Answering questions about the ADA: park and recreation agencies are asked to comment on disability guidelines.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has had a profound effect on the provision of park and recreation services since the standards were adopted in 1990. The ADA has been a catalyst that has fundamentally changed the way park and recreation agencies provide access to parks and recreational facilities and programs for people with disabilities.

On Sept. 30, 2004, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued an "Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking" (ANPRM) to begin the process of adopting portions of the revised guidelines for the ADA and the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 (ABA). The purpose of ANPRM is to solicit public input on the ADA standards, and to obtain information for the regulatory assessment that DOJ must prepare to adopt the revisions to these standards.

Through the ANPRM, the Civil Rights Division of DOJ posed 54 questions regarding the ADA guidelines for public comment. The knowledge gained from the ANPRM will evolve into implementing regulation that will require public park and recreation agencies, private entities in the leisure industry and other groups to adhere to the accessibility standards published by the United States Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (a.k.a. the U.S. Access Board).

The ADA requires DOJ to adopt enforceable accessibility standards that are consistent with the minimum guidelines and requirements that have been issued. Prior to adoption, the revised Access Board guidelines are effective only as guidance to courts or administrative bodies; they have no legal standing until DOJ issues a final rule adopting them.

The Access Board was created by an act of Congress in 1973 and charged then with creating accessibility standards, pursuant to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. When the ADA became effective in 1992, the Access Board assumed the responsibility for developing access guidelines under the ADA for everything from hotels, offices and restaurants to playgrounds, golf courses and swimming pools.

NRPA recognizes that the adoption of these revised ADA standards will have a long-lasting effect on parks and recreational agencies nationwide. Therefore, at the request of NRPA Chairman of the Board of Trustees Ron Lehman and President Lori Daniel, Executive Director John Thorner asked NRPA member John McGovern to chair an ad-hoc task force to prepare a comprehensive set of comments that represents the full spectrum of NRPA's interests and its member agencies. This task force, composed of primarily NRPA members, prepared responses to 22 of the 54 questions posed in DOJ's September announcement. The official NRPA answers will be forwarded to DOJ by the May 31 deadline.

Federal courts and administrative agencies have long used final or pending guidelines to help decide complaints, as has been done in the area of recreation. Some federal district courts and federal agencies (most notably the U.S. Department of Interior and the U.S. Department of Education) have used Access Board guidelines to help resolve disputes. The ADA has changed the way public park and recreation agencies, the private sector, courts and administrative agencies have implemented federal regulations relating to people with disabilities.

Under the ADA, the Title II guideline oversees all 85,000 units of state and local government while Title III oversees the millions of businesses and non-profit groups that open their doors to the public every day for the sale or use of goods, services and facilities. The vast majority of NRPA members who will be affected by implementation either work for, are on the boards of, or as citizens use the facilities of Title II entities.

The opportunity to comment on these 54 questions is vitally importance to NRPA and its member agencies. It is likely that the implementing regulation will be published in three to five years. It will likely remain the law of the land for two decades or longer, so NRPA's comments now will have a lasting effect.

Many of the questions posed by DOJ are specific to recreation, and many other questions are important as they address aspects of park and recreation operations, such as how DOJ enforces complaints against units of local government. NRPA is uniquely positioned to answer these questions, and the members of the ANPRM task force have produced responses that are based on years of experience, knowledge and expertise. (Please see sidebar on responses on page 20. For the complete list of questions answered by NRPA, visit www.nrpa.org/P&R.)

Every park and recreation agency in the United States will be affected by the implementing regulations for the ADA. Every agency and citizen has a stake in how these regulations become enforceable law. NRPA members and member agencies are encouraged to review the ANPRM and submit their own answers to the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. The September 2004 announcement can be found at www.regulations.gov/fred pdfs/04-21875.pdf or viewed and downloaded from the NRPA Web site. Member agencies are reminded that the official comment period has been extended to May 31. Comments can be sent by visiting www.adaanprm.org. You must put the following in the subject line: CRT Docket No. 2204-DRS01, and you must include your full name and address.