Grassroots effort leads to change in Simi building code
New mandatory provisions 'benefit everyone,' supporters say
By Kyle Jorrey kjorrey@theacorn.com

KYLE JORREY/Acorn Newspapers MORE COMFORTABLE FOR ALL- Plans for senior housing complexes and family rental homes will have to include universal and adaptable design modifications before they can be approved.

In the beginning, she swears, they were just trying to share a good idea- one that made too much sense not to share.

Attending public forum after public forum, Judy Pepiot and volunteers from the Simi Valley Council for Senior Housing preached the value of adaptable and universal building design to every resident, city official and developer who would listen, never sure where their efforts would lead them.

Universal design "made so much sense," Pepiot said. "It was just a matter of hanging in there until the education caught up with itself."

Eventually the concept- a list of design features that make a dwelling comfortably livable and easily adaptable for people of all ages and physical abilities- stuck, especially with members of the planning commission.

And last month the commission got the City Council's goahead to make the design features a condition of approval for all future senior projects (both rental and for-sale) and family rental projects in Simi Valley.

Though the decision was made with little fanfare, it was big news for Pepiot and the others who had worked so hard in support of their concept.

"It took my breath away, it really did," said Pepiot, who attended the Dec. 18 meeting during which the policy was passed. "I got so much more than what I originally started out to get."

Aging in place

Rob Bruce, the city's deputy director of special projects, said that even though adaptable and universal design elements are already included in state law- the first in the California Building Code and the second in the Health and Safety Code- they are not always applied. The City Council's new policy changes that locally, making these features mandatory for proposed senior and/or family rental projects.

"We wanted to make sure we got all the benefits of these two bodies of law, whether or not the state law applied," Bruce explained.

According to staff reports, adaptable features are either adjustable or capable of being easily and immediately added or removed to alter the unit to meet individual needs or preferences. In an adaptable dwelling, the report states, "wide doors, no steps, knee spaces, control and switch locations, grab bar reinforcing and other access features are built in."

Universal design features are meant to improve accessibility, Bruce said. These features include adjustable closet rods and shelves, anti-scald devices on plumbing fixtures and either an accessible or roll-in shower in at least one bathroom in each unit.

"These elements of design . . . help anybody age in place. They make day-to-day life as we age more comfortable and easier," Bruce said.

Pepiot originally brought the ideas of universal and adaptable design back to Simi in 2004 after attending a conference on senior housing in Los Angeles.

She attended that conference as a representative with the Simi Valley Council for Senior Housing, which she formed in October 2003 as "a volunteer group of citizens committed to providing appropriate agerestricted housing for seniors 55 and better, for all income levels, in Simi Valley."

The concept was presented at the conference by Dr. John Pynoos, head of the USC gerontology center, Pepiot said.

"He talked about the importance of stopping the building of cookie-cutter housing, or what he called 'Peter Pan' housing, that's designed for people who never grow old," she said.

Not-so-senior housing

Pepiot's cause eventually gained the ardent support of local seniors' advocate Judy Dwyer, former housing liaison to the Council on Aging. Dwyer said she got on board in 2004 after inspecting a Tapo Canyon Road complex which was at the time the city's newest senior apartment development. "They called this a senior complex, and yet there were no grab bars in the bathrooms and only bathtubs, no showers," Dwyer said. "When I asked the manager about putting up grab bars, he said you can't do that. He said if you did that you would have to replace all the damage that was done by putting the grab bars in before you moved out or face losing your deposit."

So infuriated was she at the manager's comments, Dwyer went straight to Councilmember Barbra Williamson, who also joined the cause for universal and adaptable design.

After giving successful presentations to every neighborhood council and to the planning commission over the course of two years, members of the Simi Valley Council on Senior Housing finally got the backing they needed to confront the City Council, Pepiot said.

"The planning commission ended up being our biggest leverage point . . . when they voted unanimously to send it back to the City Council to ask for their guidance, that's what sealed it," she said.

Provisions for everybody

Bruce was keen to point out that the city wanted universal and adaptable features included in all family rental projects as well as senior housing because the provisions are not only for seniors.

"It's not only for people aging in place- it's for anybody with a physical challenge," Bruce said. "Things like having adjustable rods in the closet, it's not an expensive thing to do, but it makes a big difference for anybody who finds themselves in a wheelchair, or for children."

Pepiot seconded that notion.

"They're a set of principles you can apply to anything, just a simple list of design guidelines that make things usable to a majority of people," she said.

Pepiot said she could never thank or name the countless people who've been involved in the push to bring universal and adaptable designs to Simi Valley. It's a list, she said, that includes real estate agents, city staff members and even developers.

"Of everyone we dealt with the developers were the most open. They were so thankful to have somebody come in and tell them what the senior population is looking for," Pepiot said.

"People tend to think of developers as the big bad guys, but that's not always the case," she said.

Both Dwyer and Pepiot see the campaign's success as a perfect example of what can happen when residents use the power of local government to their advantage- not demanding change, but educating the powers that be on the need for change.

"We were always careful to play within the rules of the game. We didn't go make a scene, we went and talked under the public statements time or agenda time for that project," Pepiot said.

"What I've learned in this process," Pepiot said, "is that it helps not to go in and ask for things that don't make sense. We had something that made great sense, so people wanted to learn about it."

For more information, call the Simi Valley Council on Senior Housing at (805) 583-5022. In a Nutshell + Universal and adaptable building design features make a house more livable for people of all ages and physical abilities. Some important elements include wider doors, showers rather than bathtubs, grab bars in showers and adjustable closet rods. + The principles are included in state building codes but are not always applied. + The City Council's recent decision makes adaptable design elements mandatory for all future Simi senior projects (for-sale and rental) and family rental projects.