The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 27, 1986 -Page 5 Huron Plaza developers sue Ann Arbor By SUSAN GRANT The developers of the proposed Huron Plaza hotel and conference center sued the city Tuesday after the Ann Arbor City Council rejected their plan. The Huron Plaza project would contain a 400- room hotel, a large conference center for ap- proximately 1,500 people, retail space, and 82- on-site parking spaces. The developers also had planned to cooperate with the city in building additonal off-site parking. The project's developers, Huron Plaza of Ann Arbor Limited Partnership, filed suit because the council did not approve their site plan even though it conforms to all city ordinances, said general partner Richard Berger. BERGER said the decision to sue was made earlier. "If we made that decision after the vote we would not have filed suit this quickly," Berger said. "To be frank, at each stage we were prepared with a contingent plan." "Our last plan was to sue the city," he said. "We did not want to, but had no choice. But when the council turned down the plan, it was all we could do." At their meeting Monday night, coun- cilmembers who voted against the plan said they were concerned that Huron Plaza would have taken up scarce parking spaces and caused traffic flow problems. The hotel/con- ference center would have been bordered by Huron, Washington, Ashley, and First Streets. COUNCILMEMBERS also said they thought the disruption caused by construction could en- courage other businesses in the area to move out. The more important conflict, however, is over parking, a perennial problem in Ann Ar- bor. Berger has an alternate plan which would provide 389 parking spaces beneath Huron Plaza, but he would have to reduce the height of the building form 14 stories in order to comply with city zoning ordinances. Attempts to change the zoning ordinance have been rejected twice, and it does not look like it will ever pass. Berger said he will ask Third Circuit Court Judge Edward Deake at an April 25 hearing to order the council to accept one of the plans. COUNCILMEMBER Kathy Edgren (D-Fifth Ward) said, "Many people do not realize that Berger can have his underground parking if he reduces the building size." "He wants the city to bend over backwards and change its laws, but he is perfectly free to build the underground parking if he reduces the height by a couple stories," she said. If Huron Plaza of Ann Arbor Limited Par- tnership wins its suit and the judge forces the council to accept the Huron Plaza site plan, it would probably be the plan with 82 parking spaces because the other plan would be illegal. Limited Partnership also would lose the right to negotiate with the city to build additional off- site parking. Unless the judge lets the developers go with the underground parking plan, the partnership may have trouble getting financing because a 400-room hotel with just 82 parking spaces could be a motorists' nightmare. "From what I've heard, unless he were to get the plan with underground parking, he will never get the financing," said Councilmember Gerald Jernigan (R-Fourth Ward). Senate fights over Reagan's proposed aid to Contras (Continued from Page 1) lead to a wider war," Kennedy said, resurrecting arguments that helped defeat Reagan's request last week in the Democratic-controlled House. But even he said Reagan's suppor- ters have the votes to pass some aid package in the Senate. Nonetheless, Kennedy said the fight will resume in the House. "This is not the end of the war, it's just a battle," he sasid, hoping the House will continue to oppose the aid package. "The American people do not want to see a policy that can result in their sons being caught in the swamps of Central America." Senate Republican Leader Robert Dole said, "I think (Nicaraguan President Daniel) Ortega gave us a boost. . I hope they don't pull out while we're debating this." IN NICARAGUA, the Sandinista government charged the United States with trying to "create an ar- Engineering searches for a new dean tificial conflict" between Honduras and Nicaragua and called for a peacekeeping force to monitor the border. "If Honduras wants peace, surely they will not oppose the creation of a supervisory (border) commission," said Deputy Foreign Minister Jose Leon Talavera in statements published yesterday. Nicaragua asked the four nations of the Con- tadora peaceseeking group (Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Panama - and its support group - Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Uruguay to form and oversee the border patrol. The commission would be similar to a task force established last month by Nicaragua and Costa Rica, also under Contadora auspices, to prevent bor- der incidents between the two coun- tries. THE FORMATION of the Nicaragua-Costa Rica task force was hailed as an important step in im- proving relations between the two countries, made tense by the presence of anti-Nicaraguan Contra rebles in northern Costa Rica. The Nicaraguans say Contras have frequently tried to draw Managua's troops over the border into Honduras or Costa Rica, to provoke an inter- national incident. IF, (Continuedfrom Paee 1) criticism from humanities professors. Duderstadt has also been respon- sible for adding more than 100 new faculty to the college's total of 320 teaching personnel in five years, a figure made possible by the institution of a merit-based salary program, funded by alumni donations. In addition, Duderstadt's ad- ministration saw the completion of the College of Engineering's move to 1 North Campus, a 30-year process which will be finished this fall with the opening of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Building. THE BUILDING, which culminates the administration's decision to merge the computer science depar- tment with the Department of Elec- trical Engineering, will house an $8.5 million solid-state electronics laboratory to be used for electronics and optics research. The laboratory is just one of several programs started under Duderstadt to make the engineering college a high-tech leader. Faced with a shrinking budget and expanding enrollment when he took office in 1981, Duderstadt has in- creased the engineering budget in an era where most colleges see a frustrating stagnation, if not a decrease, in funds. Duderstadt also played a vital role in lobbying the state last year for the University's share of Gov. James Blanchard's special $25 million Research Excellence Fund, which aided top Michigan colleges and universities. "He has been a real articulate spokesman on behalf of the College of Engineering. He is presuasive in ter- ms of the internal allocation process," said Richard Kennedy, University vice president for state relations. "The new dean will be blessed with a much healthier funding situation. He will have certain strengths on which to build." Rent a Car from Econo -Car Replace Lost, Damaged, or Discolored Lenses at a Fraction of their Original Cost! *Daily Wear Lenses *Amsof *American Hydron *Aosoft "*Bausch & Lomb eCibasoft " Durasoft $41.93 pair * Tinted Lenses " Bausch & Lomb Natural Tints * Cibasoft Colors $63.97 pair ''Extended Wear Lenses OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK 4~__ MSA candidates upset with sparse voter turnout (Continued from Page 1) night, but acutally its only day of operation was Tuesday. Jen Faigel, Student Rights Party. presidential candidate, also blamed the low voter turnout on organization,, in addition to too much election quib- bling. "It has to deal with organization, polls not being open, and changes. Keeping some polls open longer to try to help was a good idea, but people didn't know," Faigel said. MSA election officials have had to handle controversies over the Meadow Party's right to use Opus, a penguin from the Bloom Colunty Comic Strip, as a campaign sfogan, and accusations that Student Rights candidates were once members of a "Marxist group." Correction A story in yesterday's Daily on local 4 experts' reactions to the U.S. conflict with Libya implied that political science graduate student Dennis Sullivan thinks the only way to stop terrorism would be to engage in an all-out war with Libya. Sullivan ac- tually said that the only way to over- throw Libyan leader Moammar Khadafy would be to wage war, but Sullivan does not advocate that as a solution. The Daily regrets the error. 10 ~ V ~Y~1 PASS IT AROUND! Election director Marci Higer said the low number of votes had nothing to do with poll sites. "If anything, they helped because they were in more places than last year," she said. Higer added that "the election was two weeks earlier this year and it was harder to publicize on anyone's part." Election results for president and vice president would be available at 6 a.m. this morning, Higer said. Last night, votes were verified by checking student identification numbers on the voting envelopes. WE RENT TO 19 YR. OLD MTUDN! * Choose from small economical cars to fine luxury cars. * Special weekend rates. " Pick up services upon request. " We accept cash deposits. *AO Softcon *Bausch & Lomb eCooperVision Permalens 'CSIT eDurasoft 3 eGenesis 4 * Hydrocurve $57/pr. $45/pr. $67/pr. $97/pr. $57/pr. $55/pr: $75/pr. ECONO-CAR 438 W. 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