Most non-compliant parking lots we see in Clark County did not get that way on purpose. The lot was striped decades ago to whatever the layout was then, it has been repainted a few times since by tracing the old lines, and nobody has recounted the stalls against the current table. Then the building gets a new tenant, or the stalls get recounted during a permit review, and it turns into a problem on somebody's deadline.
The requirements themselves are not complicated. Here is what a property owner in Washington needs to know, with the parts where Washington is stricter than the federal standard called out, because that is where people get caught.
How many ADA parking spaces does your lot need?
The count is set by the total number of spaces in the lot, not by square footage or by the type of business. The federal 2010 ADA Standards and Washington's Table 1106.2 use the same numbers:
| Total spaces in lot | Minimum accessible spaces |
|---|---|
| 1 to 25 | 1 |
| 26 to 50 | 2 |
| 51 to 75 | 3 |
| 76 to 100 | 4 |
| 101 to 150 | 5 |
| 151 to 200 | 6 |
| 201 to 300 | 7 |
| 301 to 400 | 8 |
| 401 to 500 | 9 |
| 501 to 1,000 | 2 percent of the total |
| 1,001 and over | 20, plus 1 for each 100 over 1,000 |
A detail worth catching: the count applies per lot. If your property has several separate parking areas serving different entrances, each one generally needs its own accessible stalls rather than being pooled into one corner of the site. Accessible stalls also have to be placed on the shortest accessible route to the entrance they serve, which usually means closest to the door, not the back row where they fit the layout most conveniently.
How many of those have to be van accessible?
At least one of every six accessible stalls, or fraction of six, must be van accessible. Washington states this in the same terms the federal standard does.
In practice, that means a small lot with a single accessible stall needs that stall to be van accessible. Six accessible stalls still means one van stall. Seven means two. This is the requirement people miss most often, because a lot that correctly counted its accessible stalls in 1998 may never have been checked for van access at all.
How wide does an ADA stall and access aisle have to be in Washington?
Here is where Washington narrows your options, and it is the single most useful thing on this page.
The federal standard gives you two ways to build a van stall: 132 inches wide with a 60-inch access aisle, or 96 inches wide with a 96-inch access aisle. Washington's building code, as adopted, writes the van stall as 96 inches minimum in width with a 96-inch minimum access aisle. Build to the Washington numbers and you satisfy the federal standard at the same time. Build a 132-inch stall with a 60-inch aisle because you read the federal page and you may satisfy the ADA while failing a Washington plan review.
The rest of the dimensions:
- Car accessible stall: 96 inches minimum width, with an access aisle 60 inches minimum.
- Van accessible stall in Washington: 96 inches minimum width, with an access aisle 96 inches minimum.
- Slope: no steeper than 1:48, roughly 2 percent, in all directions across both the stall and the aisle. This one quietly fails a lot of older lots that were graded for drainage without anyone measuring the accessible stalls.
- Vertical clearance on van routes: 98 inches minimum along the vehicle route, at the stall, and at the aisle. Canopies, low garage entries, and pipework catch people here.
- Access aisles: at the same level as the stall they serve, marked so vehicles do not park in them, and connected to an accessible route to the entrance. Two stalls may share one aisle.
- Surface: firm, stable, and slip resistant. A stall that has broken up into potholes is not a compliant stall regardless of how it is painted.
That last point comes up more than you would think. If the accessible stall is the one with the alligator cracking in it, the paint is not the problem, and it is worth reading our guide on whether a lot needs sealing, patching, or replacing before scheduling the striping.
What signs does Washington require at an accessible stall?
Every accessible stall needs a vertical sign carrying the International Symbol of Accessibility, white on a blue background. Under RCW 46.61.581 the sign is what legally reserves the space, so a stall with the symbol painted on the ground but no post-mounted sign is not enforceable and is not compliant.
The specifics:
- The bottom of the sign sits at least 60 inches above the ground, high enough that a parked vehicle does not hide it.
- Van stalls carry an additional sign or designation reading van accessible.
- The sign may also state the monetary penalty for parking there without a permit. Washington allows this and does not require it, though posting it makes enforcement easier.
The penalty itself is set by RCW 46.19.050: a $250 fine plus a $200 assessment, $450 total, for parking in the space without a valid placard or plate.
We supply and install compliant ADA and reserved-stall signage as part of striping work, which is usually the cheapest time to do it since the crew and the layout are already on site.
What happens if your lot is out of compliance?
Two separate exposures, and property owners tend to only think about one of them.
The first is the signage obligation in state law. RCW 46.61.581 makes it a class 2 civil infraction for the person owning or controlling the property to fail to erect and maintain the required sign, and it counts per space. A lot missing signage on four stalls is four infractions, not one.
The second is federal. Accessible parking at a place of public accommodation falls under Title III of the ADA, which is enforced through complaints and private lawsuits rather than through a routine inspection. There is no annual parking-lot inspector who shows up; there is a customer who cannot get out of their van, and that is a materially worse way to find out.
Neither of these is the reason to fix it, but both are reasons not to leave it.
Restriping is when to fix it
If a layout needs to change, the moment to change it is when the lot is being restriped anyway. The old lines are coming off, the crew is measuring, and the cost difference between repainting a non-compliant layout and laying out a compliant one is mostly the cost of thinking about it.
What that usually involves on a Clark County lot:
- Recounting the total stalls and checking the accessible count against the table above.
- Checking that at least one in six accessible stalls is van accessible at Washington's 96-inch-plus-96-inch dimensions.
- Measuring slope on the accessible stalls and aisles, since this is the one that cannot be fixed with paint.
- Confirming the accessible route from aisle to entrance is continuous, with a curb ramp where it needs one.
- Replacing missing or faded signage, and adding wheel stops where a vehicle would otherwise overhang the accessible route.
The slope check is the one that occasionally produces bad news, because correcting it means grading or repaving rather than restriping. Better to know before the paint goes down. Wheel stops and bollards handle the overhang problem, and striping and pavement markings handle the rest.
One caveat worth taking seriously
This page covers the general requirements accurately, but your building department has the final say on your specific site, and older lots can be treated differently depending on what work is being done and when the lot was built. Before a project, check with Clark County Community Development or your city's building department. If a permit is involved, they will tell you what they expect, and it is a much cheaper conversation before the striping than after.
If you would like a set of eyes on a lot in Clark County, we are happy to walk it with you and mark out what is missing. Once it is compliant, keeping it that way is mostly a matter of not letting the paint and signs fade out again, which is what a maintenance schedule is for.
