DJ 202-PL-409


                                          MAR 11 1993


Mr. W. E. Olson
Engineering Supervisor
CR/PL, Inc.
P.O. Box 389
Nevada, Missouri 64772

Dear Mr. Olson:

        At the Access Board hearings in Washington on March 9, your
representative stated in her testimony that I had said at the
American Society of Plumbing Engineers (ASPE) conference last
year that a toilet seat height of 19 1/4" was acceptable under
the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). I spoke to her
afterwards to clarify, as I had explained to you at our two-hour
meeting in December 1992, what I had actually said: an owner of a
recently-constructed building that is not subject to the new
construction requirements is not necessarily required to replace
all 19 1/4" toilet seats for purposes of complying with the ADA's
barrier removal requirement.

        This issue had been raised at the ASPE conference by a
member of the audience. He mentioned that the owner of a
building constructed in 1990 or 1991 had just replaced all the
toilets in the building, because they had seats at 19 1/4",
rather than 19", and he was bringing the building up to new
construction standards. In response, I said that existing
buildings are subject to the requirement that barriers be removed
if it is readily achievable to do so; and that, most likely, it
would have been a wiser use of funds to make other types of
changes to the building than to remove all the toilets when they
were only 1/4" off the new construction standard. This statement
does not relate to requirements or tolerances for new
construction.

        Your representative seemed to understand my explanation
after her testimony at the hearings. (An Access Board staff
member who had also been at the ASPE meeting was present and

cc: Records; Chrono; Wodatch; Blizard; Bowen.
    \udd\bowen\olson.ltr







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confirmed my statements.) I would appreciate it if you would
clarify this issue with other representatives of your company or
your industry, if they are under the impression that this
Department has stated that 19 1/4" height toilet seats are
acceptable in new construction.

        At our meeting with you and others in December, we had also
answered several of the same questions your company raised in
your two letters and at the Access Board hearings. As our staff
has explained to you recently, we will answer the remaining
questions that you have posed, to the extent we are authorized to
do so, as soon as our resources and workload allow.

                                Sincerely,



                             L. Irene Bowen
                               Deputy Chief

cc: Kathy Parker, Access Board
    Larry Roffee, Access Board





























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