T.   11-18-93

DJ 202-PL-136					NOV 29 1993

Ms. April E. Poland
Leech Architects, Inc.
7785 East 126th Street
Fishers, Indiana 46038

Dear Ms. Poland:

	I am responding to your letter asking for clarification of
the requirements of title III of the Americans with Disabilities
Act (ADA) and the Department of Justice regulation implementing
title III. I apologize for our delay in responding to you.

	The ADA authorizes the Department of Justice to provide
technical assistance to individuals and entities that have rights
or responsibilities under the Act. This letter provides informal
guidance to assist you in understanding the ADA and the
Department's regulation. However, this technical assistance does
not constitute a determination by the Department of your rights
or responsibilities under the ADA, and it is not binding on the
Department.

	You have asked whether a retail business located in a strip
shopping mail is required to install an elevator if it alters the
facility to add a mezzanine level that will contain only office
space. To determine if elevator access to a mezzanine in a
specific building is required, you must look to the requirement
that applies to the building in which the mezzanine is located.

	In new construction and alterations, title III generally
requires that at least one accessible passenger elevator serve
each level of a multistory building. However, there is an
exception to this general rule. Elevators are not required in
facilities that are less than three stories or have fewer than
3000 square feet per story, unless the building is a shopping
center or mall; the professional office of a health care provider;
a public transit station; or an airport passenger terminal.

	Section 3.5 of the ADA Standards for Accessible Design
(Appendix A to the enclosed regulation) defines a "story" as:

     That portion of a building included between the upper
     surface of a floor and upper surface of the floor or
     roof next above. If such portion of a building does
     not include occupiable space, it is not considered a

cc: Records, Chrono, Wodatch, Blizard, FOIA, Friedlander
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     story for purposes of these guidelines. There may be
     more than one floor level within a story as in the case
     of a mezzanine or mezzanines.

     A mezzanine, defined as "that portion of a story which is an
intermediate floor level placed within the story and having
occupiable space above and below its floor," is not considered a
"story" for the purpose of determining if an elevator is required.

     Section 36.404(a)(2) of the title III rule defines a
"shopping center or mall" for the purpose of applying the
elevator exemption to an existing facility, as

     A series of buildings on a common site, connected by a
     common pedestrian route above or below the ground
     floor, that is under common ownership or common control
     or developed either as one project or as a series of
     related projects, housing five or more sales or rental
     establishments. . . .

(Emphasis added.) If there is no common pedestrian route
connecting the buildings above or below the ground floor on the
site that is being altered, then the facility is not a shopping
center or mall and the elevator exemption would apply. If no
elevator is required in a building, then no accessible means of
vertical access to mezzanines within that building is required.

	If the elevator exemption does not apply, then, under
sections 4.1.3(5) and 4.1.6(l)(f) of the ADA Standards, a
multistory facility that undertakes an alteration that includes
the addition of an escalator or stairs (where none existed
previously) that requires major structural modifications for
installation, is required to install an elevator unless it is
technically infeasible to do so. When a multistory building does
not qualify for the elevator exemption, all floors must be served
by elevators, even if the floors are used only by employees.

	For your information, I am enclosing a copy of this
Department's regulation implementing title III of the ADA and the
Title III Technical Assistance Manual.

	I hope that this information is helpful to you.

							Sincerely,



							John L. Wodatch
								Chief
						     Public Access Section

Enclosures

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