Wichita ? After years of resistance, Wichita’s government has taken a major step toward making public buildings, parks and other city property accessible to people with disabilities, a lawyer for a group that sued the city said Wednesday.

City Council members agreed Tuesday to settle a lawsuit filed in January by the nonprofit Independent Resource Living Center that alleged more than 650 violations of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

Under the settlement, the city will first hire a consultant to catalogue physical barriers — such as lack of parking and steep or nonexistent ramps — at sites including City Hall, police and fire stations, libraries, sidewalks and parking lots.

Improvements will then be made, starting with the smallest and cheapest first, followed by expensive projects that will probably stretch over several years, said David Calvert, the Wichita attorney who filed the lawsuit in Sedgwick County District Court.

Enacted in 1990, the landmark federal law was intended to ensure equal rights for the disabled in employment, transportation, education and other aspects of daily life. Cities and governmental bodies were given until mid-1992 to prepare plans for meeting the law’s requirements and until mid-1995 to make the needed changes.

But most municipalities moved slowly to comply with the law. “Wichita just moved more slowly than others,” Calvert said.

He added: “ADA compliance was not number one on their priority list.”

Wichita developed an accessibility plan in 1992, but it has become outdated and probably should have been redone a couple of years ago, said Jeanne Goodvin, the city’s Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator.

She estimated the new agreement would cost less than $1 million to enact.