The Michigan Daily - Orientation Edition 2007 3 'U' offers public first peek at Big House renovations Plans released early after Maine man's FOIA request By GABE NELSON Daily StaffReporterx Oct. 20, 2006 - If the University Board of Regents approves the Athletic Department's new sta- dium plans, the Big House could become the Brick House. ., The Athletic Department r released schematic designs yes- terday for its divisive renovations to Michigan Stadium. The drawings show club seats, - suites and a new press box built IMAGE COURTESY OF THE UN vERSIY ATHETIc ARTMENT into brick facades on the east and The Athletic Department released the schematic designs for Michigan Stadium' wet bridek fadestiem sa renovations after the University Board of Regents viewed them at a closed meeting. west sides of the stadium . The brick structures would rise construction of luxury suites and Arbor from his home in Maine 85 feet above the ground outside club seating in Michigan Stadium. to threaten the University with a the stadium, 10 feet higher than Bill Wilson, a member of the lawsuit. the scoreboards on both sides of group, filed a Freedom of Infor- The University gave Wilson the the field. mation Act request after he heard schematics shown to the regents The $226-million renova- the regents had seen preliminary at a closed meeting in September. tion plan also includes a number designs for the renovation behind In order to guarantee that of amenities for fans, like more closed doors. He asked for all everyone learned about the design bathrooms and concession stands, documents pertaining to stadium proposal at the same time, the wider bleacher seats, handrails in renovations that had been pre- University released the updated the aisles and handicapped-acces- sented to the regents. version of the schematics to the sible seating When the deadline for the Uni- public early, Peterson said. To make room for these chang- versity to comply with the FOIA Theschematicshavebeeninthe es, a few thousand bleacher seats request passed, Wilson still hadn't works since the regents approved would be eliminated. The addi- received anything. He flew to Ann the renovation project in May. tion of 3,200 club seats and 83 suites above the seating bowl would make up the difference and keep the total number of seats at or above the current 107,S01. The architects thought it would give the athletic campus a more unified, stately appearance, University Athletic Director Bill Martin said. "Many, many of the e-mails we received when we asked for input on our website said 'You've gotta make it brick,"' Martin said. Martin said the plans will soon be presented to the regents for approval. r The Athletic Department origi- nally planned to show the sche- B ' matics to the public on Monday, but released them yesterday instead when the design was leaked to B s «do Aa r g members of the public, University spokeswoman Julie Peterson said. Yesterday morning, The Michi- gan Daily obtained information about the design from Save the Big House, _ group that opposes the Suit filed against 'U' for stadium plan' Lack of accessible seats is discriminatory, group claims By JESSICA VOSGERCHIAN Daily StaffReporter Apr. 14,2007 - The Michigan Para- lyzed Veterans of America filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against the Uni- versity accusing it of moving for- ward with renovations to Michigan Stadium that fail to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. By filing the suit, the group deliv- ered on the vow it made earlier this year to legally challenge the plans - which include the controver- sial addition of luxury boxes to the stadium's skyline - if they aren't changed to meet ADA standards. The 80-year-old stadium has been exempted from ADA compli- ance in the past because it was con- structed before 1990. Butthe MPVA's complaintargues that the full extent of the proposed renovations would trigger an obli- gation to bringthe original stadium bowl up to code. Stadium-wide compliance would include making 1 percent of all seat- ing handicap accessible and offer- ing a variety of seating locations and ticket prices for disabled visi- tors. For the officially 107,501-seat stadium, that means there must be at least 1,000 handicap accessible seats. University spokeswoman Kelly Cunningham said only new con- struction on the stadium - like the luxury boxes and additional bleach- ers - is required to meet ADA guidelines. Within the expansion, more than 1 percent of seating will be handicap accessible, she said. The number of wheelchair- accessible seats in the stadium will increase from 90 to 282. Butthe additional seating doesn't satisfy the plaintiffs because the seats are situated in only a few places and fail to accommodate companions of wheelchair users, Bernstein said. In the renovation plans, one regular seat accompa- nies each wheelchair spot. The plans place 72 accessible seats together on the stadium's west side and 38 indoor and out- door seats on its east side. Bernstein said the University is discriminating against disabled people with renovations that treat them like "second class citizens." "President (Mary Sue) Coleman says diversity is her main goal, but the main ceremonial house is not welcomingto all people in the com- munity," he said. Cunningham said the University has tried to include the interests of disabled people by contracting architects with ADA expertise.