04/ ILLEGIBLE/92

DJ 202-PL-00122

MAY 18 1992

Wodatch Ms. Ann Hafar

Manager
Date Traveler Budget Inn
1210A Avenue East
Oskaloosa, Iowa 52577

LIB Dear Ms. Hafar:

Deputy
I am responding to your letter requesting specific guidance
Date from the Department of Justice about the application of title III
of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) to the
facility that you manage.

Blizard The ADA authorizes the Department to provide technical

assistance to entities that are subject to title III. This
Date letter provides informal guidance to assist you in understanding
the ADA accessibility requirements. This technical assistance
does not constitute a formal policy determination and it is not
binding on the Department of Justice.

GYB The ADA does not establish specific requirements regarding

alterations that must be made to existing facilities for the
Date purpose of accessibility, if alterations are not otherwise
planned. It simply requires that places of public accommodation,
including hotels and motels, remove architectural and
communication barriers to the extent that it is readily
achievable to do so. Congress defined the term "readily
achievable" to mean "easily accomplishable and able to be carried
out without much difficulty or expense." If it is not readily
achievable to remove barriers in an existing facility that is not
otherwise being altered, then barrier removal is not required.

If a public accommodation, such as a hotel or motel, is

undertaking new construction or altering existing facilities,
then the newly constructed or altered area must comply with the
ADA accessibility standards in the enclosed Department of Justice
regulation for title III of the ADA. These standards are also
helpful in determining what readily achievable barrier removal
 would be appropriate in an existing hotel or motel.

cc: Records, Chrono, Wodatch, Blizard, FOIA

udd:Blizard.ada.interpretation.hafar

01-00794

-2-

With respect to your specific questions, the percentage of

rooms required to be accessible in new construction is set out at
sections 9.1.2 through 9.1.4 of the Appendix to the enclosed
regulation. The chart in section 9.1.2 details when accessible
showers are required. One bathroom in each accessible unit must
comply with the requirements of section 4 of the appendix. In
accessible rooms, permanently installed telephones must have
volume controls (section 9.3.1). Alterations are addressed in
section 9.1.5.

The requirement that "auxiliary aids," such as television

decoders and telephone handset amplifiers, be provided, is
separate from the requirement that physical barriers be removed
in existing buildings. Auxiliary aids are addressed in section
36.303.

You may obtain information on particular products by calling

the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board at
1-800-USA-ABLE.

I hope that this information is helpful to you.

Sincerely,

John L. Wodatch
Director
Office on the Americans with Disabilities Act
Civil Rights Division
Enclosure

01-00795

TRAVELER BUDGET INN Ph: (515) 673-8333

1210 A Ave. East
on Highway 63 & 92
Oskaloosa, IA 52577

ILLEGIBLE LETTER
01-00796