31A-076 264 Elm St AAB regs 2015-01-30City of Northampton
Massachusetts
DEPARTMENT OF BUILDING INSPECTIONS
212 Main Street ● Municipal Building
Northampton, MA 01060
Aaron DeMaio
264 Elm Street
Northampton, MA 01060
January 30, 2015
Dear Mr. DeMaio,
We have had a number of discussions about a second accessible toilet room in the common
area of the building at 264 Elm Street.
A second accessible toilet room is required by the Architectural Access Board regulations,
section 3.2.2, 3.3.3 and 3.5:
3.3.2 If the work performed, including the exempted work, amounts to 30% or more of the full and fair
cash value (see 521 CMR 5.00) of the building the entire building is required to comply with 521 CMR.
3.3.3 Alterations by a tenant do not trigger the requirements of 521 CMR 3.3.1b and 3.3.2 for other
tenants. However, alterations, reconstruction, remodeling, repairs, construction, and changes in use
falling within 521 CMR 3.3.1b and 3.3.2, will trigger compliance with 521 CMR in areas of public use,
for the owner of the building.
3.5 Work performed over time
When the work performed on a building is divided into separate phases or projects or is under separate
building permits, the total cost of such work in any 36 month period shall be added together in applying
521 CMR 3.3, Existing Buildings.
Based on the assessor’s records, the “full and fair cash value” (section 5, definitions) of the
building is $610,800. The estimated cost of the work done in the past 3 years is $354,000. Because the
recent work on the building is 58% of the value of the building, the whole building needs to be
accessible and therefore the second accessible toilet room is required.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Respectfully,
Louis Hasbrouck
Building Commissioner
City of Northampton
(413) 587-1240
lhasbrouck@city.northampton.ma.us
cc Northampton Office of Planning and Development