Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
Today’s burning question: My fire department just spent $4 million on a new fire station and now we are told the building fails to meet the latest requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Can we sue the contractor for the extra costs to bring it into compliance?
Answer: It depends…. that is the issue at the heart of potential litigation between the city of Santa Rosa, California, an architectural firm responsible for designing a new fire station, and the general contractor who built the station.
The new fire station, Station 5, had been in the planning stages while questions lingered among the parties about the impact of 2010 Amendments to the ADA. Despite a few design changes in 2013, construction of the 5,300-square-foot station began. In 2015, as construction neared completion, ADA issues surfaced. The result: an additional $200,000 had to be allocated to address the previously ignored ADA issues.
City Manager Sean McGlynn has ordered an internal review of what led to the oversight with an eye toward holding either the architectural firm Archilogix, or the general, GCCI Inc., responsible for the cost overruns.
Meanwhile, the station is open and functioning. More on the story.
