SEP  6 1995

The Honorable Owen Pickett
Member, U.S. House of Representatives
2710 Virginia Beach Boulevard
Virginia Beach, Virginia 23452

Dear Congressman Pickett:

     This is in response to your letter on behalf of your
constituent,    XX           regarding the requirements of the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

     Specifically,  XX        inquires about ADA requirements for
automatic door openers. The ADA Standards for Accessible Design
set forth the ADA standards for new construction and alterations
of places of public accommodations and commercial facilities.
The Standards, located in Appendix A of the title III
regulations, are enclosed with this letter. As you will note,
the Standards do not require that newly constructed or altered
buildings have automatic door openers. Rather, they require that
if automatic doors are provided, they must comply with section
4.13.12. Additionally, other requirements for doors (section
4.13), such as maneuvering clearances, hardware, and pull force
(on interior doors), must be followed.

     Finally, because the title III rule does not require that
existing places of public accommodation (such as the stores to
which    XX     refers) exceed the new construction
requirements, existing facilities would not be required to
install an automatic door opener.














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     I hope this information is helpful to you in responding to
your constituent. In addition, the Department operates an ADA
information line (800-514-0301 (voice) or 800-514-0383 (TDD)).
Members of the Disability Rights Section staff are available to
answer questions on the information line on Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, and Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Eastern time.
on Thursday, the information line is staffed from 1:00 p.m. to
6:00 p.m.

                                      Sincerely,




                                   Deval L. Patrick
                               Assistant Attorney General
                                Civil Rights Division

Enclosure



















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