Advice to Way Finders: Locate Accessible Apartments on the Ground Floor

Report on the meeting of the Commission for Persons with Disabilities, Aug. 11, 2026

This meeting was held over Zoom and was recorded.

Present
Myra Ross (chair), Cody Rooney, Serin Derin, James Kruidenier, Ian Rhodewalt and Pamela Nolan-Young (Director, Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion)

Affordable Housing Project at East Street School Receives Variance and Suggestions
Way Finders plans to build more than 100 units of affordable housing at 31 Belchertown Road and at the former East Street School at 21 South East Street. Jamie Gruber, project manager at Way Finders, and Bob Wegener and Sarah Briggs of Joy Squared Design came to present a request for a variance from making the entrance of the former school accessible, since it is more than six feet above grade and would require a ramp of more than 120 feet to permit wheelchair access. The alternate plan is to create an accessible entrance off a south-facing courtyard between the existing school and the new addition, close to parking, communal spaces and the elevator. There are also accessible entrances to the planned new addition from South East Street.

Of the 31 units planned for the South East Street site, 20 will be Group 1 accessible, meaning they can be adapted for people with disabilities. Two will be Group 2, or fully accessible — a one-bedroom and a three-bedroom unit.

Commission for Persons with Disabilities (CPD) members agreed that building a long ramp to the original school entrance was impractical and would create an extra hazard if it were not cleared of snow and ice. They also noted that a ramp would take up much of the planned courtyard and green space. Commissioners had no objection to granting the variance, meaning the stairway entrance would not need to be made accessible since the accessible entrance was close by. The vote to allow the variance was unanimous.

However, members were adamant that the Group 2 accessible units must be located on the ground floor. Chair Myra Ross said, “It’s not the variance that you want, but for us, it’s a real serious question. If you’re in a motorized wheelchair, you’re pretty heavy to take down [the stairs] in that chair [in an emergency]. I think that’s like a disaster waiting to happen.”

Architect Sarah Briggs said the suggestion was “a really valuable perspective for me.” She said she would look at moving the Group 2 accessible units to the ground floor, although that may necessitate making the three-bedroom unit into a two-bedroom. Ross brought up a saying popular in the disability community: “Nothing about us without us.”

Commission members were also concerned that there were only 14 parking spaces, with two accessible, for the 31 units. Gruber pointed out that there is on-street parking on the access road to South East Street, but it is unclear how the opening of Amethyst Brook School across the street will affect the availability of spaces on the street.

DEI Director Pamela Nolan Young will draft a letter stating the CPD’s support of the variance regarding the entrance to the former school.

Many Appliances Are Difficult for Blind People
At the start of the meeting, Ross pointed out that many modern appliances are not accessible to blind people because they have touch pads that, besides being unreadable for those with low vision, can be turned on unintentionally. She noted that people can operate their appliances with wi-fi if it is available, but she has written to the Massachusetts Office of Disability advocating for more universal design.