Jordan to comply with Disabilities Act

The Jordan School District has agreed to make improvements to its parking lots, allowing for adequate handicapped parking, in exchange for disabled rights advocates' promise to drop a lawsuit filed earlier this year.

"They're doing exactly what we asked them to do, which is great," said Barbara Toomer, a member of the Disabled Rights Action Committee, the Salt Lake-based group that filed the lawsuit.

The group performed a small-scale survey of high school parking lots and found several in violation of requirements set by the Americans with Disabilities Act. There were not enough handicapped-accessible parking spaces in the lots.

"Parking for people with disabilities is essential, and the ADA has outlined how it should be done," Toomer said.

District officials soon followed with their own survey of all parking lots within the district, including administrative and municipal buildings.

Only 13 of the district's 96 public parking lots were compliant with the requirements of the ADA, and three of those were under construction, the district found. The ADA, signed into law in July 1990, required compliance from all existing public entities by 1992.

"They really have no excuse," Toomer said. "And we called them on it. It should have been done years ago."

Members of DRAC, with assistance from the Utah Legal Clinic, filed a federal lawsuit in March after letters of complaint were ignored by the district. Several attempts to make the changes were delayed. District officials told the group the work depended upon "budget, weather and product and material availability," according to a letter written by D. Burke Jolley, deputy district superintendant for business services.

However, Jordan District superintendant Barry Newbold agreed the issue needed to be addressed as soon as possible, which led to the settlement, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City.

The district has agreed to construct 86 new stalls, 38 of them van-accessible, and erect or paint 220 new signs pointing out handicapped parking stalls. It is estimated the work will be completed by Nov. 1. The district also has agreed to pay DRAC's $1,750 in legal costs.

When those two requirements are met, DRAC has agreed to dismiss the complaint. Settlements have already been reached with Salt Lake and Granite school districts on similar parking issues. Toomer said those districts are now ADA compliant.

"We are constantly following up on complaints," she said. "They ought to know we mean business."

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E-mail: wleonard@desnews.com