NEWMAN – The historic Yancey Lumber building will be part of the city’s downtown plaza, council members reaffirmed last week in rejecting a proposal to restore the structure in its current location behind the Newman Museum as the centerpiece of a park setting.

Council members nixed that alternative, to the applause of several community members in the audience.

City staff and the downtown plaza committee had developed a proposal which would have featured an area honoring the nation’s military branches as the gateway to the plaza while restoring the Yancey building where it now stands as part of a park-like area.

The council decision means that the Yancey building will be a prominent downtown plaza feature located near the intersection of Highway 33 and Fresno Street. The service honorary will be sharply scaled back if not eliminated altogether, according to City Manager Michael Holland.

A majority of council members said they wanted to stick with the initial concept of using the Yancey building in the plaza.

“The original thrust was to use the Yancey building,” council member Bob Martina pointed out. “The purpose was to use it as a visitor center.”

Council member Ed Katen also supported using the building in the plaza.

“I want to showcase the building on the highway as part of the plaza,” he stated. “If we’re going to spend a lot of money to restore the building, I’d like to see it in the plaza.”

Council member Ted Kelly said his primary concern was simply that the building be restored. While saying he was comfortable with either option, Kelly cast the lone vote against using the Yancey building in the plaza.

“I think it will get more use if it is behind the museum,” he stated.

Holland said a majority of the plaza committee favored a design which featured the service honorary in the plaza and would keep the Yancey building at the museum site.

Committee and staff concerns, he previously said, included questions of how the Yancey building would be used in the plaza and who would staff it if opened as a visitor center.

“It was never a matter of not wanting the Yancey building,” Holland insisted. “The committee just had a hard time defining the use and trying to identify staffing. It just became a question mark.”

A smaller service honorary could still be part of the plaza plans, Holland said.

“We will have to go back and see if there is some element of the service honorary we can keep,” Holland commented, adding that “it would not have the size, shape and scale that was originally proposed.”

The council voted 3-1, with Kelly dissenting and Mike Crinklaw absent, to use the Yancey building in the downtown plaza.

With the issue of the Yancey building settled, the city will move forward with the plaza project.

The downtown plaza is designed to serve as an inviting link between Highway 33 and Main Street, featuring landscaping and a variety of other amenities. In addition to attracting motorists passing through Newman on the highway, city officials have said, the plaza is also intended to serve as a community gathering place and a location for special events.

In other action last Tuesday, the council:

• Approved a three-year lease agreement with the Newman Co-op Nursery School for use of the restored Orestimba School building.

• Approved a $400 donation to the “Ready, Set Learn” program of the Women’s Missionary Union of First Baptist Church of Newman, which provided backpacks and school supplies for underprivileged children in preparation for the start of a new school year.