STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2578
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 13, 2017
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Introduced by Sen. HELMING -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Transportation
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to van accessi-
ble handicapped parking
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 1203-c of the vehicle and traffic
2 law, as added by chapter 203 of the laws of 1981, is amended to read as
3 follows:
4 1. (a) Any person, firm or corporation owning a shopping center or
5 facility with at least five separate retail stores and at least twenty
6 off street parking spaces which are provided for use by the shopping
7 public must designate as only for the handicapped and clearly mark for
8 use by the handicapped a minimum of five percent of such parking spaces
9 or ten such spaces whichever is less. These spaces must be located as
10 close as reasonably practicable to the shopping center facility and
11 reasonably distributed so as to provide convenient access for use by
12 handicapped drivers. Such parking spaces are to be used either by hand-
13 icapped drivers displaying a special municipal parking permit (as
14 defined in section twelve hundred three-a of this [chapter] article and
15 distributed by the commissioner [of motor vehicles] to local governing
16 bodies to be issued to handicapped persons who reside in such locality)
17 or by motor vehicles registered in accordance with section four hundred
18 four-a of this chapter and being used for the transportation of a hand-
19 icapped person.
20 (b) One in every eight handicap accessible spaces shall be van acces-
21 sible. Where five or more parking spaces are designated handicap acces-
22 sible, any space that is designated as van accessible shall be reserved
23 for wheelchair users only. A van accessible parking space reserved for
24 wheelchair users shall be at least nine feet wide and shall have an
25 adjacent access aisle that is at least eight feet wide.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08224-01-7
S. 2578 2
1 (c) Van accessible parking spaces shall be at least nine feet wide and
2 shall have an adjacent access aisle that is at least six feet wide.
3 (d) An access aisle, as described in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this
4 subdivision, shall be located on the passenger side of the parking space
5 except that two adjacent accessible parking spaces may share a common
6 access aisle.
7 (e) A van accessible parking space shall have an additional sign
8 marked "Van Accessible" mounted below the sign. A van accessible parking
9 space reserved for wheelchair users shall have a sign that includes the
10 words "Wheelchair User Only."
11 (f) Accessible parking spaces, decals and signs shall be designed in
12 compliance with the standards set forth by the municipality.
13 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
