Marko & Magolnick News

St. Augustine to provide more availability for handicapped

By DAVID HUNT, The Times Union

ST. AUGUSTINE - Until recently, city founder Pedro Menendez and the word "wheelchair" seldom if ever shared space in the same thought.

A court settlement has changed that.

City planners, who agreed to put hundreds of thousands of dollars into upgrading sidewalk access and parking for the disabled, are confronted by a narrow 16th century street grid accented by untouchable heritage trees.

"It's going to be an engineering challenge," City Commissioner George Gardner said. "It's difficult. You want to restore the historic character, but you want to give access to everyone who wants to enjoy it."

St. Augustine was established in 1565, making it the oldest continually inhabited city in the United States.

"It was before the age of even sidewalks," Deputy Public Works Director Samuel Lansdale said. "You'd just walk in the streets and everywhere had steps."

Gardner said city officials have been working for the past several years to upgrade access, with much of the work inspired by the late Robert Jones.

Jones was a disabled resident who said he was once hit by a truck because he was unable to ride his wheelchair on city sidewalks.

Jones was a plaintiff when the suit was filed in U.S. District Court in late 2004. After Jones died, another disabled resident, Merrill Roland, took his place.

"I'm glad the city settled the lawsuit. I didn't want this dragging on. I didn't get a nickel from the city, and I didn't want a nickel from the city. I wanted the problem to be addressed," Roland said.

The settlement calls for $650,000 in spending on projects over the next seven years. Lansdale said the city is on pace to spend $150,000 by the end of August alone. The bulk of that money is going toward rebuilding curb cuts while resurfacing several city streets.

"We're trying to be good stewards," he said.

Gardner said he believes the settlement endorses the ongoing upgrades the city already had planned.

But trouble spots remain trouble spots.

"The question is how do you put handicapped spaces in a 400-year-old city that wasn't designed for cars?" City Attorney Ron Brown said. "I don't want to put them in and get our heads cracked again with someone saying it's not the appropriate length or width."

Perhaps nowhere is the parking squeeze more noticeable than around the Plaza de la Constitucion, a historic park in the heart of downtown.

None of the parallel-parking-style spaces surrounding the park is reserved for the disabled.

Lansdale said traffic creates a safety issue with designating the roadside spots as areas for vehicles like ramp-equipped vans to load and unload. Putting the spaces on Charlotte Street, a short thoroughfare at the east end of the park, is a possibility, he said.

Another problem has been growing in a residential area north of downtown. An old oak tree has become too big for the grass patch on which it has stood for years.

Roots of the tree have pushed the sidewalk upward into such a steep hump that it's against the law for the city to expect wheelchair-bound people to remain safe there. But the tree, a heritage tree, can't be chopped down either.

Workers hired to resurface Grant Street are working around the problem by building a crosswalk for the disabled in the middle of the block.

david.hunt@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4025

---

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SETTLEMENT

In late 2004, a South Florida advocacy group called Access Now filed a lawsuit against St. Augustine alleging deficiencies in the street grid violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. A settlement reached in late July ended the dispute.

Under the settlement:

- The city will spend at least $650,000 over the next seven years improving city roads and parking areas.

- Next printing of the city's free maps will identify all handicapped parking areas.

- The city will not be required to take property by eminent domain or remove heritage trees in order to complete accessibility upgrades.

- The city will not be required to alter historic properties for the upgrades.

- Every two years, the city will pay the plaintiffs $2,750 to hire surveyors, auditors or consultants to review the work the city has done.

Jacksonville.com: Metro: Story: Granting more access to history