Recreational facilities across campus could receive a major facelift if proposals pitched in a new report submitted to the University administration are approved.

In the 91-page report released to The Michigan Daily earlier this week, a campus advisory committee outlined its recommendations for improving the University’s recreational sporting and exercising facilities.

The group, the Recreational Sports Task Force, is a committee made up of 11 University representatives, including students, faculty and administrators. The committee was formed in the fall of 2007 by Provost Teresa Sullivan and Vice President for Student Affairs E. Royster Harper to examine how to best improve the University’s recreational sports facilities.

The task force submitted a report to Sullivan and Harper in early February outlining their recommendations to improve the University’s recreational facilities.

Among its ideas, the task force recommended the creation of a master plan to improve the quality and atmosphere of recreational facilities and increased funding to the recreational sports department.

Most notably, the task force recommended in its report that all of the recreational sports facilities, including the Central Campus Recreation Building, North Campus Recreation Building and the Intramural Sports Building, be overhauled to provide fitness center-style space.

“In general we recommend that all facilities be upgraded to conditions that are closer to a ‘health club’ atmosphere and less like a high school gymnasium and weight room,” the report reads.

The report also outlined the committee’s recommendation to "significantly improve" the cleanliness of the recreational facilities, citing cleanliness as a major concern among surveyed students and staff.

In the report, committee members recommended an expansion of the CCRB’s basketball and swimming facilities, as well as additional space for weight lifting and cardiovascular activities. The committee recommended the expansion be accomplished through reallocation of space in the CCRB from the School of Kinesiology and the School of Dance, which would provide an additional 60,000 square feet of space.

An audit by Brailsford & Dunlavey, an outside consulting firm hired by the University to assess the University’s recreational sports facilities in 2003, recommended similar improvements. The consultants recommended a 20,000-square-foot addition to accommodate four basketball courts, which could also function as volleyball or mini-soccer courts, and six additional racquetball courts. The proposed addition would also house two more lanes for lap swimming and an additional pool for recreational swimming. Committee members stressed in the report that they do not necessarily endorse all of the plans proposed by the consulting firm.

The committee is also recommending that the CCRB be changed into a more student-friendly space with an extended schedule that would keep the CCRB open until 2 a.m. each day and could potentially include a café.

Just outside of the CCRB, the task force is recommending that University officials add more basketball courts to Palmer Field. The committee is also proposing the construction of an outdoor stage on the north end of Palmer Field.

On North Campus, the committee is recommending that the North Campus Recreation Building be converted to better serve the needs of faculty, staff and families on campus. The committee is proposing additional space for cardio and weight training, additional parking and more programming geared toward families. In the long run, the committee is also urging University administrators to expand the NCRB facilities to meet growing demand for the facility.

The committee has also recommended the renovation of the Intramural Sports Building pool to highlight the building’s original design features.