Once again a decision on whether the old YMCA building located on Broad Street — an architectural icon in downtown Selma and the second oldest YMCA building in the nation — is demolished or is stabilized for hopeful development down the road, has been delayed.

During a special called meeting of the Selma City Council — a meeting all parties involved thought would end with a council vote — city leaders heard an appeal from the building’s owner, who wants permission to demolish the crumbling structure, and those parties seeking to reach a deal to, if nothing else, stabilize the building’s façade and walls.

But in the end, a series of arguments and last-minute information, appeared to muddle the proposed decision, forcing council president Cecil Williamson to delay a vote on the appeal and the building’s future to Tuesday’s Selma City Council meeting.

“It’s an unfortunate situation for everyone. It really is,” Ward 1 council member Tommy Atchison said following the meeting, obviously upset the council decided not to vote on the building’s future at the meeting. “The fact of the matter is, this has become a public safety issue — and if the people who are opposed to the building’s demolition can’t come up with a viable, reasonable alternative, from a public safety stand point, I don’t see what other options we have.”

Tuesday’s called meeting gave building owner Tom Bolton time to appeal the Selma Historical Commission’s decision to prevent him from demolishing the building. The appeal, which if approved by the city council, would have given Bolton the ability to demolish the Broad Street building.

The commission, using structural engineering information from nearly two years ago, said the building — although it was unlikely it could be fully restored — could have been stabilized. That led to a city council decision in 2009, declaring the building a nuisance and ordering Bolton to stabilize the building.