Aurora council hears ADA self-evaluation; refers phase 1 to study session for public comment

At a recent Aurora City Council meeting, Carlin Shorb, Aurora's Title II Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator and program manager for the Office of ADA Compliance and Accessibility, presented the city's draft ADA self-evaluation and transition plan and asked the council to refer phase 1 to a study session so the plan can be released for public comment.

The presentation reported large portions of the city's pedestrian infrastructure are out of compliance with current standards: "92 percent of pedestrian push buttons in the city of Aurora are noncompliant," Shorb said, and the field data found "95.9% of curb ramps" and about "77.91% of sidewalks" are noncompliant under current ADA standards. Shorb said the city phased the transition plan into four parts, with phase 1 focused on public right-of-way infrastructure, phase 2 on emergency planning and operations, phase 3 on buildings and facilities, and phase 4 on parks and recreation. Staff told the council they hope to finalize the initial plan by 2027.

Why it matters: staff said the noncompliance numbers are typical for many U.S. cities conducting similar reviews, but they flagged the legal and practical need to have a documented plan and a prioritized approach. Shorb said the city has already completed the self-evaluation and produced a draft transition plan (provided to council as backup material) and must now seek public comment before finalizing phase 1.

Council and staff discussed how remediation will be funded and scheduled. Kirby Oler, deputy director of operations, summarized how curb ramps and adjacent infrastructure will be handled when streets are repaved: "Any street that's earmarked for ... overlay or reconstruction, we're going to go in there and assess the infrastructure on both sides. So sidewalk, curb gutter, curb ramps, anything that is noncompliant ... we're going to go in there and replace that before we pay the street." Carly Camposano, deputy director of transportation, mobility and public works, added that new traffic signals and new sidewalk projects will trigger ramp upgrades and that push-button compliance often depends on the surrounding curb and sidewalk grades, not only the device itself.

Staff outlined 11 transition-plan goals identified from the field data and stakeholder engagement. Among them: a comprehensive review of city right-of-way policies to consider adopting the Department of Justice's Public Right-of-Way Accessibility Guidelines (PROWAG) or parts of it; a policy to reconstruct adjacent noncompliant curb ramps when streets are resurfaced; development of prioritization criteria for pedestrian crossings and sidewalks; integration of ADA compliance data into the city's GIS and asset-management systems; creation of ADA compliance checklists; procedures for staff communication with persons with disabilities; and an annual update cycle for the plan and GIS records documenting completed accessibility improvements.

On timing and risk, Shorb said staff received consultant input and a recommended long-range timeline that could extend many decades; in the meeting she described it as "about a hundred 50 year timeline for full compliance," and emphasized that documenting a plan and integrating ramp upgrades into repaving and capital planning substantially reduces legal exposure. Shorb also said the transition-plan program has funding available in the near term to address some high-need items and that staff have hired consultants for phases 2 through 4 and held a kickoff meeting for the next phases.

Council response and next steps: when Shorb asked whether council members were comfortable referring the draft for study-session review and public comment, council members agreed. The council did not record a formal roll-call vote in the discussion captured by the transcript; staff said a public hearing and formal council approval will be required later in the process. The city will incorporate the plan's recommendations into five-year capital planning and annual budgeting for pavement and pedestrian improvements and pursue public comment on phase 1 before finalizing that phase.

The presentation included a draft transition plan provided as council backup (staff said it runs roughly 45–50 pages) and multiple technical recommendations that staff said would be applied through existing maintenance and capital programs rather than by creating a separate, stand-alone curb-ramp program.

Ending: Staff said they will refer the draft phase 1 transition plan to a study session to begin the public-comment and hearing process, and that they are available to answer additional technical or accommodation-specific questions in the meantime.