ADA Accessibility Compliance in Retail and Office Permit Drawings

Accessibility review starts at the site plan: an accessible parking space with proper dimensions and signage, connected by a continuous accessible route — meeting maximum slope and cross-slope requirements — to an accessible building entrance. A curb ramp, a doorway threshold that's too high, or a slope that exceeds the allowed running grade can each independently fail this requirement even if every other sheet is compliant.

Inside the space, aisles, doorways, and paths of travel need minimum clear widths, and any element a customer or employee interacts with — a service counter, a point-of-sale station — needs a portion built to an accessible height with clear floor space in front of it for wheelchair approach. This is one of the most common items missed in retail build-outs, where counter height gets set for aesthetics before accessibility is checked.

Commercial restrooms need accessible stalls with specific clearances, grab bar placement, and door hardware that doesn't require tight grasping or twisting. Sink height, mirror height, and the turning radius available inside the restroom are all dimensioned requirements — not judgment calls — and need to be shown explicitly on the interior elevation and floor plan sheets.

In an existing building undergoing a tenant improvement, ADA rules often require that accessibility upgrades extend beyond the tenant space itself — to the primary accessible path of travel serving it (restrooms, parking, the route from the public way) — proportional to the cost of the alteration. This is frequently missed in smaller TI projects that focus only on the leased space and overlook the building's shared accessible path.

Beyond plan check delays, ADA non-compliance carries civil liability exposure that most other code violations don't — it's one of the few areas where getting permit drawings right isn't just about approval, but about avoiding legal exposure after the space opens.