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Home My WebLink AboutGRAAC-2008-11-27Grand River Accessibility Advisory Committee (GRAAC) Thursday November 27th, 2008 Kitchener City Hall, Conestoga Room PRESENT: Sharon Ward - Zeller (Co-Chair),, Taposhi Batabyal (Co- Chair), Gail Brunsdon, Saul Herzog, Gordon Cummer, Amy Ross, Sharon Giles, Councillor Kelly Galloway, Leigh Golden, Darryl Denny, Kelly Steiss, Johanna Ellis (Recorder) PRESENT (Guests): Anthony Cashin, Karen Pettinger (Region of Waterloo), Vanessa Lopak (Region of Waterloo), Members of MACKS Committee (Mayor's Advisory Council of Kitchener Seniors), Greg McTaggart (City of Kitchener, Staff REGRETS (MEMBERS): James Hunsberger, Brad Ullner, Councillor Jane Mitchell, Councillor Karen Scian, Myron Steinman, Rosa Bustamante, Ken Parker REGRETS (OTHERS): ABSENT WITHOUT REGRETS: Rik Louwagie 1.0 WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS Sharon Ward - Zeller welcomed everyone to the meeting and invited members, staff and observers to introduce themselves. 2.0 APPROVAL OF SEPTEMBER MINUTES AND REVIEW OF OCTOBER AGENDA • Motion (Sharon Giles) /Seconded (Gail Brunsdon) /Carried to approve the October minutes. • Motion (Gordon Cummer) /Seconded (Sharon Giles) /Carried to approve the November agenda. 3.0 City of Kitchener Sidewalk Policy —Greg McTaggart • Sidewalks, built in urbanized areas of the City of Kitchener, are being considered by the Engineering department. This is called in- filling. • They are in the process of getting approval for areas where it is practical to build the sidewalks. • City council has approved the objective /idea. • Engineering is communicating with the public well in advance to give residents time to respond to the idea. • Currently looking at 6 streets, within the city, to install sidewalks. • Some residents do not believe that their street requires sidewalks. • Going to DTS (Development and Technical Services) Committee on Monday December 1, 2008. • Delegations from both sides will be attending to plead their case. • Some of the opposition is because their street is not really set up for urbanization. • Sidewalks are paid out of the tax levy. • GRAAC has input because of their work in "Accessibility for everyone ". November 2008 - GRAAC Minutes 1 • Surveys are done on a regular basis to keep updated on needs. • City has held public meetings about sidewalks, and prioritized areas (by using a point system) where there are greater needs for sidewalks because of schools etc. 4.0 CO -CHAIR REPORT: 4.1 December Meeting: • The December meeting will be held on the 3rd Thursday in December which is Thursday December 18th from 1:30 — 4:00 p.m. 4.2 Council Presentations: • Taposhi and Sharon attended a meeting in North Dumfries. • They spoke and gave council an overview of what GRAAC was about. • Taposhi and Sharon will be making a presentation in Elmira at Woolwich Council on December 9th, 2008 @ 7:00 p.m. All members are welcome to attend. Reimbursement for transportation expenses will be provided if necessary. • Wellesley Council will be holding a meeting sometime in December at a location that is accessible (Cross Hill). Taposhi and Sharon will be making another presentation there to educate council about the work of GRAAC. Again, members will be invited when the date has been set. 4.3 Sub - committee Membership 2009: • All GRAAC sub - committee memberships are up for renewal in 2009. 4.4 AODA Response: • Information and Communication will be put on December agenda. 5.0 GRAAC JOINT ACCESSIBILITY PLAN 2009: 5.1 Overview of Plan: • Kelly Steiss presented an overview of the Joint Annual Accessibility plan for Kitchener and Waterloo. • Layout is similar to ROW (Region of Waterloo) plan, i.e., by AODA defined barriers. ACTION: Members of GRAAC Members were encouraged to let Kelly know what they liked about the report and /or what needs to be changed /added. 5.2 Notable Successes 2008: • An all departments email was sent out to City of Kitchener and City of Waterloo staff to identify barrier areas that require change and how they have addressed those barriers. There was a great response from staff to illustrate how these barriers have been recognized and removed. November 2008 - GRAAC Minutes 2 • Successes were identified in many areas and departments across both municipalities, in municipal parking and in buildings. Additionally, there were a number of opportunities provided to staff to increase their education and awareness of barriers and how to remove those barriers. • With respect to Parkview Cemetery, there was concern with the signage of the accessible parking spaces. • GRAAC commented that they liked the notable successes and that it demonstrates real progress. - BREAK- 6.0 GRACC 70INT ACCESSIBILITY PLAN 2009: (CONT'D) 6.1 AODA Customer Service Regulations: • A critical path has been created to identify the steps and processes required to be compliant with the Customer Services Regulation by the compliance deadline of January 1, 2010. The critical path includes taking an inventory of current policies and procedures, identifying gaps in policies and training opportunities. • The City of Kitchener, City of Waterloo, Region of Waterloo, City of Guelph, City of Cambridge and County of Wellington are working together with the intent to share policies and procedures and best practices. 6.2 Barrier Area #1 Policy /Practice /Attitudinal: • Kelly presented the review of the 2008 initiatives and the plans for 2009 as it relates to the barrier area of policy, practice and attitudinal. • GRAAC made the following recommendations: - Requested a definition for the Community Investment Strategy. - Request to review the special events checklist. - There was concern about parking in municipal parking garages. There was a request for a review of accessible parking in these lots. - There was a concern that this Plan does not adequately reflect the identification, prevention and removal of barriers for persons with visual challenges. There was a request to include more initiatives that address individuals with this disability. - GRAAC would like to review the Emergency Management template developed by the City of Kitchener for outlying facilities. 6.3 Barrier Area #2 Information /Communications: • GRAAC recommended that the signs that identify that assistive listening devices are available, are in consistent location in each City. - BREAK- 6.4 Barrier Area #3 Physical Architectural: • A comment was made from a member who has concerns combining Kitchener & Waterloo issues. The member stated that they are different. • Recommendation to add consultation with GRAAC to that with outside agencies. November 2008 - GRAAC Minutes 3 • Agency recommendation is in place to capture needs of others. • GRAAC recommended that they would like an opportunity to monitor the progress of the audit and are requesting that staff present to GRAAC every six months. 6.5 Barrier Area #4 Technological: GRAAC recommended that websites meet the WX standards for accessibility and not wait until the implementation of the Information and Communication standard. 7.0 SUB-COMMITTEE REPORTS: 7.1 GTSC Transportation: • No update • Two sub-groups of the sub-committee were going on a tour to check out signage • Meeting to be held on December 9th, 2008 7.2 G-BESC Built Environment • Meeting deferred to December 15th, 2008 8.0 ADJOURNMENT: • Meeting adjourned at 3:50. Motion made by Amy Ross Next meeting is Thursday December 18th, 2008 from 1:30 — 4:00 p.m. in the Conestoga Room at Kitchener City Hall. Please RSVP if you cannot attend. November 2008 - GRAAC Minutes 4