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Lake County advances ADA transition plan; staff highlights web-accessibility deadline
Summary
Lake County staff updated the DEI committee on a countywide ADA transition plan that includes public outreach, extensive field reviews of rights-of-way and facilities, and a new review of public service areas. Communications staff and vendor CivicPlus are scanning county web content to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliance by April 24, 2026.
Assistant County Administrator Ruth Anne, who is serving as Lake County's ADA coordinator, told the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee on Oct. 28 that the county's ADA transition plan will produce a countywide master plan to guide accessibility improvements for facilities, rights-of-way and county services.
"The final product's gonna be a countywide master plan for accessibility, a road map to guide improvements for existing facilities and ensure future projects meet ADA standards and best practices," Ruth Anne said.
The board approved a contract in October 2024 with consultant Kimley Horn to prepare the comprehensive plan, which builds on reviews completed in 2016 and 2018. Ruth Anne said the current effort has two major components: gathering public input and conducting third-party reviews of county facilities, public rights-of-way, policies, practices and services.
Consultants and staff reported 170 survey responses and use of an interactive mapping tool that allowed residents to flag dangerous pedestrian crossings, missing pedestrian signals and sidewalk issues. A subconsultant, DLZ, performed in-person facility evaluations in Waukegan, Zion, Libertyville and Vernon Hills, while a field team from DeepWalk evaluated more than 1,000 pedestrian crossings, roughly 95 miles of sidewalk corridors and 89 signalized intersections. Ruth Anne said the field data and photos were synced to ArcGIS and will be transferred to LCDOT when the plan is complete.
Ruth Anne said the consultant is now focusing on a review of county public service areas'a new component that examines departmental services, web content and staff practices for ADA compliance. "One of the major deadlines that the county is facing coming up in 2026 is requiring to make sure that the county's web content is WCAG 2.1 level AA compliant," she said, giving the legal compliance date as April 24, 2026.
County communications staff have worked with the website vendor CivicPlus to run scans and identify web content that needs remediation, Ruth Anne said. She added that communications has an online tool and that CivicPlus has completed a compliance scan of the county website; staff indicated scans can be run on a monthly basis to track progress.
Ruth Anne said the transition plan will prioritize improvements, estimate costs and establish a realistic implementation schedule, with an intent to return with the data to the DEI committee in February 2026.
The committee did not take any formal action on the ADA plan at the Oct. 28 meeting; Ruth Anne framed the presentation as an update on ongoing initiatives.
