Santa Barbara orders removal of eight parklets

City says restaurants failed to comply with ADA rules

By NEIL HARTSTEIN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

The city of Santa Barbara has ordered eight outdoor dining parklets be removed for failing to comply with ADA accessibility requirements.

And the city has given restaurants until Monday to make those removals happen.

“We just returned from issuing removal notices to noncompliant facilities,” Meghan Salas, the city’s parking programs supervisor, told the NewsPress. “We issued a total of eight removal notices today (April 17) with a removal deadline of April 24.”

The eight parklets represent more than a third of the 22 parklets in Santa Barbara found to be noncompliant with ADA requirements during the city’s last round of inspections.

City staff had planned to issue another two removal notices on April 17, but didn’t because the restaurants involved had made the necessary adjustments to make their parklets accessible to people with disabilities.

“Two of the facilities had fixed their violations and are now in compliance and were not issued removal notices,” she said.

A certified access specialist performed ADA compliance inspections on the 22 outdoor business facilities on April 7. Of those inspected, 15 remained out of compliance, which means seven of the 22 parklets had corrected their violations. Counting the eight parklets off State Street to be removed, and the two that had fixed their violations, that leaves five parklets that remain noncompliant.

“The remaining five facilities are not as far along in the inspection process and will be receiving administrative citations and fines,” Ms. Salas said.

The city’s deadline for full ADA compliance was Dec. 1.

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