Events at the NorShor Theatre in Duluth are a no-go until at least the main floor facilities are brought up to Americans with Disabilities Act standards, city officials said at a Duluth Economic Development Authority meeting Wednesday.
"We can't have programming until everyone can get to it equally," DEDA's Executive Director Brian Hanson said.
Unfortunately, it's not yet known how much it will cost to bring the historic theater up to ADA compliance, where the funding will come from, and when the theater will be open for events.
That's a switch from earlier thinking that the venue could be made accessible enough to hold events there this week while building renovations were in the works. Those events, a Thursday night live music series that was to begin today and a fundraiser with live music on Friday, were canceled late Wednesday.
There have been at least two events held at the NorShor since the city officially purchased it in July, but that was before a Roberta Cich and other staff from Access North, the Center for Independent Living of Northeastern Minnesota, toured the venue with city officials.
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The goal of the tour was to determine what would be needed to bring the building into ADA compliance. Cich told officials at a DEDA meeting at the end of August that events should not be held there.
"In my opinion, legally you can't," she said again on Wednesday. "But, I don't think it's going to be that difficult to address."
The ADA, signed into law twenty years ago, is a civil-rights law that under certain circumstances prohibits discrimination based on disability.
Hanson said he and other city staff didn't fully understand the scope of ADA requirements, including that because the building is now publically-owned, all events fall under those regulations.
In this case, the main ADA issue is an accessible bathroom on the first level of the building. Hanson said they've been researching options and would know more later this week about how soon they could proceed with construction.
Hanson added that by the next DEDA meeting, currently scheduled for Oct. 20, he would be able to give a full picture of the ADA work needed.
"We will not be holding events until it's accessible," he said.
Rather than say events were canceled, however, Hanson preferred to use the word postponed.
