After a back-and-forth public discussion about removing the city's historical designation from the Spanish-mission style church at 172 N. 500 West, Mayor Lewis Billings gathered representatives from all sides and brokered some late-night magic.
The result: a unanimous vote from the City Council that all parties are happy with.
The council voted that the historical designation be removed in 16 days if a preservation group has not closed on the purchase of the property by that time.
The decision gives the Historic Provo Preservation Foundation time to produce the $1.25 million needed to buy the property from the Salt Lake Diocese, thus preserving the building and giving the Catholic Church the money it needs to build a new house of worship in Orem.
"We'll accept the decision as it stands right now and see what happens on the 19th," said the parish's pastor, Rev. Michael Sciumbato. "And we'll see if that's a historical day for the Catholics in Utah County."
Douglas Bush, president of the Historic Provo Preservation Foundation, said his foundation has raised the money and that the deal, "Absolutely," will go forward. The St. Francis of Assisi parish moved from the 70-year-old plus building in 2000 and members have been worshipping in an Orem gymnasium ever since.
The Catholic Church's efforts to sell the building have been stifled because the aging structure is on Provo's Landmarks Register, which precludes it from being torn down.
The parish approached the Provo City Council in February, asking that the landmark designation be removed so they could sell it to a developer who planned to tear down the church house.
But preservationists convinced the council to open up a 60-day window for those wanting to save the building to come up with an acceptable offer to the Catholic Church.
The HPPF was then formed, and negotiations began with Landmark Partners, the developer planning to purchase the property if the historical designation were removed. On Monday, Bush traveled to the Salt Lake Diocese office to present a formal offer for the entire property for $1.2 million and included a $50,000 earnest check.
Somehow, the contract itself never made it to church officials.
That set the stage for Tuesday's council meeting, where preservationists thought they had made a reasonable offer and Diocese representatives saying there was no such offer.
"At this point, there is no offer," Salt Lake Diocese attorney Mark McCarty told the council as a public hearing on the matter began.
Immediately after McCarty's comment, Council Chairman George Stewart produced a copy of the foundation's purchase offer that never made it to the Diocese.
The ensuing public hearing was an emotion-filled discussion. The resolution started grinding forward when Landmark Partners attorney Adam Ford went on record saying his company would sell the property to the foundation for $1.25 million in the next two weeks if the city agreed to remove the historical designation.
"Landmark is not going to bring cranes in the night and demolish this," Ford said. "We'll work with anyone who approaches us from the community that wants to preserve this building."
After a 10-minute recess, Ford stood with Bush and Landmarks Commission Chairman Stephen Hales and laid out the agreed 16-day plan that the council then voted on.
toddh@sltrib.com
