DATE: Wednesday, May 28, 1997               TAG: 9705280478

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY KEVIN ARMSTRONG, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   58 lines

AMPHITHEATER, BEACH AGREE TO IMPROVE ACCESS FOR HANDICAPPED

The city and Cellar Door agreed Tuesday to modify seating, parking and accessibility for the disabled at the GTE Virginia Beach Amphitheater to settle a lawsuit filed last fall by the Endependence Center.

The agreement calls for spending $100,000 to $200,000 to make improvements at the year-old concert facility. Some of the changes already are under way while others will be made within 12 months.

Attorneys for both sides said the case represents a new era of civil rights in which the central issue is physical disabily, not race.

``It's the civil rights battleground of this era,'' said Deputy City Attorney Dick Beaver.

Attorney Jeff Beaton, who represented the Norfolk-based advocacy group for the disabled in the lawsuit, said that just as African Americans in the 1950s and '60s didn't want to have to sit in separate seats from whites, those in wheelchairs don't want to be segregated either.

``Our goal was not to close them down,'' Beaton said of the amphitheater. ``It was to get the best accessibility.''

Beaton said the amphitheater segregated parking by providing it in only one location - near the VIP entrance. It didn't offer handicapped parking near the ticket offices or the other entrances.

He said the facility segregated its seating by not dispersing it in the center and along the sides as well as in front and middle sections.

Seating also did not afford disabled patrons with a line of sight required under the Americans with Disabilities Act, Beaton said. The view of those seated in wheelchairs must not be obstructed by others standing up around them, he explained.

Cellar Door Venues Inc., which operates the amphitheater under a 30-year lease with the city, and W.M. Jordan, the contractor that built the facility, already have begun replacing door handles, lowering restroom fixtures, adjusting counter heights, increasing signage, increasing paved areas and altering a ramp. These improvements should be completed within the next two weeks, Beaver confirmed.

Additional improvements that will be phased in before next spring include:

Moving the accessible parking spaces from one big lot near the VIP entrance to spaces adjacent to the walkway and closer to other entrances.

Providing accessible, unobstructed ``line of sight'' seating in the first two rows of Section 101 and 103 by leveling the floor areas and building ramps to the seating.

Providing accessible seating spaces and two accessible boxes in the front of sections 201 and 205, by building new ramps, leveling the floor areas and removing the fixed seating.

Altering existing boxes to make the front row accessible.

The lawn area will not be altered to accommodate seating or access for the disabled. Beaton said it's one of the things that his client gave up in agreeing to the settlement and not prolonging the legal battle.

The city and Cellar Door have agreed to pay all the costs of the modifications as well as attorney and consultants fees totaling about $27,500 for both sides.

Beaver said the total costs of $100,000 to $200,000 will be shared between the city and Cellar Door, but the breakdown has not been determined.

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