CLEVELAND, Ohio – After fumbling over an incomplete design presentation that frustrated some members of a city review committee Thursday, the Browns won approval from the Cleveland City Planning Commission on Friday for a $50 million upgrade to FirstEnergy Stadium.

The commission voted 6-0 to approve plans authored by the respected architecture firm of Gensler, which will primarily address the interior of the stadium.

The 68,000-seat facility, originally designed by HOK Sport Facilities Group in Kansas City, Missouri, now known as Populous, was completed in 1999 at a cost of $282.5 million, or roughly $400 million in 2014 dollars. Nearly 75 percent of the original construction was publicly funded.

David Jenkins, the Browns' chief financial officer, said at Friday's meeting that the new improvements, to be completed by the summer, constitute the second phase of $125 million in renovations that had planned by the Browns.

The first round, completed earlier this year, included two new video boards, a new audio system, increased lower bowl seating capacity in the corners and two new escalators at the east and west gates.

The next phase will include:

- The new All Access field-level club, located adjacent to the Browns locker room so patrons can watch players coming on and off the field.

- Renovations to Brownstown, an 11,000-square-foot banquet area, plus enhancements to the team store and ticketing areas.

- New concourse-level VIP entries for club ticket holders, which will be emblazoned with sponsors' names and provide direct interior access to escalators.

- New Browns graphics, lighting and concessions on the main and upper concourses.

On Thursday, the city's Downtown/Flats Design Review Committee voted to endorse the design partially in a way that would have allowed the Browns to proceed with foundation work on an expansion of the concourse-level club on the south side of the stadium.

The committee, which advises the Planning Commission, withheld full approval because the Browns did not present before-and-after images of the impact of the renovations on the stadium's exterior.

The Browns also didn't present detailed technical drawings of the new facades on the ground level of the south side of the stadium.

The team forwarded those images and plans to committee members after Thursday's meeting, enabling the committee to signal the Planning Commission on Friday that they would agree to complete approval of the designs.

Jennifer Coleman, who chairs the downtown design review panel, and who also served Friday as an alternate on the Planning Commission, urged the Browns to consider adding benches, greenery or sculptures to the austere concrete plazas around the stadium.

She pressed the team to provide a greater sense of amenity, given that the stadium may soon be flanked to the north by lakefront housing and offices planned by Cleveland developer Richard Pace.

"Everything you're doing is game-day focused and about doing well for your advertisers," she told Browns staff members at the meeting. "What about focusing on creature comforts? Can this be used as a public space on non-game times?"

Jenkins responded that Coleman's request "made sense," but architect Don Williams of Gensler said the current renovations did not include new landscaping.

Commission member David Bowen objected to the Browns' installation of a large triangular video board on the east side of the stadium, which displays advertising. He said the commission never approved the panel.

Michael Bosak, an assistant administrator to the commission, said in response that his research showed that the commission had in fact granted a preliminary "conceptual" approval to the design, but that the team never came back for the required full approval.

Bosak said that former Planning Director Robert Brown simply signed a document signaling full approval of the design, which is why the team never returned to discuss their video display with the commission, as Bowen had expected they would.

"If you have approval, there's nothing we can do about that," Bowen said.

Then, with the virtual equivalent of a shrug, and no further comments, the commission gave the team the approval they sought.