ADA Parking Lot Compliance in Hood River, Oregon: 2026 Guide

ADA Parking Compliance for Hood River Property Owners

Hood River sits in the Columbia River Gorge, a tourism and recreation hub where the historic downtown along Oak Street and State Street, the waterfront district, and the steady stream of windsurfers, cyclists, and Gorge visitors create year-round parking demand. The lots serving Hood River's breweries, shops, hotels, and waterfront businesses carry the same obligation as anywhere else: accessible parking that meets federal and Oregon accessibility law.

ADA compliance applies to nearly every business open to the public and does not expire. The 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design set the federal baseline, and Oregon adds its own requirements through ORS 447.233 and the Oregon Structural Specialty Code. This guide walks Hood River owners through the core requirements so you can evaluate your own lot before a complaint or a survey forces the conversation.

For the statewide framework behind everything below, start with our ADA parking compliance guide for Oregon.

How Many Accessible Spaces a Hood River Lot Needs

The number of accessible spaces is set by your total parking count, using the 2010 Standards ratio of roughly one accessible space per 25 in smaller lots.

Total Spaces in Lot	Minimum Accessible Spaces
1–25	1
26–50	2
51–75	3
76–100	4
101–150	5
151–200	6
201–300	7

At least 1 in every 6 accessible spaces (rounded up) must be van-accessible. A Hood River lot with 40 spaces needs 2 accessible spaces, at least one van-accessible. Lodging and recreation businesses with seasonal surges should size their accessible count to full capacity. For the full lookup, see how many accessible spaces your lot needs.

Dimensions, Access Aisles, and the 2% Slope Rule

Each accessible space has to be built and striped to specific dimensions:

• Standard accessible space: at least 8 feet wide with an adjacent 5-foot access aisle.
• Van-accessible space: at least 8 feet wide with an 8-foot access aisle, or 11 feet wide with a 5-foot aisle. Van routes need 98 inches of vertical clearance.
• Access aisle: marked with diagonal hatching, level with the space, connected to an accessible route to the entrance, and kept clear of parking.
• Slope: no more than 2 percent in any direction across the space and the aisle.

The 2 percent slope rule is the central challenge in Hood River. The town climbs steeply from the river up the Gorge wall, and many downtown and hillside lots were carved into grades that make a flat accessible space genuinely hard to achieve. A space that meets every other rule but exceeds 2 percent slope is still non-compliant — and on Hood River's terrain, slope must always be measured.

Signage Requirements in Hood River

Every accessible space needs a vertical sign showing the International Symbol of Accessibility, mounted so the bottom sits at least 60 inches above the ground. Van spaces add a "Van Accessible" sign. Oregon also requires a supplemental plate stating the fine for unauthorized use — a detail many out-of-state sign kits leave off. Our guide to ADA parking sign placement and mounting covers heights and sign types.

The painted accessibility symbol in each space matters too, and faded symbols count as a compliance gap. The Gorge's intense sun and wind plus wet winters fade paint quickly, so markings that looked fine last year may already be too faint.

What Hood River Weather Does to Compliance

The Gorge climate is hard on pavement. Hood River sees genuine freeze-thaw cycles at elevation, intense UV and wind exposure, and substantial winter precipitation including snow. That combination widens cracks, lifts surfaces, and accelerates paint fade. Standing water in an accessible space signals slope or drainage out of tolerance; cracks over half an inch and any pothole inside an accessible space, aisle, or route are violations. Prioritize accessible areas first when scheduling spring repairs, because Gorge lots take more seasonal damage than valley lots.

Repaving and the Alterations Trigger

Routine maintenance — sealcoating, crack filling, restriping existing lines — does not trigger new ADA obligations. A full repave, overlay, or regrade is an "alteration" under the ADA, which obligates you to bring parking and the path of travel up to current standards to the maximum extent feasible. Given Hood River's steep grades, a repave is frequently the only practical opportunity to regrade accessible spaces into the 2 percent tolerance.

How a Hood River Owner Should Approach Compliance

Count your spaces and compare against the table. Walk the accessible spaces and check sign height, the fine plate, the symbol paint, the aisle hatching, and look for ponding or cracks. Measure slope — on Gorge terrain this is the single most important check. If you are restriping after a sealcoat, that blank surface is the ideal time to correct the layout. For the fresh striping itself, see parking lot striping in Hood River.

This is general compliance information, not a legal determination for your property. The reliable path is an on-site survey by a contractor who measures your lot against the current standards.