This rulemaking covers various recreation facilities
, including amusement rides, boating facilities, fishing piers and platforms, golf courses, miniature golf courses, sports facilities, swimming and wading pools, and spas. The Board issued these guidelines under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which ensures access to a wide range of facilities in the private and public sectors. The Board is also making these guidelines applicable to facilities covered by the Architectural Barriers Act (ABA), which requires certain federally funded facilities to be accessible. These guidelines supplement the Board's ADA Accessibility Guidelines.Current Status: On September 3, 2002, the Board issued
final guidelines for recreation facilities, which
completes this rulemaking. In addition, the Board issued a
notice to make the recreation guidelines
applicable to facilities covered by the ABA. Related information
issued by the Board includes an overview of the
rule, summaries
of the final guidelines, and a regulatory
assessment.
What’s Next: No further action by the Board is needed. The requirements of
this rule will become part of the enforceable ADA standards once adopted by the
Department of Justice.
Background: The Board established an advisory committee of 27 members to make
recommendations on guidelines for recreation facilities. The Recreation Access
Advisory Committee met from July 1993 to May 1994 and submitted a report to
the Board, Recommendations for Accessibility Guidelines: Recreational Facilities and
Outdoor Developed Areas. The Board had made this report widely available as
a source of guidance until guidelines were developed.
In July 1999, the Board published the
guidelines in proposed
form based on the committee's
recommendations and made them available for public comment for six months. During the comment period, the Board held public hearings on the proposed
guidelines in Dallas and Boston. The Board received approximately 300 comments
on the proposed guidelines. Comments were submitted by operators of amusement
parks, recreation and sporting associations, disability groups, designers, and
others. In an effort to provide the public with an additional opportunity for
input on the rule before it was finalized, the Board published a summary of
changes it intended to make to the guidelines based on its review of comments. The Board held public meetings in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco on the
planned revisions. The Board finalized the guidelines based on the additional
input it received from commenters.
Rulemaking History: