Department of Justice Seal

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CRT

FRIDAY, MARCH 9, 2001

(202) 514-2008

WWW.USDOJ.GOV

TDD (202) 514-1888


MILWAUKEE DEVELOPER SETTLES FAIR HOUSING LAWSUIT WITH

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

Developer Will Make Apartment Complex Accessible to Persons

With Disabilities


WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A Milwaukee area developer will make a large apartment complex accessible to persons with disabilities under an agreement with the Justice Department that settles a lawsuit brought under the Fair Housing Act.

In April 2000, the Department sued the developers and owners of the Springbrook Cercle Apartments -- Roberts Construction Company, Robert Fransway and Peter Fransway - and the architect, the Shepherd Partnership, alleging that they failed to make the Milwaukee apartment complex accessible to persons with disabilities. Springbrook Cercle has 480 apartments.

Under an agreement approved by a federal court in Milwaukee this week, the building's owners will undertake extensive modifications to make the complex accessible. These alterations include making the clubhouse accessible to wheelchair users; removing steps; replacing steep sidewalks with level walkways and adding handrails; replacing round doorknobs with lever handles; adding accessible parking spaces; widening bedroom, bathroom and closet doorways; reducing the height of thermostats and air conditioning controls; and reconfiguring bathrooms so that sufficient space exists for wheelchair users. The apartment owners already have begun to make some of these alterations.

The agreement also calls for the property owners to pay $8,000 to a disability rights or fair housing organization to promote fair housing for people with disabilities in the Milwaukee area. In addition, the owners will train their employees in the requirements of the Fair Housing Act, build future housing in compliance with the Fair Housing Act, and report to the Department on both the retrofitting and future construction.

Under the Fair Housing Act, apartment complexes and condominiums with four or more units that were built for first occupancy after March 1991 must include accessible common amenities such as walkways, pools, clubhouses, and parking; doors that are wide enough to accommodate persons who use wheelchairs; bathroom walls that have reinforcements for the installation of grab bars; electrical outlets, light switches and thermostats at accessible heights; and bathrooms and kitchens that are large enough for people who use wheelchairs to maneuver within them. In buildings without elevators, such as those at Springbook, only ground floor units are required to be accessible. In elevator buildings all apartments and condominiums must be accessible.

"Those in the business of building housing need to realize that up-front compliance with the Act's requirements is not just required by the law, it is cost efficient, said William R. Yeomans, Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. "As the designers and builders of Springbrook Cercle have found, it's significantly easier and less costly to build housing right from the start than to go back and fix it later."

Tom Schneider, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, noted, "The Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council has once again played an important role in securing nondiscriminatory access to housing and effective civil rights enforcement."

This matter was initially brought to the attention of the Department of Justice by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council, which had surveyed new housing in the Milwaukee area to determine whether it was accessible to persons with disabilities. After receiving notice from the Fair Housing Council, the Department conducted an investigation of the complex, which confirmed that the complex was not accessible as required by federal law.

Persons who believe their apartment or condominium buildings were not designed or built in accordance with the Fair Housing Act, or who believe that they have been otherwise discriminated against on the basis of disability, may contact the Department of Housing of Urban Development (HUD) at 1-800-669-9777. Additional information is available on HUD's website at: http://www.hud.gov/groups/disabilities.cfm.

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