Lack of accessibility to clubhouse irks resident
BY KATHY BARATTA
Staff Writer

MANALAPAN - A resident of The Village Grande at Battleground is seeking redress regarding two issues he maintains is directly affecting the residents of the adult community.

The Village Grande at Battleground is on Millhurst Road near the Battleground Country Club. New homes are still being sold in the development.

Ken Gesser contends that the requirements of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) were ignored by the builder, D.R. Horton, when the company built the clubhouse at the age-restricted community.

D.R. Horton has an office in Freehold Township. Messages left by a reporter with several people at the office requesting comment from the company went unreturned.

According to Gesser, the clubhouse that was built by D.R. Horton does not offer any handicapped-accessible entry into the building. He claims that violates the ADA requirement which calls for all public buildings to offer handicapped-accessible entrances and exits.

Gesser said residents who want to get to the community's swimming pool can only get to the pool area by going through the clubhouse. He said he finds it unacceptable that a building constructed for an adult community is not accessible to individuals with disabilities.

Gesser said he was told by an attorney representing D.R. Horton that because the clubhouse at The Village Grande at Battleground is a private facility, the builder was not required to construct the building according to the requirements of the ADA.

Gesser challenged that assertion by stating that the clubhouse which all residents have access to since its use is included in a monthly fee paid by all residents, is also available for rental use by the residents.

According to Gesser, for a $200 fee the clubhouse can be rented by residents for private parties, which means members of the public - those who do not live in the development - would be in attendance.

"How they can get away with calling it a private facility is beyond me," he said.

Contacted away from his office, Manalapan construction official Richard Hogan said he would have to review his files for The Village Grande at Battleground approval in order to respond to this particular issue.

However, Hogan did say that since he sat on the Planning Board when the development was approved, he believes he remembers the approval was for the clubhouse to function as a private facility.

"If they are indeed renting it out to the public, they may be violating the parameters of the approval," Hogan said, adding that he would look into the matter.

Gesser said even if the clubhouse rentals are eliminated, a problem still exists because there are residents of the community who have health issues that presently require they have a handicap-accessible entry into the clubhouse if they are to be able to independently access the facility.

Besides being the only entrance to the community pool, Gesser said the clubhouse has an exercise room with equipment, as well as a community room where events that are open to the community's residents are held.

Gesser said he wants to know how the monthly maintenance and use fees can be justified if easy access to the entire recreational site is not available to the residents.

In a related matter, Gesser said he also finds it unconscionable that there is no heart defibrillator in the clubhouse.

The defibrillator is used to treat a person who has suffered cardiac arrest.

"How you can construct an adult community and not include such an important item as a defibrillator is unconscionable to me," Gesser said.

In recent years, residents at some adult communities in the area have raised money to place a defibrillator in their clubhouse and have trained residents in the use of the life-saving machine.