8379
Email: ADA_STL@stlouis-mo.gov
Resources
Report a Disability Issue
Submit concerns on disabled parking, ADA accessibility of public buildings and programs, no interpreter for the deaf provided, sidewalk and ramp repair or replacement, sidewalk inspections.
