THOUSAND OAKS : Handicapped-Access Expert Joins Panel

A longtime Thousand Oaks consultant on access for the handicapped has been appointed to a statewide panel that will advise state building commissioners.

Mike Gibbens, who has written several books on handicapped accessibility and consults with business and building industry officials on compliance regulations, will attend the panel’s first meeting next month.

The California Design Safety and Accessibility Advisory Board is a nine-member panel created earlier this year. Its chief mission is to mesh the different state and federal handicapped-access regulations.

“I’m excited and apprehensive,” Gibbens said. “The issues of accessibility are highly political. It’s the natural consequence of mixing cost with mandated improvements and moral obligations to provide for the disabled.”

Gibbens said one of the biggest roadblocks to implementing requirements of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act is that state guidelines are sometimes in conflict with national standards.

“It’s not going to cost [builders] any more to comply with the standards, they just have to do things differently,” Gibbens said. “People already have to build handicapped improvements, but they need to be done correctly.”

The advisory panel will report directly to the California state architect.