Chelan council approves ADA transition plan

CHELAN – The next time some frustrated colleague suggests: 

“Why don’t you do something useful like go outside and count the cracks in the sidewalk?” 

You can reply:

“That has already been done.”

At least it is in the City of Chelan.

In compliance with provisions of the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) enacted on July 26, 1990, the Jan. 14 city council adopted its ADA Transition Plan completed with the assistance of Kirkland-based Transpo Group (transpogroup.com).

Founded in1975, Transpo describes itself as an industry leader, specializing in planning and designing transportation systems that cater to all users, including drivers, transit riders, cyclists, pedestrians, and beyond. 

The ADA requires cities, counties, and other government agencies with more than 50 employees to have an ADA self-evaluation and transition plan. This is a project not to be taken lightly both in terms of compliance and cost. As councilmember and former mayor Bob Goedde commented during the motion comments: “If we don’t do this, we’re in real trouble.”

The city street department inventoried all obstacles to disabled residents as part of the compilation process. That included inspection and evaluation of the public right-of-way features of sidewalks, curb ramps, bus stops, parking stalls, and pedestrian pushbuttons.

“The city used our own city staff to walk every sidewalk, every driveway approach throughout the entire city to document every single crack and gap and slope that was either too steep in multiple directions,” said city engineer Travis Denham. “We did all that data collection internally and provided that to Transpo Group and they created a document…that we can use moving forward to document and keep track of ADA barriers in the future.”

Denham said the document describes the method used to make the facility accessible, specifies the schedule for next steps, and indicates the official responsible for implementing the plan.

The 53-page plan is on the city’s website under Public Works, Street Department. It is divided into five chapters: 1. Introduction, 2. Self-Evaluation, 3. Stakeholder Engagement 4. Pedestrian Barrier Removal Methods and Schedule, and 5. Recommendations and Next Steps.

“The document…identifies barriers to pedestrian movements within the right-of-way (ROW) facilities that we have,” said Denham. “Cracks and gaps in our sidewalk system, pushbuttons at the various traffic lights, and things like that not up to standards would be a barrier.”

A sampling of cost estimates for ROW and on-site improvements includes:

Sidewalks $9,215,000

Curb ramps                3,863,000

Maintenance/misc.     604,000

Accessible parking           234,000

Pushbuttons       121,000      

Bus stops         31,000

Page 45 of the plan lists the total planning-level cost estimate, or total need, to remove all identified pedestrian barriers in excess of $26 million in 2024 dollars. 

Denham noted that the city previously addressed the issue at an August 2024 workshop just before the document was finalized. The council unanimously approved the plan.

Mike Maltais: 360-333-8483 or michael@ward.media