The following Notice was mailed from the State Architectural Access Board  to the architect for The Armory, 191 Highland Avenue, Somerville, MA:

July 18, 2011

Dear [Architect],

On July 8, 2011, the Board received your request for an extension from the Board’s previously issued date for compliance of June 15, 2011, an extension to the May 15, 2011 date ordered in the Board’s November 23, 2010 amended decision.  Your submittal stated that due to the need to now work with the Somerville Department of Public Works and Engineering Department to work to raise the public sidewalk two (2) inches to allow for a compliant running slope, in accordance with the board’s order… the Petitioners would require until September 15, 2011 to evaluate and coordinate modification to the sidewalk in question.  The Board discussed this matter during an administrative review at ther regularly scheduled July 11, 2011 meeting and voted as follows:

DENY the extension request and ORDER that the Petitioners appear before the Board for a Fine Hearing, due to their lack of compliance with an order of the Board.  The “Fine Hearing Notice” is attached.

This writer knows of at least one other instance where DPW stalled accessibility.

In Spring, 2008, when the Citizen’s Bank in Union Square required the City’s clearance to to drill down their entrance step and replace it with an accessible entrance,  I was informed that a “DPW official”  told the bank, “noone can make you make your bank accessible.”

The bank’s then-manager was informed that their entrance work needed to be coordinated with the upcoming new pour of the Bow Street/Somerville Ave. sidewalk.     Residents asked Alderman Taylor to intervene, and he placed an order to lift DPW’s restriction so that this bank would be able to finalize accessibility improvements in the summer of 2008.

The Bow Street/Somerville Avenue sidewalk wasn’t poured until late July, 2010.

How long will the Armory wait?

(A complete administrative record for the Armory, Docket No. C10-059 and V09-197 is on file at the office of the Architectural Access Board.)