Most often, owners are given incorrect information by asphalt or concrete contractors without ADA experience regarding obtaining City permits. Most of these types of contractors will explain that the owner does not have to obtain a city permit since it is considered maintenance work. This is true if you ONLY perform asphalt repairs. However, if you are seal coating and restriping, most cities require a permit for this alone.
When the actual lawsuit is filed, you will most likely receive multiple letters from attorneys claiming to settle your lawsuit for flat fees of $500-$1,500. Be careful of this flat-fee approach, and remember the old saying,” You get what you pay for.” Most flat-rate attorneys do not have your long-term best interest in mind. Often, they will instruct you only to correct the allegations within the lawsuit so they can settle quickly and not spend any time on your lawsuit. The problem with this is the law firm that filed the lawsuit only named a few allegations in hopes you will only correct a few, which leaves the door open for the next lawsuit. For example, the lawsuit claims three allegations, yet the CASp report states there are 10. So, if you only correct the three, the door is open for a second lawsuit for the remaining seven, where multiple lawsuits continue.
If you are performing any work within the Accessible Route, you must obtain a city permit. The Accessible route includes ADA parking, a path of travel to accessible entrances, and a city path of travel. This is in your best interest since you want to have some level of quality control to have a compliant outcome by involving the city plan check team and city inspectors. However, hiring a complete ADA TEAM such as ACR is the best method. The best way to move forward with obtaining the city permit is by obtaining a CASp inspection and a report to identify the corrections according to Federal and CA codes accurately. Since the report should not be used as a design, it should be used as a tool for the ADA Design professional to incorporate into the overall design of the complete Accessible Route. Once the ADA Design Professional completes the design, it should be reviewed by a CASp plan checker prior to submitting it to the city for a permit. The expert ADA contractor must perform the corrections properly once the plans are approved and the permit is issued. Choosing the expert ADA contractor is difficult despite your best efforts, even with approved plans and a CASp report, so you must navigate correctly. Once the work has been completed, the city inspector will sign off on a permit card for the owners’ records.
