Minneapolis City Council members spent about three hours on Tuesday learning about and questioning the results of a summer community survey related to the future of the burned former 3rd Police Precinct site and city administration’s plans to house Election & Voter Services there.

The building at the corner of East Lake Street and Minnehaha Avenue has sat vacant since May 2020, when rioters burned the place in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.

A recent city poll found strong support among Minneapolis residents to convert the building into a “democracy center” and community space: 63% of all respondents supported the proposal, along with 70% of respondents within the 3rd Precinct, according to city administration.

The “democracy center” would become the city’s new headquarters for Elections and Voter Services, which currently operates out of a business park in northeast Minneapolis.

Ahead of city staff presentations to the Minneapolis City Council Committee of the Whole, Mayor Jacob Frey and City Operations Officer Margaret Anderson Kelliher argued it’s time to move forward with the proposal known as Minnehaha 3000, and they say the recently released poll showed the community believes it promotes racial healing.

A couple of neighborhood groups disagreed with the poll’s representation in memos to council ahead of the meeting, and after presentations, a split council committee approved a resolution supporting some neighbors’ calls to nix the “warehouse” portion of the redevelopment.

RELATED: Plans take shape for proposed ‘democracy center’ at former 3rd Police Precinct site

“That is not about caring about people of color in the neighborhood who deserve so much better,” said one of two authors of the resolution, Council Member Jason Chavez.

“So when I hear about this update when I hear about… Build a warehouse on this corner, yeah, I’m frustrated. Actually, I’m mad.”

Another resolution to support “full community-centered development” of the building failed.

The definition of the “warehouse” portion of the proposed democracy center was a repeated question until the end of the meeting.

“It is not simply a warehouse,” said Casey Carl, one of the presenters from the City Clerk’s Office. “It is actually a place where operations are conducted, but also, it does happen to, yes, honestly, have storage for important things that are essential to any election.”

Carl said it’s taken city elections staff a decade to find a space where they could centralize Election & Voter Services — including secure storage, training, and the early voting center — under one roof, and he said that “warehouse” space would be key to moving forward.

“It would also take the Elections Division out of expensive leased space and put it into a permanent home that is owned and operated by the city,” Carl said. “From an overall accessibility standpoint…this site is nearly unmatched.”

A few council members expressed support for the Minnehaha 3000 proposal as it stood, and some, like the mayor, said it was time to move forward.

“Please, let’s be grateful,” said Council Member LaTrisha Vetaw. “Let’s, like, move forward and do something nice here for the community and not, like, be arguing over 8,000 square feet.”

Council approval is not needed to start designing the center as proposed. However, the council holds the city’s purse strings, meaning it could block future funding requests for the construction of the site.

“We are hopeful that through continued work with the community and education about what the site is and how it will operate, that those will be easy votes to go by,” said Anderson Kelliher, asked if the council resolution would hamper city administration’s ability to move forward.

Mayor Jacob Frey stressed his desire to keep the project on track as politicians from Washington continue to use the burned former police precinct as a campaign backdrop.

“Bottom line is, we gotta move forward. Now’s the time,” he concluded.

The city has already begun clean-up work on the interior of the site, Anderson Kelliher said, adding that the next step would be design work for Elections & Voter Services, followed by more public engagement regarding possible community services to fill the designated first floor.

In the aforementioned memos to council members, neighborhood groups who oppose the project, as it stands, said they want to see affordable housing and addiction recovery services in the building.

Anderson Kelliher said there would not be enough space to build housing, but support services for both would be possible at the site.

The goal is to open the doors in 2028, she said. That would mark eight years since it was set ablaze.

In a city council meeting Thursday, city staff said razor wire will be removed within three weeks and the boarded-up entrance will come down in the next three weeks.

View the resolution passed by the city council below: