The city of Bend has only one year left to fix more than 5,000 incorrectly built curb ramps around the city in order to comply with a 2004 settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Bend officials have said for the last year that they expect to miss the September 2014 settlement deadline to bring the city into compliance with the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act.

Recently, the city published a draft of its latest plan to fix ramps through 2016. During the next three years, the city expects to fix more than 1,000 curb ramps and build or improve roughly 3 miles of accessible sidewalk, according to the draft plan.

Accessibility Manager Karin Morris said she is researching accessibility programs in other cities across the state, and the current annual city budget for this work — $500,000 — is “fairly on par with most other localities.” In addition, the Street Division spends approximately $200,000 annually to fix curb ramps, Morris said.

Morris said it is unclear at this point what the DOJ will do next year when the deadline passes without the city completing what officials agreed to do.

“We’ve reached out to them to get some feedback, and basically they’ve stated to us (that) our plan’s good, we’re in the process,” Morris said. “They’re not giving us a hard-line process as to what will happen.”

The city will finish repairing and replacing defective curb ramps at all medical and government buildings this summer, Morris said. Crews are already working on curb ramps in some of the top six priority areas for the next several years.

The first priority is the area around Bend’s Community Center on Fifth Street, near Northeast Greenwood Avenue. There are 27 noncompliant curb ramps in that area.

The second priority is to fix 53 noncompliant ramps in four areas with employment, training and social services. Other priority areas to fix curb ramps include shopping centers, assisted and independent living facilities, restaurants and public schools, according to the draft city plan.

There are two schools — Marshall High School and Bend High School — on the priorities list. The two independent and assisted living facilities on the list are Fox Hollow and The Summit. Morris said the city will place additional schools and living facilities on the list in the future.

The city generally fixes curb ramps within a two-block radius of these priority areas, but it does not do so when that radius includes residential areas. Morris said the city placed residential area curb ramps low on its list of priorities, because that is what the Department of Justice wants. Earlier in Morris’ career, she worked for two years at the Justice Department Disability Rights Section in Washington, D.C.

“DOJ deems that one of the lowest priorities,” Morris said of residential areas. It is important to fix ramps first in areas with more traffic, such as shopping and restaurant districts because more people benefit from them, Morris said.

People can fill out barrier-removal request forms, in order to get particular curb ramps onto the list of priorities. The city has received only 11 such request forms since 2005, according to the draft transition plan.

Morris said she is trying inform more of the community about this option because many people are unaware of it. Some people also call to request fixes for particular curb ramps, but they often do not follow through to fill out these forms. Morris said the forms are important because they provide details about the problematic curb ramps and allow the city to track how it handles the requests.

Carol Fulkerson is a volunteer disability and accessibility advocate and a member of the Central Oregon Coalition for Access steering committee. Fulkerson said she disagrees with the city’s strategy that currently limits curb ramp work in residential areas. When city crews are already working in an area, they should complete, fix or install all of the necessary curb ramps within the two-block radius, Fulkerson said. She added that many people do not know about the barrier-removal request forms.

“There is so little discussion in (the latest city plan) about the commitment to complete residential curb ramps that would allow people with disabilities to be fully engaged in the community, that this is not a true transition plan,” Fulkerson said. “There is still a lot of work to be done.”