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Council approves crosswalk retrofit at Allan Hancock College after ADA debate; staff to return with upgrade cost estimates
Summary
Council authorized a crosswalk retrofit at an Allan Hancock College location (item 11d4) after debate over ADA curb‑ramp standards. A resident urged PROWAG directional ramps; staff said retrofit constraints (truck turning, drainage, cost) favor the city's standard ramps and will return with budget figures for possible upgrades.
The Santa Maria City Council approved a crosswalk retrofit at a location requested by Allan Hancock College (agenda item 11d4) after a detailed exchange about Americans with Disabilities Act standards and ramp design.
Resident and accessibility advocate Jeffrey Wheeler recommended replacing single diagonal curb ramps with two directional ramps consistent with the Public Right‑of‑Way Accessibility Guidelines (PROWAG), arguing directional ramps provide clearer cues for visually impaired pedestrians and reduce crossing distances. "Please send this back to staff for improvement to our City ADA ramp standard," Wheeler said.
City staff, represented by Mr. Fulghoni (engineering), responded that the item is a retrofit requested by the college and that the project as designed complies with the city's ADA standards and was reviewed by the traffic committee. Fulghoni said retrofit constraints — including truck‑turning radii, drainage and the college's request for expedited work — limited the design options. He noted that building PROWAG‑style ramps in this location would require coming into the roadway, additional concrete work and drainage changes, and would therefore be substantially more expensive and slower to deliver.
During discussion staff estimated that upgrading to PROWAG-style ramps at this project could be "about $25,000 more" depending on scope; council members debated whether to accept the standard retrofit now or spend more to upgrade ramps citywide. Council ultimately approved item 11d4 as presented and asked staff to provide a budgetary cost estimate for a potential future PROWAG upgrade so the council can consider it alongside other capital priorities.
What happens next: Public Works/Engineering will provide a cost analysis and schedule for potential ADA upgrades to be considered in a future budget or capital plan; the approved retrofit will move forward under the city's standard design unless council later directs otherwise.
