Jill Schramm/MDN Visitors to the Minot Commission on Aging’s Parker Center enter through a power-assisted door on Monday. The Minot City Council is considering an ordinance to require that entities receiving public funds install at least one power-assisted entrance door.

A proposed ordinance to encourage more building accessibility turned out to have more moving parts than members of the Minot City Council could get an immediate handle on.

The council on Monday asked staff to do more research on a draft document patterned after a Mandan ordinance. The draft would require buildings and businesses that are open to the public and receive $5,000 or more in funds from the City of Minot to install an one automatic door for at least one main entrance. A waiver would exist if installation would be technically infeasible or would create an undue burden on the entity.

The council ran into a number of scenarios where clarity is needed to determine how the ordinance might apply. Situations such as building tenants, home businesses and funds funneled through Souris Basin Planning Council or Visit Minot to other groups all raised questions.

“It’s a little bit overwhelming, quite honestly,” council member Lisa Olson said of the potential scope. “I feel like this is creating a lot of questions that are going to be difficult to get the answers for.”

Olson suggested applying the ordinance initially to only the downtown Facade Improvement Program, but council member Carrie Evans opposed singling out one group of recipients of public funds.

“To me, it’s all or nothing,” she said.

“I’d rather look at ways to incentivize and create better accessibility throughout Minot, even beyond doors,” council member Scott Burlingame said. “I don’t have enough information at this point. I look forward to getting more and then looking at if we need to scale back or scale up.”

Council member Paul Pitner said he is concerned about the wide swath of the proposed ordinance and the can of worms that could be opened up, including going beyond entrance doors to require elevators.

“I’m not comfortable moving forward with this until questions are answered,” he said. “It’s a slippery slope to me, and I don’t know where that’s stopped.”

“I think it stops with universal design, where every building is open to everyone,” council member Stephan Podrygula said. “Until we get there, I think we chip away at it.”

The council plans to take another look at the draft ordinance once staff provide additional information, including a list of entities that would have been affected over the past five years had an ordinance been in place.