Wheelchair lifts for municipal buildings: borough halls, fire halls, libraries

Public buildings and Title II

State and local governments fall under Title II of the ADA, which requires that programs, services, and activities be accessible to people with disabilities. A council meeting, a tax office, a polling place, or a library story hour on a level a wheelchair cannot reach is a program that is not accessible. Title II allows governments to meet that duty by relocating the program or by making the building accessible, and in most borough and township buildings a lift is far less disruptive than moving the meeting room.

The buildings we see most: a borough hall with the council chamber up six steps, a township building with a basement meeting room, a fire company social hall with a stage and a raised bar, a library in a converted house, and a senior center in a former school. Each has a level change of a few feet, a tight budget, and a board that meets once a month and wants one clear number.

Lift options for municipal buildings

Entrances and half flights: the Savaria V-1504 with the commercial package, enclosed outdoors or in a framed hoistway indoors, 750 lb, up to 14 feet of travel, with interlocked doors at each landing. It is the lift you see in schools and churches across the region, and parts are stocked.

Lobbies and public counters: the Savaria Prolift, an enclosed cab with automatic doors and finishes that suit a public lobby, 750 to 1,400 lb.

Council dais, stage, or raised floor: Ascension Protege or Virtuoso, set on the finished floor with no pit or ramp.

Straight stairwells: the Savaria Delta inclined lift, which folds flat against the wall so the stair keeps its egress width when no one is riding.

Short rises: a 72 inch enclosed Multilift, or a modular ramp when the rise is under about 30 inches and there is room.

The budget case: lift versus elevator

Elevator quotes stall municipal accessibility projects for years. A LULA or passenger elevator in an existing borough hall means a hoistway with a deep pit, a machine room, fire-rated construction, an elevator contractor, and a general contractor, with the building partly closed for the duration. A commercial platform lift needs a shallow pit or a short ramp, a dedicated 120V circuit, and an enclosure or a simple framed hoistway. Installation is two to five days. For a one or two level building it is nearly always the lower cost alternative to a LULA, and it fits inside a single budget year.

Commercial lifts cost more than residential porch lifts because of the enclosure, the doors, and the state permit and inspection, and the figure depends on travel and landings. We provide a written quote within 24 hours of the site visit with the permit and initial inspection as their own line, in a format that works for a council agenda, a purchasing file, or a grant application. Our post on vertical platform lift cost covers the factors.

Code and permits for government buildings

Municipal lifts follow ASME A18.1 as adopted by the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code and are permitted through the Department of Labor and Industry like any commercial lift: plan review and a state permit before the order, a local building permit, installation, an acceptance test performed by our technician and witnessed by a certified elevator inspector, and a Certificate of Operation before public use. Periodic inspections follow, and our service plans include the tests.

The ADA Standards also apply: the lift must be usable without an attendant, with unassisted entry and exit and controls reachable from a wheelchair, and it may serve as the accessible route in an existing building and for raised areas like a dais or stage. Municipalities often have their own code official; we coordinate the local permit with that office while we file the state side. Read more about permits for a wheelchair lift.

Working with boards, bids, and schedules

We are used to the municipal rhythm: a site visit, a written quote the manager can take to the board, questions at the meeting, a vote, then the permit. Where a project must be bid, our quote is written with the specifications a solicitor can use. Installation is scheduled around meetings and elections, and pad or hoistway work is done beforehand by the municipality's contractor from our drawings or by ours. We walk staff through the controls, the key switch if one is fitted, manual lowering, and the emergency stop before we leave.

From Etters we serve boroughs and townships in Dauphin, Cumberland, York, Lancaster, Lebanon, Perry, Adams, and Franklin counties routinely, and Maryland towns in Carroll, Frederick, and Washington counties. City pages: Harrisburg, Lancaster, York.

Start at the overview: commercial wheelchair lifts covers the lineup, the code, and the permit process in one place.

Other building types

• Wheelchair lifts for churches
• Wheelchair lifts for schools
• Wheelchair lifts for businesses
• Inclined platform lifts

Commercial lifts by city

• Commercial wheelchair lifts in Harrisburg, PA
• Commercial wheelchair lifts in Lancaster, PA
• Commercial wheelchair lifts in York, PA

Residential lifts are on the vertical platform lifts page and the full lineup on all platform lifts. Related reading: what a vertical platform lift is, ramp versus platform lift. Or call (717) 219-7976.