How is it that, 33 years after the Americans with Disabilities Act passes, the town of Kennebunk plans, reviews and oversees a new development like the Cottages at Coastal Pines that installs a barrier on a walkway to the Kennebunk Middle School that impedes certain students, faculty and residents?

Although Coastal Pines promotes its proximity to schools as a highlight, the developer, Massachusetts-based Cottage Advisors, installed a gate on the walkway to the school that is only 25 inches wide, which will essentially prohibit anyone with a stroller, crutches, wheelchair, mobility scooter or walker from walking to or from the Kennebunk Middle School’s recreation fields or the Stevens Center.

For public passageways, the ADA requires a minimum of 36 inches. No doubt this was an oversight by Cottage Advisors. How does a barrier like this pass through the town’s planning process? And, when pointed out, how does it meet with an apathetic response from the town, RSU-21 and the Coastal Pines Home Owner’s Association? After all, one of the town’s goals in its comprehensive plan is to preserve and protect open space and have it be universally accessible.

With the town ramping up for a much larger 75-unit, low-income housing unit in West Kennebunk, is this sort of planning oversight going to be an issue with future development? Many of these new residents will depend on ADA regulations being enforced, so their neighborhood truly is universally accessible. Who is responsible for walking the talk of universal accessibility in Kennebunk’s new growth?

Steve Kelley
Kennebunk

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