U.S.

Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division
T. 5/23/92
JLW:LIB:HJB:jfh
202-PL-00083 Washington, D.C. 20530

MAY 28 1992

Ms. Tria D. Vikesland

Adaptive Recreation Specialist
Eden Prairie Community Center
16700 Valley View Road
Eden Prairie, Minnesota 55346

Dear Ms. Vikesland:

This letter responds to your correspondence requesting

technical assistance with respect to the provisions of the
Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. 12101-12213 (ADA).
The ADA authorizes the Department of Justice to provide technical
assistance to individuals and entities having rights or
obligations under the Act. This letter provides informal
guidance to assist you in understanding the ADA's requirements.
However, it does not constitute a legal interpretation and it is
not binding on the Department.

You are correct in your understanding that title II of the

ADA generally requires that if local governments provide services
or programs to residents or non-residents without disabilities,
they must therefore provide these programs and services for
individuals with disabilities. You inquire whether a local
government may now designate some programs as being open to the
general public -- both individuals with disabilities and those
without disabilities -- and some programs only to residents of
your local jurisdiction, again including both individuals with
disabilities and those without disabilities. Generally, limiting
participation in this way does not appear to be prohibited by
title II.

We must caution you, however, against limiting participation

to residents only in some programs, but not others, if all
programs have historically been open to all. Your reason for
offering certain programs only to residents should not be related
to the fact that you expect people with disabilities to
participate in them. For example, the ADA might be violated if
you allowed the general public to use most facilities of a
cc: Records OADA Wodatch Bowen Beard
udd:beard.ta.202.vikesland

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recreation center (e.g., picnic areas, tennis courts, basketball
courts), but you limited use of the swimming pool to residents
when you know that you have no mobility impaired residents and
you do not want to provide pool services to individuals with
those impairments.

We hope that this information is useful to you. I enclose

a copy of the regulations issued by the Department of Justice
under both title II and title III (which contains the ADA
Accessibility Guidelines, an optional standard for local
government use), Title II Highlights, and our Title II Technical
Assistance Manual.

Sincerely,

L. Irene Bowen
Deputy Director
Office on the Americans with Disabilities Act

Enclosures

01-00830
City of Eden Prairie
COMMUNITY CENTER
16700 Valley View Road * Eden Prairie, MN 55346-3677 * Telephone (612)
937-8727

February 4, 1992

Office on the Americans with Disabilities Act

Civil Rights Division
U.S. Department of Justice
P.O. Box 66118
Washington, D.C. 20035-6118

Dear Sirs:

I am writing to request any new and updated information about the

Americans with Disability Act. We also would like to know if
anyone has raised the issue of non-resident fees or providing
services to non-residents.

The City of Eden Prairie is looking hard at the issue of

providing services or programs to non-residents. Past history is
that we have, however it has shown to be very costly and at
times, very time consuming for a program. To our understanding
if we provide services or programs to residents or non-residents
without disabilities we therefore must provide for individuals
with disabilities. What we are looking at now is if we can
legally designate some programs open to the public and some
programs just to residents of Eden Prairie, whether they have a
disability or not.

Has there been other cities or organizations dealing with this

same issue and do you have any information or articles about
this?

Please send information to:

Tria D. Vikesland
Adaptive Recreation Specialist
Eden Prairie Community Center
16700 Valley View Road
Eden Prairie, MN 55346

Thank you!

Sincerely,

Tria D. Vikesland
Adaptive Recreation Specialist

TDV:cp

01-00831