Terms Used In Vermont Statutes > Title 20 > Chapter 174 - Accessibility Standards for Public Buildings and Parking

• Alteration: includes remodeling, renovation, rehabilitation, reconstruction, historic restoration, changes, or rearrangement in the plan or configuration of walls and full-height partitions. See
• Ambulatory disability: means an impairment that prevents or impedes walking. See
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Blind: means the visual impairment of an individual whose central visual acuity does not exceed 20/200 in the better eye with corrective lenses or whose visual acuity, if better than 20/200, is accompanied by a limit to the field of vision in the better eye to such a degree that its widest diameter subtends an angle of no greater than 20 degrees. See
• Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Public Safety. See
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Covered multifamily dwelling: means a residential unit for sale or rent in a public building consisting of four or more residential units if the building has one or more elevators; and a ground floor residential unit for sale or rent in a public building consisting of four or more residential units, if the building has no elevator. See
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Department: means the Department of Public Safety. See
• Employee: means a person employed by the Department. See
• Fees: shall mean earnings due for official services, aside from salaries or per diem compensation. See
• following: when used by way of reference to a section of the law shall mean the next preceding or following section. See
• Historic building: means any structure that is listed in or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places or included in the State Register of Historic Places. See
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Maximum extent feasible: means the situation in which the nature of an existing building or facility makes it virtually impossible to comply fully with accessibility standards. See
• Person: shall include any natural person, corporation, municipality, the State of Vermont or any department, agency, or subdivision of the State, and any partnership, unincorporated association, or other legal entity. See
• Primary function: means a major activity for which the facility is intended. See
• public building: includes , in addition to the definition in subdivision (8) of this section, a cooperative or condominium if the building otherwise meets the definition of "covered multifamily dwelling. See
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• residential construction: means new construction of one family or multifamily dwellings. See
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States may apply to the District of Columbia and any territory and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See
• State Police: means the sworn law enforcement officers who are employees of the Department. See
• Technically infeasible: means that an alteration of a building or a facility has little likelihood of being made accessible because compliance with accessibility standards would require removal or alteration of a load-bearing member that is an essential part of the existing structural frame, or because other existing physical or site constraints prohibit modification or addition of elements, spaces, or features that are in full and strict compliance with the minimum requirements for new construction and are necessary to provide accessibility. See
• Town: shall include city and wards or precincts therein; "selectboard members" and "board of civil authority" shall extend to and include the mayor and aldermen of cities; "trustees" shall extend to and include bailiffs of incorporated villages; and the laws applicable to the inhabitants and officers of towns shall be applicable to the inhabitants and similar officers of all municipal corporations. See
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Unit: means a self-contained portion of a public building under the control of the owner or lessee of the public building, such as a retail store in a shopping complex or a restaurant in an office building. See