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Little New On Federal Building

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Parent Issue
Day
14
Month
August
Year
1974
Copyright
Copyright Protected
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Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
OCR Text

Little New On Federal Building

By Aretha Jackson

(News Staff Reporter)

The proposed Ann Arbor
Federal Building will be a
four-story^ structure, with the
floors arranged in the manner
of stairs, the front of each one
receding back a little farther
from the front of the r

neath — and that is aooiii s .;

extent of the "information"
disbursed at the informational
public hearing Tuesday night.

In all probability, the only
thing anybody learned last
night during the Planning
Commission meeting is that
the plans presented are not

yet final. All other informa- ty.Bul mere we/Aio answers

tion presented by architects
Glen Paulsen and Lawrence
Morris had already been pub-
licized before.

The complaints voiced by a
half dozen people who spoke
at the hearing, concerned the

den to downtown
pan-.:-,, rom the 300 em-
ployes who will the
building, and the . »»....o „! the
Masonic Temple to provide
surface parking. They were
the same as has been raised
before.

And even the questions
raised had a ring of familiari-

given Tuesday night. There
was, however, a promise from
Planning Commission Chair-
man John Laird that the ques-
tions will be answered — lat-
er. There was also an invita-
tion from Laird for all those
who have any questions con-
cerning the building to submit
those questions to city Plan-
ning Director Martin Overhis-
er.

The questions generally
concerned the fate of the "his-
toric" old po t '"':-- on Main
street, the ,- ly of un-
derground parking rather

than surface, and the impact
of traffic flow on Fifth Avenue
as a result of the short term
parking which will be provid-
ed on that side of the build-
ing.

Former city administrator
Guy C. Larcom Jr. praised
the site selection, and urged
that construction start as soon
as possible. The concerns
raised Tuesday night, Larcom
told the Planning Commis-
sion, were contradictory. "On
the one hand these people
criticize the use of the
automobile and the amount of
land devoted to parking, and

on the other they want more
parking," said Larcom.

-Speaking of the planned
glass and tile facaded build-
ing, Paulsen told the meeting
that an attempt had been
made to avoid the "usual au-
thoritarian quality" which is
generally found in govern-
ment buildings. "This build-
ing," said Paulsen, "will have
a light, airy and inviting qual-
ity."

The main occupants of the
building, said Paulsen, will be
the United States Post Office,
Treas"*"' apartment,
Departs; Interior, and
the Enviroiiiiieiiial Protection
Agency (EPA). There will be
about eight other agencies in
the building, he said, but they
will each occupy minimal
space.

Paulsen added that there
will be space available on the
first floor for the addition of a
Federal District Court some-
time in the future.

The building, according to
Paulsen, will occupy three-
fourths of the block from
Liberty to William streets,
with the front of the building
facing Liberty. With the ex-
ception of the approximately
15 short term parking spaces,
the other 75 off-street parking
spaces will be for government
vehicles only.

(Other Planning Comrnis-
'sion stories appear today on
page 26.)