Corte Madera conducts town accessibility assessment
The Corte Madera Town Council approved an additional $12,320 to complete its Americans with Disabilities Act self-assessment, marking the last steps of a two-year-long process.
In 2024 the council authorized the public works director to execute an agreement with Altura Solutions, LLC, a national ADA consultant, to complete an assessment of the town’s existing accessibility levels in order to guide future planning efforts. This is mandated under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
On Tuesday, the town received a report of its ADA assessment. It also received additional requests to assess two additional town buildings: the Park Madera Center and the Town Park Portable Units. The council unanimously approved this request. This approval brought the total project cost to $196,190.
Corte Madera has less than 50 full-time employees and is not legally required to complete an ADA Transition Plan — an action plan for public entities with 50 or more employees mandated under the disabilities act — which requires entities to make a formal timeline for addressing ADA barriers, following an assessment. The self-assessment does not require the town to make any immediate changes to public infrastructure.
“This report is a snapshot in time as well as a planning tool,” said Nick Cartegena, a senior civil engineer. “It’s not a mandate to fix everything at once”
The report assessed the accessibility of the town’s services, programs, facilities, parks and digital content. For identified facility issues, the town is not required to address all barriers immediately, according to Jesus Lardizabal from Altura Solutions.
“What the ADA wants is program access, so that in its entirety the town is not discriminating against people with disabilities,” he said. “For example, if the town holds a program in a facility that has multiple ADA barriers, one option is to address all the physical barriers, or the town can opt to either move that program or duplicate that program at another facility that is accessible. And by doing that you have met the program accessibility requirement.”
The report lists ranked community buildings based on weighted assessments on their physical characteristics, the types of programs that take place at those buildings, and the type of use the building is intended to serve. The buildings identified as highest priority were the town’s Community Center and the Town Park.
The report also assessed barriers on the town’s websites, such as navigational issues, barriers for color bling or low vision users, and difficulties for individuals using assistive technology, like screen readers.
Vice Mayor Fred Casissa expressed concern over the town’s liability for addressing ADA issues now that the report has been completed. The town can still be liable for non-compliance with ADA regulations regardless of knowledge of those barriers, said Lardizabal.
“What usually happens is a complaint comes in, however, and there’s an opportunity to correct those issues,” said Adam Wolff, town manager. “We have community members that approach us fairly frequently and talk about ADA issues in town. As long as we’re addressing them on a timely basis, we’re typically keeping ourselves out of legal trouble. Is that a foolproof plan? Probably not.”
Wolff went on to say the report showed the town’s desire to be proactive to address ADA issues. The town is required to provide updates on its progress on addressing ADA barriers going forward.