A proposal aimed at making all new housing in Naperville accessible to disabled people by requiring a no-step entrance is off the table because the city’s Fair Housing Advisory Commission determined it would be too difficult to implement.
The commission, an appointed board, made the recommendation for the no-step entrance this year. The commission also recommended changing homes’ interiors to make it easier for a person in a wheelchair to get around. The City Council approved that requirement in February.
The City Council viewed he no-step entrance with more skepticism because of the potential for greater problems in redesigning houses.
In the end the commission determined that most new Naperville homes have raised foundations and that a ramp would have to be unusually long, said commission member Bill Malleris.
The council accepted the recommendation Tuesday and does not plan to study the issue further, said Assistant City Manager Craig Blomquist.
In a memo presented to the City Council on Tuesday, Malleris said that in a typical new house in the southern part of Naperville, the distance between the curb and the finished floor of the house is 5 feet. The rise helps accommodate basements with high ceilings and other design features. Many houses being built in other communities are 24 inches to 30 inches off the ground, he said.
“Our position is that this [no-step entrance] can still be done in other communities, and that’s where typical single-family homes are being built,” he said. “We did [the research] based on the facts, not on the hoopla.”
In February, Naperville made national headlines for approving accessibility requirements for private homes. Other communities have similar accessibility requirements for publicly funded homes, but only Naperville and a county in Arizona have mandated some changes for all homes, said Eleanor Smith, founder of Concrete Change, an advocacy group for the disabled in Georgia.
Smith said she was disappointed that Naperville had abandoned the no-step entrance, a vital component for accessibility because a wheelchair can easily get into the house.
“It’s a change that people are not accustomed to, and there’s a lot of false information and false ideas,” she said.
From the beginning of the debate in Naperville, however, home builders opposed the proposals, saying that the requirements create extra costs for everyone but benefit only a few.
Tom Bart, a home builder in Naperville, said he hopes the council will rescind the ordinance on home interiors.
The ordinance’s requirements include doorways on the first floor that a person in a wheelchair can get through, reinforced bathroom walls to allow for grab bars, and light switches and electrical outlets at a height that allows a person in a wheelchair to reach them.
“I think it’s a real good first step, by getting rid of the no-step,” Bart said.
Bruce Deason, a senior director of Attainable Housing Alliance in Lombard, which works with homebuilders, said he was pleased with the decision.
“There was a potential for a real substantial cost,” he said.
Doug Krause, a Naperville City Council member, said he supports the requirements for changes to the interior of homes because such changes are helpful if anyone in the house has an injury or develops a disability.
“I’m willing to look at it after a year and see how it’s working,” he said. “See if it’s doing what we thought it was supposed to do. If not, we may need to go back and readdress it.”
