Bradford is set to boost accessibility options at the town’s leisure centre.
During its Nov. 19 meeting, committee of the whole recommended council direct staff to purchase two emergency evacuation chairs as well as purchase and install a railed chair lift in the BWG Leisure Centre, to help wheelchair users access the facility when its elevator is out of order.
That came in response to a report and recommendations from Terry Foran, director of recreation and cultural services, who estimated the lift would cost between $45,000 and $60,000, and the evacuation chairs would cost between $2,000 and $2,500 each. He suggested the funds should come from the town’s capital expenditures reserves.
Ward 1 Coun. Cheraldean Duhaney was the first to push for the option of including the chair lift, and noted there is currently no backup for when the existing elevator is out of service, but also acknowledged another option to spend between $160,000 and $200,000 for an additional platform lift would likely be too expensive.
“We want to start somewhere,” she said. “We should be accessible. We should be inclusive.”
That was seconded by Ward 7 Coun. Peter Dykie, who also chairs the accessibility advisory committee, as well as Ward 6 Coun. Nickolas Harper.
“We’re in the business of doing better for our residents,” Harper said.
While outvoted, both Mayor James Leduc and Deputy Mayor Raj Sandhu preferred another option in place of the chair lift, which would have created a program for reimbursement of any resident who attends other facilities in town when the leisure centre’s elevator is out of order. Foran explained the cost for that program could be absorbed into the centre’s existing operating budget.
In his report, Foran recommended installing the chair lift in a secured enclosed staircase in the change room hallway to help protect it from abuse or tampering — an issue that sometimes causes the existing elevator to stop working, but that can also happen as a result of routine maintenance.
In those instances, staff would be able to unlock access to the staircase and chair lift, from which users might be able to transfer back to their own wheelchairs, or if those can’t be brought up the stairs, users could transfer to a facility-owned chair.
Currently, there is no accessible method for wheelchair users to access the second floor of the leisure centre when the elevator is out of service, and the standard procedure to get them down in such a scenario is to call emergency services.
While the evacuation chairs could help get users down in the event of a power outage, Foran explained access to the elevator and chair lift would be closed.
While the typical time to repair the elevator is usually one to two days, Foran said staff spoke with eight neighbouring municipalities who sometimes see their elevators out of service for as long as one month, and none have backups for such disruptions.
Bradford’s leisure centre has only seen its elevator out of service for that long on one occasion since opening in 2011, according to Foran, who explained those service disruptions have no impact on the town’s compliance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), so long as notice of the disruption is posted.
The report came in response to council’s decision at the Oct. 1 meeting to have staff investigate additional accessibility options following a recommendation from the accessibility committee, which itself came in response to feedback from long-time local resident, Mario Batista. He uses a wheelchair and was stuck in the leisure centre elevator in early summer — an experience he related to the committee at their Sept. 9 meeting as well as speaking before council on Oct. 1.
Before committee of the whole dealt with the issue, Batista again took to open forum on Nov. 19 and spoke in favour of the stair lift option, noting that he had been “anxiously waiting” for council’s decision as part of his “continued quest” to advocate for more accessibility options.
“I believe this stair lift would in fact meet the needs of many accessibility users, including my own,” he said.
Recommendations from committee of the whole are considered for approval at the next regular council meeting.
