ADA Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan (SETP) Open House

What is the ADA?

The ADA is a comprehensive civil rights law for persons with disabilities in both employment and the provision of goods and services. The ADA states that its purpose is to provide a “clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities.” Congress passed the ADA on July 26, 1990 and under the requirements of the ADA:

No qualified individual with a disability shall, on the basis of disability, be excluded from participation in or be denied the benefits of the services, programs, or activities of a public entity, or be subjected to discrimination by any public entity.

For more information about the ADA and public agencies - https://www.ada.gov/ada_title_II.htm

What is an ADA Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan?

This ADA Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan (Plan) will support the City of Lynnwood in fulfilling the requirements set forth in title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This Plan will assist the City in identifying policy, program, and physical barriers to accessibility, and will guide the City in developing barrier removal solutions.

Why does Lynnwood Need an ADA Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan? 

City of Lynnwood must comply with title II of the ADA, which covers programs, activities, and services of public entities, including cities. As a public entity, the City is required to ensure program accessibility for the programs it provides to the public.

Who worked on the Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan?

The City worked with an expert in developing ADA Transition Plans, MIG Consulting, to develop a process and Plan that meets the City’s needs. City staff across many departments, participated in a training and self-evaluation questionnaire. City workgroups developed strategies for addressing evaluation findings and removing barriers in the Public Right-of-Way.

A Stakeholder group was brought together during the development of this Plan.

This group included:

• People with disabilities,
• People that provide assistance or services to others with disabilities,
• Senior citizens,
• People with experience and knowledge of ADA planning and requirements,
• and other interested Lynnwood residents.

ADA stakeholder group meetings were held in 2018. These meetings were to introduced the project. Questions, comments and input on the prioritization of barrier removal. Participants shared their opinions and experiences related to City facilities, programs, and services as they relate to the ADA.

Meeting agendas and notes are available on the City’s website on the ADA Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan project webpage. The Plan was provided to the stakeholder group for review in 2021. 

Self-Evaluation

An ADA Self-Evaluation identifies and makes recommendations to correct policies and practices in the City’s programs and services that are inconsistent with title II regulations and result in limited access for people with disabilities. As part of the Self-Evaluation, the City:

• Evaluated services, policies, and practices via City staff questionnaire and additional, comprehensive evaluation;
•  Identified modifications needed to services, policies, and practices; and
•  Involved people with disabilities in the self-evaluation process.

Programs, activities, and services offered by the City to the public must be accessible for people with and without disabilities. Accessibility applies to all aspects provided by the City, including:

• Accessible/adaptive equipment;
• Contracting, licensing, or other arrangements;
• Customer service;
• Emergency evacuation procedures;
• Facilities;
• Notice requirements;
• Printed information;
• Program participation;
• Public meetings;
• Special events and private events on public properties;
• Telephones and communication devices;
• Televised and audiovisual information;
• Tours and trips;
• Training and staffing;
• Transportation services; and
• Website. 

Section 1.3 of the Plan provides further details about applicable codes, standards and guidelines for conducting the Self-Evaluation. 

Transition Plan

The Transition Plan outlines a strategy for the City to progress toward compliance with the ADA. The Transition Plan identifies physical barriers for persons with disabilities and a schedule to remove those barriers over time and must:

• List barriers;
• Identify feasible solutions to each barrier;
• Establish a timeline for removing barriers;
• Identify the person responsible for title II compliance; and
• Involve people with disabilities in the preparation of the Plan.

To complete the Transition Plan, the City evaluated these types of facilities:

• City-owned and maintained parks;
• City-owned and maintained trails;
• City-owned and maintained buildings; and
• City-owned and maintained public right-of-way.

Section 1.3 of the Plan provides further details about applicable codes, standards and guidelines for developing the Transition Plan.

The recommendations in Section 2 of this Plan will serve as a basis for the implementation of specific strategies that will improve access to City programs. This Section includes “Required Actions” - some actions are always required, such as posting a notice of nondiscrimination, while other actions are only required when requested, such as providing alternative formats like large print agendas. The Section also includes “Recommended Actions” - to help ensure requirements are met.

The ADA Coordinator will follow-up with each department to review the recommendations. They will then coordinate with program managers to address removal of the barrier in the most reasonable and accommodating manner in accordance with applicable law.

City of Lynnwood, ADA Coordinator, Curt Russell, crussell@LynnwoodWA.gov, 425-670-5081

Lynnwood’s Transition Plan is organized into 2 parts: 1) parks, trails, and building facilities (Section 3.1), and 2) the public right-of-way (Section 3.2), which includes curb ramps, sidewalks and driveways that fall within the City’s area of responsibility.

Park, Trail, & Building Facilities

These components of park, trail and building facilities were evaluated to determine whether there were barriers in each facility that lack accessibility: 

Note: The ballfields at Meadowdale Playfields and public spaces at Development and Business Services were under construction at the time of the initial ADA evaluation. These will be evaluated in mid to late 2021 and barrier information will be provided as updates to the Lynnwood Self-Evaluation & Transition Plan.

What Types of Barriers Were Identified at the City’s Parks, Trails, & Building Facilities? 

All barriers associated with Parks, Trails, and Building Facilities were identified as being within a Category of 1-4:

Category 1: The highest category is placed on those barrier removal items that provide accessibility at the main entrance of a facility or improve a path of travel to the portion of the facility where program activities take place (e.g., parking, walks, ramps, stairs, doors, etc.).

Category 2: A second category is placed on those barrier removal items that improve or enhance access to program use areas (e.g., transaction counters, conference rooms, public offices, restrooms, etc.).

Category 3: A third category is placed on those barrier removal items that improve access to amenities serving program areas (e.g., drinking fountains, telephones, site furnishings, vending machines).

Category 4: A fourth category identifies areas or features not required to be modified for accessibility (no public programs located in this area, or duplicate features).

How Has Barrier Removal at Park, Trail, & Building Facilities Been Prioritized?

To develop a schedule for the removal of barriers at the City's facilities, prioritization criteria were developed with input from the ADA stakeholder group:

• Level of use by the public
• Program uniqueness
• Geographic distribution
• Critical nature of the service provided
• Identified complaints

Each facility was evaluated using the criteria above. The prioritization of the facilities resulted in a schedule for the removal of barriers. 

What is the Schedule for Removing Barriers at City Parks, Trails, and Building Facilities? 

The Schedules are below and can be found in Section 3.1 of the Self Evaluation & Transition Plan.

Table 3.1 City Buildings Transition Plan Phasing Schedule

The Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Arts Department (Parks) intends to address barrier mitigation activities systematically through two approaches. The first is to address barriers with specific park elements systemwide and the second is to address maintenance and capital projects at individual park locations holistically based on the criteria for barrier removal.

The following tables illustrate the two approaches. 

Table 3.2  Systemwide Park Element Transition Plan Schedule

Table 3.3 Park Project Specific Transition Plan Schedule

The City reserves the right to modify barrier removal priorities to allow flexibility in accommodating community requests, petitions for reasonable modifications from persons with disabilities, changes in City programs, and funding opportunities and constraints.

Recently Completed Barrier Removal Projects at Parks

During the development of this Plan the Parks Department completed 100 barrier mitigation projects of various variety and locations as noted in Table 3.4.

Public Right-of-Way

The ADA addresses accessible public right-of-way where sidewalks are provided by the City. The evaluations of the public right-of-way facilities included curb ramps, pedestrian access routes, and driveways. In addition, Lynnwood must have a policy for Accessible Pedestrian Signals and Pushbuttons, which can be found in Section 3.2 of the Plan.

This evaluation included assessing accessibility of 1,384 curb ramps, 138 miles of sidewalk, and more than 5,500 driveways. 

What types of Barriers were Identified in the City’s Public Right-of-Way?

 All curb ramps, sidewalks, and driveways were identified as being within a Category 1-4. Separate categories were defined for each of these components.

How Has Barrier Removal in City’s Public Right-of-Way Been Prioritized?

Prioritization criteria for assigning the barrier removal phasing schedule were developed using ADA title II requirements:

The prioritization criteria include the following:

• Locations serving government offices and public facilities;
• Locations serving transportation;
• Locations serving commercial districts and employers; and
• Locations serving other areas.

 In addition to the required criteria, the City has prioritized the following:

• Location of citizen complaint/request (ADA title II Program Access)

Based on the categories and prioritization, Lynnwood established High, Medium, and Low Priority curb ramps shown on this map:

How many curb ramps is that?

*WSDOT and the City have shared maintenance responsibilities for SR 99 and SR 524.

Based on the categories and prioritization, Lynnwood established High, Medium, and Low Priority sidewalks shown on this map:

How many miles of sidewalk is that?

What is the Schedule for Removing Barriers Present in the Public Right-of-Way? 

The City plans to address public right-of-way barriers through multiple strategies:

• The City will continue to take barrier removal requests and complete upgrades that can be completed within the operations and maintenance budget. 
•  The City currently has in place a pavement management program that schedules roadway rehabilitation and maintenance over a rolling five-year schedule. The City plans to review public right-of-way barriers during the implementation of this Plan and address those barriers that can be resolved as part of the on-going pavement maintenance and rehabilitation program.
  • Through the pavement management plan, within the next 20 to 25 years, all arterial roadways will be resurfaced, and 776 curb ramps (56 percent) will be addressed through this process.
  • Additionally, the curb ramps along State Routes 99 and 524 are roadways with shared responsibility for maintenance and operational activities between the City and the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). These ramps will be addressed through WSDOT’s pavement management program when not addressed through an alternate prioritization mechanism. This includes 182 curb ramps (13 %) which are identified in the tables and maps later in this section.

• The City will continue to provide dedicated budget for ADA barrier removal in the public right-of-way through its paving and curb ramp projects budget. This money will be used to address barriers that are not being resolved through other mechanisms. Barrier removal addressed by this strategy will be prioritized based on the criteria in this transition plan.
• The City is in the process of updating the standards and specifications for facilities in the right-of-way by following the recommendations identified during the self-evaluation process to ensure that accessible facilities are constructed. This effort will be completed in 2021.
• Any new capital construction projects will address barriers within the footprint of the project.
• The City will explore policies that address ADA barrier removal through property turnover and development policies, and then develop and implement such policies if found feasible.
• Link existing maximum extent feasible (MEF) documentation to the curb ramp inventory and develop a process of recording this MEF documentation with any alterations or new construction.
• The City will consider the development of a maintenance program for sidewalks.
• The City will explore policy options that engage property owners in the maintenance of the sidewalks adjacent to their properties.
• The City will explore options for funding sidewalk maintenance and repairs through utility improvements or a voter-approved tax.

Recently Completed Curb Ramp Projects

During the development of this Plan, the City completed various barrier mitigation projects in the public right-of-way.

2019 INTERSECTION PROJECTS

• Ash Way and Maple Rd
• Alderwood Mall Pkwy and Maple Rd
• 33^rd Ave W and 30th Pl W
• 33^rd Ave W and Maple Rd
• 33^rd Ave W and Alderwood Mall Pkwy
• 188^th St SW and 55^th Ave W
• 188^th St SW and 52^nd Ave W
• 188^th St SW and 51^st Pl W
• 188^th St SW and 48^th Ave W
• 212^th St SW and 63^rd Ave W
• 212^th St SW and midblock crossing east of 63^rd Ave W
• 212^th St SW and 61st Pl W

2020 INTERSECTION PROJECTS

• 36^th Ave W and 165^th Pl W
• 36th Ave W and 166th Pl SW
• 36th Ave W and 167th Pl SW
• 36th Ave W and Spruce Park entrance
• 36th Ave W and 168th Pl SW
• 36th Ave W and mid-block crossing south of 168th and southern Spruce Park entrance
• 36th Ave W and 169th St SW
• 36th Ave W and 170th Pl SW
• 36th Ave W and 171St St SW
• 36th Ave W and 172nd St SW
• 36th Ave W and 173rd PL SW
• 36th Ave W and 174th Pl SW
• 36th Ave W and 175th St SW
• 36th Ave W and 176th St SW
• 36th Ave W and 176th Pl SW
• 36th Ave W and 177th Pl SW
• 36th Ave W and 179th Pl SW
• 68th Ave W and 202nd St SW
• 68th Ave W and 200th St SW

2021 & 2022 Planned Projects 

Intersections:

• 200^th St SW & Scriber Lake Rd
• Scriber Lake Rd & 198^th St SW
• 44^th Ave W & 211^th St SW
• 44^th Ave W & 209^th St SW
• 44^th Ave W & 20800 Block
• 48^th Ave W & 194^th St/Veterans Way
• 196^th St SW & 48^th Ave W
• 196^th St SW & 44^th Ave W
• 196^th St SW & 40^th Ave W
• 196^th St SW & 37^th Ave W 

Not intersections/but projects

• 176^th St SW – 10 ramps along north side between 44^th Ave W & SR99
• 3 ramps along 194^th St/Veterans Way near City Hall
• 194^th St/Veterans Way & 40^th Ave W – 1 ramp 

The City has established an ADA Coordinator role. The ADA Coordinator is responsible for organizing and communicating the City’s efforts to comply with and fulfill its responsibilities under title II of the ADA, as well as all other applicable state and federal laws. The ADA Coordinator’s responsibilities include investigating complaints that the City has engaged in any action prohibited by title II. The City has a designated an employee to fulfill these responsibilities. See Section 5 for further details

ADA Coordinator: Curt Russell crussell@LynnwoodWA.gov, 425-670-5081

Additionally, the City is establishing management and staff groups to implement this Plan. These groups will provide oversight of Plan implementation, ensure resources are available, develop the projects for barrier removal, and implement practices, such as tracking barrier removal and training.