The Washtenaw Association for Community Advocacy (WACA) filed a disability discrimination lawsuit against Oakridge Apartments in Ypsilanti Township. The Fair Housing Center later joined the suit. The suit names developers Julie A. Fielek and Charles Chatfield, engineer John W. Adams, and architect Joseph E. Sojkowski and alleges violations of the Federal Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1989. WACA is a non-profit disability advocacy group.
A 1997-1998 FHC investigation conducted while Oakridge was still under construction revealed that the Holmes Road complex had a two-inch threshold leading into ground floor apartments and the leasing office; insufficient space/design in the bathrooms such that the door could not be closed while in use by a person using a wheelchair; insufficient space and design of doorways within the apartments; and had no designated handicapped parking spaces. According to the Fair Housing Amendments Act, all multi-family housing built for first occupancy after March 13, 1991, must adhere to seven basic design requirements regarding wheelchair accessibility for ground floor units and units on other floors reachable by elevator.
The Fair Housing Act establishes the following seven requirements
The suit was filed in October 1998 after meetings with Oakridge failed to resolve the complaint. WACA and FHC are represented by Paul A. Callam and Stephen M. Dane of Cooper, Walinski & Cramer. The case was assigned to Judge Patrick J. Duggan. WACA and FHC accepted $15,000 to settle the lawsuit. The terms of the agreement include a commitment by the developers to, at the request of tenants, retrofit each of their first-floor units for wheelchair access.