68-18 Approving Update to ADA Transition Plan of 2013 and Title VI Plan: Non Discrimination in City Services, Programs & Activities under the Civil Rights Act of 1964

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numerous public parks. However, a few lots are not in compliance, and the City intends, where easily achievable,to make all its parking lots ADA compliant by November 1, 2019. The City will adhere to PROWAG (Public Right-of-Way Accessibility Guidelines)for existing or for any future city-owned or operated surface parking lots. On Street Parking.The City estimates that there are a total of 897 on-street parking spaces in the downtown central business area.' South Bend's Central Business District is an area comprised of about 25 blocks from Marion Street on the north down to Western Avenue on the east and from Lafayette to the River (the Central Business District Zone). On-street parking in downtown South Bend consists of angled two hour free parking the width of Michigan Street,with parallel spaces serving the remainder of downtown street parking. Even with parking garages,the total available downtown street parking is barely adequate during peak business hours for the needs of restaurants, professional businesses and offices, retail stores, and other places of public accommodation concentrated in the downtown area. PROWAG requires that there be 18 ADA reserved on-street spaces in the Central Business District ("CBD") Zone (2% of 897 total), of which three (3) must be van accessible. Prior to the City's 2016 Smart Street Project affecting the CBD Zone, converting Main Street and St. Joseph Streets from one-way to two-way, the City had reserved well more than the ADA number of required parking spaces on the downtown streets for disabled persons, but these spaces did not meet the 2011 draft PROWAG standards for on-street parking in terms of space width for areas where the sidewalks were 14 feet wide or more. For angled parking, creation of one PROWAG parking space requires the loss of two regular spaces. For parallel parking, creation of one PROWAG space requires extensive sidewalk loss, which affects pedestrian sidewalk traffic, including persons in wheelchairs, and outdoor business usage of sidewalks. Nonetheless, the City will use PROWAG in the Central Business District although it will result in fewer spaces overall reserved for disabled persons. Most of the PROWAG compliant ADA parking is in the angled parking of Michigan Street. Three van accessible spaces are located on Main Street (an addition of two van accessible spaces); one van accessible space is on Jefferson Boulevard close to the disability entry to the St. Joseph County Courthouse and the County City Building and seven more standard size disabled spaces are on Michigan Street. Eight standard size PROWAG disabled spaces have been constructed as follows: two (2) spaces on Jefferson Boulevard—serving the County-City Building and the federal and county courthouses; two (2) spaces on Washington Street (also serving the 1 Source is Downtown Parking Study, Rich&Associates, Inc.(February 2016). Page 19