LAKEWOOD, Ohio -- After discovering in 2020 that the city never officially fulfilled its responsibility related to the landmark civil rights law, Lakewood since last spring has embarked on a self-evaluation project tied to the ADA Transition Plan Task Force.
Leading Lakewood’s ADA self-evaluation effort is DLZ. The city last year hired the national architectural, engineering and surveying industry consulting firm for $98,000.
“We’re making good progress and are ahead of schedule on the public right-of-way data collection,” DLZ Senior Planner Stephen G. Metzer said.
“We anticipate completion of the Transition Plan by the end of the summer.”
One change to the project included the city adding an extra $123,000 regarding the aforementioned evaluation of the public right-of-way -- sidewalks, curbs, on-street parking and traffic signals -- as it relates to ADA needs.
“There are different ways you can do the public right-of-way inventory,” Lakewood City Planner Michelle Nochta said. “One would be to internally train the employees to conduct the right-of-way assessment and the other would be to have the consultant come and do it.
“We had to determine if we had the man-hours to do it ourselves or to hire it. With the addendum, we chose to have the consultant perform the evaluations. City employees will still receive training as part of the original contract to help execute the transition plan.”
Compliance with the 1990 law prohibiting discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life -- jobs, schools, transportation, and public and private spaces open to the general public -- required an ADA transition plan.
That’s designed to formally establish rules and standards to be executed in Lakewood related to upgrades and compliance of city properties and facilities, including but not limited to buildings, signage, website, sidewalks, curbs, crosswalks and pedestrian signals.
Recent citywide ADA accomplishments include the new entrance path at Kauffman Park, the tactile strips at crosswalks for pedestrians with low vision and making sure all improvement projects by the city meet current ADA requirements.
Detroit Avenue in Lakewood. (John Benson/cleveland.com)
In the meantime, Lakewood is still asking residents to complete an anonymous Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) survey related to the city’s facilities, programs, policies and procedures.
Nochta said the survey will remain up through the self-evaluation process and the creation of the transition plan.
“We’ve had hundreds of responses so far,” Nochta said. “We do have folks who have immediate concerns that they use our complaint form as opposed to the survey.
“If there is something they should be addressing immediately, they can, of course, put all of their comments in the survey as well.”
The city anticipates a rough draft of the Transition Plan this summer to be available in public locations as well as online.
“We expect to have a completed transition plan in the fall for the budget season with its recommendations,” Nochta said.
“Once council adopts that formal plan, we’ll plan going forward based on the recommendations of the plan.”
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