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Home My WebLink AboutRE%3A Accessibility in Twin Fa Mike Plane From:Travis Rothweiler Sent:Wednesday, August 23, 2023 16:47 To:trevorroot@gmail.com Cc:CM-Council; Josh Baird; Steven.Kiggins@magicvalley.com; info@acluidaho.org Subject:RE: Accessibility in Twin Falls - Letter to Council Mr. Root, Good afternoon. I hope this finds you well. Your email and letter, dated August 20, 2023, were forwarded to me. I provided it to members of our team. Josh Baird, a professional engineer and the City’s Public Works Director, provided a thoughtful response. I wanted to make sure that you saw his comments. We will continue to work to make Twin Falls accessible. If you are interested, we would be more than happy to share with you a list of recently completed projects and ones we have in the planning and programming phases. We will explore your suggestions as we move forward and make Twin Falls more accessible. Should you have any immediate questions after reading Josh’s email, please contact us. Thank you again. Travis Rothweiler, ICMA- CM City Manager City of Twin Falls, Idaho From Josh Baird, PE, “Mr. Root refers to PROWAG as becoming official next month – as far as I can tell, it was just published on August 8, 2023. I was unaware it was moving from draft form to final form and am thankful for him informing us of that change. I am familiar with both the draft version of PROWAG and the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG). There has often been a disconnect between these two separate yet interrelated guidelines, in part, because PROWAG had not been finalized. From a previous ADA course I attended, I remember learning jurisdictions have the option to adopt one or the other as our standard if we so chose. I don’t believe we ever adopted one or the other. With PROWAG becoming finalized, perhaps that changes. It would be good to review the final version and become familiar with it and decide if we wanted to adopt a standard. The City completed an ADA Transition Plan in 2014. We should consider updating that plan in the future, especially since it has been nearly a decade since its inception. This could potentially be added to next year’s budget process. Mr. Root referred to generalized issues and provided several pictures. I would need clarification from him to understand what he is trying to convey, especially since I believe we have made significant strides and progress in recent years. Later he reminds us that we have a high number of facilities within the City that are not compliant with the 1991 rules. Again, I agree we have many locations where we are not compliant, but we have been diligently working to improve the City with new ADA ramps and large lengths of sidewalk. City Council has allocated sidewalk specific funds over the last several years to ensure we are trying to advance accessibility. Later, Mr. Root outlined a concern with Noreen Jansen being frustrated with the City’s unwillingness to provide accessible routes in her neighborhood and lacking transit options. I have not been informed about this concern until I read this letter. We can surely reach out to her and discuss any needs she may have and how we can work to provide her what she needs. Jon Caton did something similar several years ago with a citizen who requested to have a specific ADA compliant route. I believe the Street Department has a dedicated special request line item for this type of work. 1 I am unfamiliar with the SS4A grant Mr. Root refers to. We can look into it and determine if it is something we should pursue. I believe City Code 8-2-12 puts the responsibility of sidewalk improvements on the adjacent property owner. Considering the responsibility rests with property owners, City Council has approved a recurring budget for the sidewalk grant program to assist with that cost. The program has been reasonably successful in assisting property owners for several years. If City Council desires to take responsibility for sidewalks, that would be fine. However, we may need additional funding to shoulder that responsibility that has heretofore been borne by property owners. I have no issues updating the references of “handicapped” with more conforming language. I was unaware we had such references. In short, I feel Mr. Root brings up several good points and opportunities. Whether the amount of money we allocate is appropriate toward sidewalks and accessibility is subjective. I believe, however, if we have a good ADA Transition Plan that outlines our intent to remedy the known issues, it goes a long way to mitigating risk. While I believe we still have much work to do, I believe we have made great progress over the last several years.” Joshua R. Baird public works director | city of twin falls phone: (208) 736-2274 jbaird@tfid.org From: Trevor <trevorroot@gmail.com> Sent: Sunday, August 20, 2023 9:43 PM To: Ruth Pierce; Chris Reid; Nikki Boyd; Craig Hawkins; Jason Brown; Spencer Cutler; Alexandra Caval Cc: Steven.Kiggins@magicvalley.com; info@acluidaho.org; England, Christine (USAID) Subject: Accessibility in Twin Falls - Letter to Council \[EXTERNAL SENDER\] Dear City Council, Please find attached a letter to the Council regarding accessibility in the City of Twin Falls and the newly finalized PROWAG rule, set to be effective Sept 7th. The attached letter includes requests to: - Incorporate PROWAG rules in all City documents (codes, standards, checklists, drawings) - Revise the Budget for Accessibility Planning and Construction - Revise City Code and the Budget regarding the Sidewalk Match Program - Revise City Code to use appropriate terminology - Ensure City infrastructure meets current ADA and MUTCD rules where "altered" after 1991 - Proactively bring any pre-1991 infrastructure into compliance with ADA, MUTCD, and PROWAG - Ensure traffic infrastructure and signal phasing supports pedestrian safety (FHWA, AASHTO) It is very possible that some of these comments should be addressed to ITD for the highways within the City, if ITD manages the traffic infrastructure. Even if so, I would hope that City staff has the ability to cooperate with ITD for safety and accessibility upgrades, as well as encourage them to refresh the crosswalk striping on 2nd 2 Avenues. I happen to be licensed as a Civil Engineer in Idaho, but I do not intend to provide engineering work within Twin Falls. All statements are made in my personal (non-engineer) capacity and should be validated by the City's Engineer before relying on their accuracy. Feel free to email me with any questions that I can help with in a non-technical role, or if I can help point the council to ways that other cities are addressing accessibility. Thank you, Trevor Root trevorroot@gmail.com 3