T 6-3-94 JUN 23 1994

DJ 202-74-0

The Honorable E. "Kika" de la Garza

U.S. House of Representatives
1401 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-4315

Dear Congressman de la Garza:

This letter is in response to your inquiry on behalf of your

constituent, XX , who seeks information about the
applicability of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to
parking spaces for a recreation hall in a subdivision.

Since the request for information from your constituent

describes only "a recreation hall - in a subdivision," we will
assume for purposes of this response that the subdivision is a
private residential community. Title III of the ADA imposes
certain obligations on places of public accommodation. The Act
lists twelve types of entities as places of public accommodation;
strictly residential facilities are not among the twelve
categories. Accordingly, residential communities are not covered
by title III of the ADA, and common areas in such communities are
not covered where use is restricted exclusively to residents and
their guests.

However, if a residential community opens up common areas to

general use by non-residents, it may lose its strictly
residential character. Areas open to the public will probably be
covered by the ADA if common activities or facilities fall within
one of the twelve categories of places of public accommodation in
title III. Discussion of these provisions can be found at pages
35551 - 35552 of the enclosed title III regulations and further
discussion is included in Section III - 1.000 of the enclosed
Technical Assistance Manual.

If the recreation hall is a place of public accommodation,

then the owners or operators of the recreation hall would be
required to remove architectural barriers to accessibility if
their removal is readily achievable, that is, able to be
accomplished without much difficulty or expense. Providing
accessible parking spaces, where it is readily achievable to do

cc: Records, Chrono, Wodatch, Prieto, McDowney, FOIA, Friedlander

n:\udd\prieto\policy\residntl

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so, would be included in barrier removal by a public

accommodation that provides parking spaces for self-parking by
employees or visitors, or both. The requirements for parking
spaces are set forth in the standards ("ADA Accessibility
Guidelines for Buildings and Facilities"; Appendix A to the
enclosed title III regulations), at pages 35612 and 35630 -
35632.

I hope this information will be useful to you in responding

to your constituent.

Sincerely,

Deval L. Patrick
Assistant Attorney General
Civil Rights Division

Enclosures

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