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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJanuary 23, 2013 ;City 00 Committee Minutes/Meeting Summary Accessibility A'dvisory Committee Meeting i i Wednesday, January 23, 2013 PICKERING 7:00 pm Main Committee Room Attendees: K. Falconer, Chair T. Arvisais, Vice Chair - M. Brenner S. Little T. Logan D. Sharma D. Tierney S. Wilkinson P. Noronha-Waldriff R. Michaud, Recording Secretary Regrets: Councillor O'Connell _ A. Heywood-Delpeache 1. Fogo D. Manning Guests: Kyle Bentley, Chief Building Official Tyler Barnett, Senior Planner Kirk Mark, Chair, Advisory Committee on Diversity Pauline McCAfferty Item/ Details & Discussion & Conclusion Action Ref # (summary of discussion) Items/Status (include deadline as a ro riate 1. Welcome Keith Falconer K. Falconer, Chair welcomed members and guests to the meeting. 2. Proposed Amendments to Ontario Building Code Kyle Bentley Barrier Free Desi n Kyle Bentley was invited to provide an overview of potential changes to Committee the 2012 Ontario Building Code (OBC) dealing with design and built members were environment. The province is striving for an accessible by 2025. asked to review the OBC Refer to the attached for a brief overview of the potential Building Code document amendments. circulated by Prem earlier Page 1 CORP0228-2/02 M. Brenner enquired if the OBC overview provided is the city or and provide province's position. K. Bentley indicated that the comments are a their comments summary of the potential changes to the code and do not reflect the by Monday to City's position. be included in the report to M. Brenner noted that the variable use of different terminology, such as Council. barrier-free and accessible is confusing and suggested that it should be consistent throughout the OBC and that there should be one barrier- Final free standard when dealing with built form. comments will be sent to the Discussion followed on design standards to have all new construction province. built as barrier-free, including all residential buildings, especially when considering the aging population. It is better to have barrier-free construction provisions at the start of any construction as it is very difficult and costly to upgrade later. M. Brenner mentioned that this is an opportunity for the committee to provide input to improve the OBC as well as continue consultation with the developers and the province and suggested that the committee submit a resolution to the City Development Department to be included in the report to Council. S. Little indicated that there is a lot more that can be done and asked for clarification on T-shape turning spaces as design alternatives and to confirm the definition of the term universal toilet room. K. Bentley believes that the t-shape turning spaces are intended to accommodate 3 point access within reasonable distances and alternative to full radius wheelchair turns. The universal toilet room term is being used more commonly these days and it captures a wide variety of groups. S. Little requested that all City submissions should be made available to the committee for review and comments and asked if K. Bentley could provide a list of the specified exemptions as noted in the OBC. K. Bentley advised that he will review this section and provide advice on the specified exemptions. He mentioned that the draft was received in late December and he will be meeting with City staff and other Durham municipalities in early February to obtain comments. Subsequent to the meeting. Kyle confirmed that the exemptions identified on page 16 of the paper were only with regards to the Vertical Access Category of amendments. Such uses are still subject to other accessibility requirements. S. Little commented that he would appreciate the opportunity to further understand the Cit 's osition and have more time to comment. Page 2 CORP0228-2/02 K. Bentley indicated that he will be working closely with Prem to ensure the committee's comments have been included. T. Arvisais noted that the Ontario Building Code use of the term "minimum" seems to be used a lot and that construction should be of a higher standard. K. Bentley indicated that building officials are required to enforce the "minimum" requirements of the Ontario Building. Code, which represents the lowest acceptable benchmark for construction standards, which is inclusive of minimum barrier-free design requirements. Builders are able to exceed the minimum requirements of the Building Code, however, there is no legislated mechanism to obligate builders #o meet a higher threshold. K. Falconer agreed with the comments made by the committee members and noted that many of the improvements are needed because of the changing demographic in the community. Currently the disability ratio is 1 to 7, and it is expected to increase to 1 to 5 in 3 years. K. Bentley encouraged the committee members to forward their comments to Prem by Monday and they will be incorporated in a report to Council. Copy of the draft report will be circulated to committee members prior to being submitted to Council. A resident asked if the OBC included a Glossary of Terms for quick reference to help to understand the requirements. K. Bentley indicated that the e-laws website contains the complete OBC, including the glossary of select terms. A copy of this OBC should also be available at the Library for reference. K. Bentley thanked the committee for the opportunity to discuss the OBC and left the meeting at 7:55 pm Moved by Maurice Brenner Seconded by DonTierney To add Kirk Mark, Chair of the Advisory Committee on Diversity as a guest speaker, to the agenda. K. Mark thanked the members of the committee for allowing him to address the committee this evening. He would like to open dialogue to propose a joint forum with the Accessibility Advisory Committee and the Advisory Committee on Diversity which would meet the needs of both committees Page 3 CORP0228-2/02 M. Brenner noted that this is a very good idea as both committees strive for equity and accessibility within the community. It would be a great opportunity to co-host a forum to link the two committees and broaden our target audience and increase awareness. K. Falconer enquired about the type of activities the Advisory Committee on Diversity is involved in to find out which one would best match the mandate of the Accessibility Advisory Committee. Events include the Race Relations Forum, School Essay Contest, Youth Unity Forum and Heritage Day at the Pickering Town Centre. It was suggested to participate at the Heritage Day event on Saturday, February 23rd and by including guest speakers focusing on accessibility issues. It was further suggested to hold a joint event in the Spring. Committees to review their work plan and coordinate a date. , K. Falconer thanked Kirk Mark for his presentation. Site plan Review , Committee members reviewed the site plans for the Cocktail House on Tyler Barnett Brock Road and the Country Depot. The chair thanked Tyler for attending and providing an overview of the plans. It was agreed to review future site plans on the overhead projector. It was also noted that whenever possible, applications will be circulated in advance as long as they meet accessibility standards. 3. Ado tion of Minutes Moved by D. Tierney Seconded by T. Arvisais That the approval of the minutes of the November 28, 2012 meeting of the Accessibility Advisory Committee be deferred pending review and discussion with City Clerk and CAO. Carried 4. 2012 Work Plan U dates / 2013 Work Plan Items All Review work plan updates: a) 2013 Accessibility Awareness Event - to be discussed further b) Review of Accessibility Parking By-law - completed, however next steps for resentation to Council is dela ed until the Page 4 CORP0228-2/02 November minutes have been approved c) Review S#andards for Curb Cuts for Sidewalks - completed by city staff to meet provincial standards d) Review of Pedestrian Crossing Times at Signalized Intersections = T. Arvisais advised that he is waiting for , comments and an update from the Regional Traffic Operations Centre with regards to the Dixie / Finch and Glenanna / Highway 2 intersections e) Policy Review For full Service Gas Stations - Councillor O'Connell to provide update at next meeting fl Building on 2012 Accessibility Survey - M. Brenner commented that there was not enough data and that they need to collect more information to proceed. Insert to be included in the next tax bill and ads were placed in the Community page g) Design Student Engagement Program - Follow up Prem to follow on protocol with school board up. h) Conduct an Accessibility Audit of Public Facilities - almost completed, need to identify areas which are non-compliant i) Conduct an Accessibility Audit of Business's and Facilities - to be continued in 2013 j) Implement Forums for Discussion with Pickering Senior Management Team - ongoing K. Falconer thanked the members for work that has been completed and commended committee members for their continued efforts. Coinmittee'Attenclance"_. All K. Falconer mentioned that Jacob Yacoumidis resigned from the committee in December. It was also noted that two other committee members have missed several meetings, therefore the Clerk's office issued letters to confirm their participation on the committee or requesting their resignation if they are no longer available. The Clerk's office has received a few applications for membership which will be reviewed at a Special Council meeting next week. 2013 Accessibili Awareness Event All P. Noronha-Waldriff advised that the committee needs to decide which Prem to follow event they want to commit to for 2013 as we need to start planning and up witfi booking space. Pickering Town Centre on availability. Page 5 CORP0228-2/02 i ~ i Discussion ensued about the timing for the 2013 Accessibility i Awareness Event. Committee suggested to hold the event in late May or early Jun. ! Committee members expressed an interest in participating in a joint ' event with the Advisory Gommittee on Diversity and perhaps an event in December on World Accessibility Day. , S. Little left the meeting at 9 pm. I 7. Civic Award Nominations qll Reminder to committee members that the deadline for the 2012 Civic ' Awards nomination is Thursday, February 7t" at 4 pm. No nominations were put forward from the Committee. 8. Other Business All New Business A group of youngsters from the 8th Pickering Maple Ridge Scout touring City Hall with Councillor Pickles dropped in to the meeting. This was a good opportunity for them to gain a better understanding of community volunteers at the advisory committee level. Councillor Pickles presented a certificate to the Chair and committee members on behalf of Corneliu Chisu, MP, Pickering-Scarborough East, in recognition of thefr volunteer work at the City. Staff Facilitator . K. Falconer and T. Arvisais met with Tony Prevedel, CAO, to express their disappointment on the lack of consultation prior to implementing the Pilot Project structure for the Boards and Committees. This pilot project was implemented without Council consent or approval. T. Arvisais feels that the roles of the Chair and Vice Chair of the advisory committees are being questioned. He will reconsider his participation on the committee and advise whether he will be staying as a committee member or resigning in February. He was also concerned with how the Advisory Committee would liaise with senior management and Council. It was noted that only 4 advisory committees were selected for this pilot project, and it was suggested that all committees should be part of the pilot project in order to better assess its merits. Page 6 CORP0228-2/02 This is contrary to the community engagement model which is one of the City's Corporate Priorities. The comments will be forwarded to the City Clerk and the CAO for their information. S. Wilkinson left the meeting at 9:25 pm. P. Noronha-Waldriff reminded the committee that this is a pilot project and members should understand that in no way suggests that the City feels the volunteer committee members lack the capacity to chair or facilitate meetings. The intent is to free up the responsibility of the Chair and Vice Chair to concentrate and get more involved with the committee mandate. Council supports the pilot program on a trial basis, once the trial is over and if we get favorable feedback, then changes would be made to the City Policy through_ a report to Council. The timing was selected as Committee's would have been electing new Chairs and Vice Chairs for the next finro year term. K. Falconer encouraged committee members to remain on the committee until they have had additional discussions with Senior Management with regards to the committee structure. This committee has been very productive and the 2013 work plan is very aggressive and would appreciate the support of all committee members. .~9: _ Next Meetin 7Ad'ournment qll Moved by M. Brenner Seconded by D. Tierney That the meeting be adjourned. Carried Next Meeting: February 27, 2013 Meeting Adjourned: 9:35 pm Copy: City Clerk Page 7 CORP0228-2/02 I