Does a firehouse have to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act?
Maybe so, but the Carmel City Council decided Tuesday that spending money to make sure their fire station doesn't fall down in an earthquake takes priority over installing an elevator to make the 1930s-vintage building ADA-compliant.
The City Council received a cost estimate of $379,000 for strengthening the building on Sixth Avenue between Mission and San Carlos streets to earthquake standards from the John Thodos Architect Team and BMR Construction Management, within the $400,000 budgeted for the project.
The majority of council members wanted to move ahead with a request for bids and get it done.
"We've been talking about this," said Councilwoman Paula Hazdovac, "since 1989," the year of the massive Loma Prieta earthquake.
The council has worried about the city's liability for injury to firefighters in the event of another big quake, and that the collapsed building could damage or immobilize the city's fleet of fire engines just when they are most needed.
Councilman Erik Bethel, who voted against seeking bids based on the seismic estimate alone and asked for a month's delay to develop a new estimate, contended that it would be more cost-effective if the city hired a contractor to do all the work necessary to make the station both quakeproof and accessible to the disabled.
As a public building, he said, federal law requires that it be accessible.
Councilmen Gerard Rose and Mike Cunningham disagreed. "Seismic trumps everything," Cunningham said.
Mayor Sue McCloud noted that the fire station may also be a historic building and possibly exempt from the requirements of the disabilities act.
The city has the money in hand for the seismic project, City Administrator Rich Guillen told the council, and trying to install an elevator and other amenities for the disabled could double or triple the costs and delay the work further.
"We need to move on it right now," Rose said, moving to seek bids based on the estimate presented Tuesday.
The project as outlined includes reinforcing the fire station's Carmel stone exterior, repairing windows and doors, insulation and moisture protection, and installation of a fire sprinkler system.
Distributed by the Associated Press
