The center railing on the Galer steps on Queen Anne Avenue North has yet to be removed.
The railing was supposed to come out after the side handrails were installed. The side rails have been installed, but the center rail is staying in, at least temporarily. Queen Anne resident Rich Littleton filed a complaint with King County Superior Court, which has stopped the process.
Littleton has fought the removal of the center railing since the beginning. He claims the removal would jeopardize safety on the stairs.
The railing was scheduled to be removed to comply with Seattle city standards. The standards are based off of Americans with Disability Act (ADA) guidelines. Littleton claims the ADA standards, which are for building exit stairs, should not be applied to these neighborhood stairs.
Lawyer Stephanie Dikeakos, who represents the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), and John Vander Sluis, associate transportation planner for SDOT, will meet regarding the complaint before decisions are made. Dikeakos said she hopes this is resolved before the complaint becomes a lawsuit.
Dikeakos plans to work with Littleton and the neighborhood group Picture Perfect Queen Anne, which designed the streetscape plan and applied for funding to remodel the stairs.
The meeting will take place the first week of January, following the holidays. The plan is still to remove the center railing after that, but Dikeakos said Littleton will be informed before any construction happens.
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