“The ADA Advisory Committee met Monday to discuss this,” said City Attorney Linda Sjogren. “I've been working with the Parkhill, Smith & Cooper representative to get it drafted. This plan is based on a plan from the city of Sacramento the Federal Highway Administration recommended to me to use as a blueprint.”
The city recently contracted with PSC, an engineering firm, to develop a plan to bring the city and its facilities into ADA compliance
Sjogren said the plan will also work hand-in-hand with the street renovation project voters approved in a recent bond election.
“Since we already have funds in our budget for the bond project — we actually have 86 curb ramps in the project — so we're getting the plan going,” said Sjogren. “This is a good place for us to start with it.”
The project includes a tiered timeline, according to Sjogren, which will allow the city to address the curb ramps they feel are the biggest problems first.
“We've set up a tier sort of prioritizing which curb ramps we'll do first,” said Sjogren. “The first ones, of course, will be the ones we already have budgeted in the street project. After that we'll set up a survey and prioritize the list. The committee has come up with a minimum of $25,000 per year for the city to budget to add curb ramps, which is something you need to consider.
“The committee has also worked out a schedule for three town hall meetings that we'll try to have in June to get input on facility and curb ramp needs. This will make a good start for getting our ADA compliance going.”
The council approved the measure unanimously.
Also during the Tuesday night meeting, the city approved first reading of a six-month moratorium on electronic billboards in the city limits.
“This will give us six months to review the TML (Texas Municipal League) survey they are working on,” Sjogren told the council. “That way we can see what the negative consequences of LED billboards may be. We also want to look at our billboard regulations in general.”
Mayor Russ McEwen inquired how possible changes in the law concerning billboards might impact existing signs in the city limits.
“But this would not have anything to with the gigantic billboards gthat were put up on N. U.S. Highway 87?” asked McEwen.
Sjogren said any changes to the city code concerning billboards would not be retroactive.
“They're already up,” said Sjogren with a smile. “So we're only going forward. New permits would be put on hold for six months.”
Questions concerning the LED billboards was first brought to the court by Sjogren last month, when she informed the council a new state law would allow the signs on Texas highways. However, each municipality would have the right to allow or disallow the signs within their boundaries. The moratorium, if approved by the council, would begin June 1.
