ADA Accessibility in School Gardens

[Kelly Wilson]

Hi all,

Some school gardens I support in southwest Florida are working to install shade structures in their garden spaces. However, the district has said they are not allowed to do so without ADA compliant pathways to access them, requiring sidewalks to be installed before the shade structures are added. This raises a significant cost barrier for the project. 

Have any of you encountered this? How do you accomplish ADA compliance/accessibility in your school garden spaces? Do your districts have policies that allow for non-sidewalk options that we can share to make a case for alternative plans? 

Thanks in advance! 

Kelly Wilson
Pronouns: she, her, hers
Food Systems Specialist
UF/IFAS Extension Lee County
3410 Palm Beach Blvd.
Fort Myers, FL 33905
Phone: 239-271-8244  
kelly....@ufl.edu 

[Greg Ellis]

Hi Kelly,

I am in California and we are also required to have ADA compliant pathways (and we want to make them to increase garden accessibility).  As far as I know, concrete is not required--we have done our pathways in decomposed granite.  Path widths, turnaround areas and clearances are another consideration--read more here: https://www.kafkagranite.com/kafka-granites-guide-wheelchair-accessible-pathway-materials

That website sells a stabilizer to help bind the pathway, which may be useful but is not required or necessary.

Good luck!

Greg

[Wilson, Kelly]

Hi Olivia,

 

Many people responded directly to me (instead of copying the forum email address as well), so I have received a lot of great insights! I can forward you the responses. I believe someone mentioned using granite!

 

All the best,

 

Kelly Wilson

Pronouns: she, her, hers

UF/IFAS Extension Lee County

239-271-8244; kelly....@ufl.edu

 

From: Olivia Steele <Oli...@sierraharvest.org>
Sent: Monday, November 21, 2022 3:14 PM
To: Wilson, Kelly <kelly....@ufl.edu>; School Garden Support Organization Network <school-gar...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: RE: ADA Accessibility in School Gardens

 

[External Email]

I’d love to hear people’s input on this – we have been considering decomposed granite as our ADA pathways (switching from current woodchip pathways) but are wondering if there is a better material that folks have used for pathways as an alternative to sidewalks.

 

Olivia Steele
Food Love Farm Manager

she/her

    

www.sierraharvest.org | 530.265.2343

313 Railroad Ave. Suite 201 | Nevada City, CA 95959

 

Reserve your early bird tickets for the 2023 Sustainable Food & Farm Conference!  Keynote speakers include Javier Zamora of JSM Farms, agro-ecologist Amélie Gaudin, and Fulcrum Farm!  Not-to-miss topics range from resilient farming systems, on-farm composting systems, and building successful businesses.  Scholarships available!

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[Linda Sternin]

I would love to hear about options that are available. We are in the process of planning to convert our stone garden paths to ADA compliant, and would like to hear more about what other school gardens have done, especially gardens that get a lot of snow.  

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/school-garden-network/DM5PR2201MB11646201D656948A7BC76672860A9%40DM5PR2201MB1164.namprd22.prod.outlook.com.

--

Linda M. Sternin M.S. CCC-SLP

Speech- Language Pathologist

Kenmore -Town of Tonawanda Union Free School District

Edison Elementary School

Email:  lste...@ktufsd.org

Voicemail: 874-8416 Mailbox number:39486

 

 

 

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