Tuesday’s technical review committee’s decision to recommend to the Minot City Council to move the planned downtown gathering space from its current proposed site to a different one might be the only way to save the project – assuming the council accepts the recommendation.

The recommendation was to end negotiations with property owners in Site 2, located at First Street and First Avenue Southeast, and open negotiations with Trinity Health for Site 1, located along Broadway.

Site 1 appeared to be the council’s top pick when discussions of a location first began for the National Disaster Resilience program-funded project, but a poll of the public the City conducted revealed overwhelming support for Site 2. The most objectionable aspect of Site 1 appeared to be that it abutted Broadway.

However, Site 2 brought on a whole new set of challenges – primarily that it meant the City needed to negotiate to purchase properties from several owners, whereas Site 1 required a deal be made with Trinity Health alone.

That major challenge became the stumbling block. The City and Site 2 property owners could not agree on cost and there are parameters for what the City could pay. Despite extending the deadline for property acquisition, as of this week, it seemed little progress had been made.

The deadline for spending the $6 million in resilience money is Sept. 30, 2022.

Faced with the choice of scuttling the project entirely and funneling the funds into a different component of the resilience plan or moving the planned site, the committee made a decision to propose the latter. At this point, it seems the only chance the gathering space has to be completed.

The City was correct in being responsive to the will of the public when it came to preferred location and the committee is right in advocating for the change. The Site 2 plan was simply not working out and there is a clock ticking.

One question does remain and that’s the desire for the gathering space in the first place. Many in town have openly expressed their disapproval of the entire plan and the need for and usefulness of the downtown gathering space.

The city council and administration can probably save the entire project.

However, plenty of Minot residents can’t help but wonder if it is worth the effort.