Alamo plan approved by council

Alamo Plaza, long seen as the heart of downtown San Antonio, could undergo a makeover in the next seven years, including removal of most traffic and relocation of the 1930s Cenotaph, under a plan approved by the City Council.

Approval Thursday of an Alamo master plan that seeks to bring reverence, historical authenticity and aesthetic and pedestrian improvements around the Shrine of Texas Liberty will not bring changes overnight. But it begins a review process for the closure of portions of Alamo and Crockett streets and relocation of the granite Cenotaph, from the plaza to a small park by Market Street, near a site where Alamo defenders’ bodies are said to have burned.

The street closures must to go through a public process, including review by the Planning Commission, then return to the council for approval. The plan, developed for the city, Texas General Land Office and nonprofit Alamo Endowment, also seeks to repair and restore the iconic church and renovate three state-owned buildings to serve as a modern museum.

The action follows vocal opposition at recent public meetings to street closures and Cenotaph relocation. There also has been strong criticism of proposed structural glass walls. Design issues such as the appearance of the plaza and materials used, along with movement of the Cenotaph, are subject to recommendations of the Historic and Design Review Commission.

City Manager Sheryl Sculley, one of six members on a tri-party management committee overseeing the plan’s implementation, said the panel has yet to hire an architect to develop a final design for the plaza.

“And there are lots of opinions about the glass walls. People either like it or hate it,” Sculley said after a unanimous council vote for the plan.

Although the council will not vote on the final design, the input of the HDRC, an 11-member advisory panel appointed by the the mayor and council, will be considered by committees overseeing the Alamo plan — a 21-member citizens panel, the management committee and an executive committee composed of the mayor and Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush.

Sculley said the city staff and master plan panels would take HDRC’s “input into serious consideration” and give the council updates.

“Indirectly, the City Council does have a say in this process. Because if they don’t like the design, they could decide not to close the street and transfer the operation and management rights of that street over to the state,” Sculley said.

Lori Houston, assistant city manager, said the plan would expand public space at the Alamo from 2.3 acres to 9.5 acres for community celebrations, re-enactments, ceremonies and free speech activities.

“You will still be able to do everything you do at the Alamo today with implementation of this master plan,” Houston told the council.

The proposed Cenotaph relocation would open up space in the plaza, once the main courtyard of the 1800s Alamo fortress and 1700s Mission San Antonio de Valero, and move it to “a place where it has appropriate context with symbolic meaning,” Houston said. Officials have said the nearly 60-foot-tall monument has a rusting frame and shifting stone that threatens its long-term stability.

Councilman Roberto Treviño, another member of the tri-party management committee, said the city wants to to provide a more meaningful visitor experience that will aid the local economy and share the Alamo story with the world.

“We know our place in the continuum of Texas history,” Treviño said.

Along with a commitment of $38 million from the city for the Alamo, including $21 million in bond funds for pedestrian and park improvements approved by voters Saturday, the Land Office secured $31.5 million from the Legislature for the Texas shrine in 2015 and has asked for $75 million this year, including up to $40 million to restore the church. The endowment has a private fundraising goal of $200 million.

The council heard from about 20 speakers, with a majority supporting the plan. Billionaire B.J. “Red” McCombs, endowment board member, said in a video played for the council that the plan is a “starting place” for telling an inspired story to a younger generations about defending a “right idea” against long odds.

Don Dixon, an engineer familiar with the site’s history, aired concerns about the proposals to move the Cenotaph, lower the plaza’s by about 18 inches to its historic surface, and enclose it walls.

“It should remain as it is,” Dixon said.

Speaking as an individual, Betty Bueche, director of the county’s Bexar Heritage & Parks Department, said enclosing the plaza would disregard the achievements of the Alamo defenders, early settlers and Native American inhabitants of the mission, founded originally in 1718 and moved twice, established in today Alamo Plaza in 1724.

“No walls should be constructed around the Mission Valero,” Bueche told the council.

Bill Dupont, director of the Center for Cultural Sustainability at the University of Texas at San Antonio, spoke generally in favor of the plan, saying it would add spatial accuracy to the historic site. He urged officials and the design team to keep momentum moving forward and “work out the details later,” but cautioned against radical change that would diminish the plaza’s function in the heart of downtown.

“It must not become solely a memorial site,” Dupont said.

Councilman Joe Krier said he hopes the design team will listen to concerns about the glass walls and access to the plaza at night. Council members Shirley Gonzales, Michael Gallagher and Ron Nirenberg said they oppose the walls.

“And I say to the committee: Take down the walls,” Nirenberg said.

shuddleston@express-news.net

Twitter: @shuddlestonSA