Demolition of the Anniston City Land Company building has been delayed after a City Council work session which included an impromptu discussion of the building’s scheduled demise.The building was scheduled to be demolished by the Public Works Department beginning at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday. The order came from Anniston City Manager Don Hoyt, who was following the recommendation of a nuisance cita-tion executed by a city building inspector against the building in February. The citation gave the city, which owns the building, 45 days to bring the building up to code.

The City Council had postponed making a decision on the issue and did not have another meeting scheduled before the deadline March 24.

The city’s Public Works Department was already making preparations Tuesday to demolish the building. A trackhoe – a large piece of construction equipment – was on site building up a pile of rubble so that the crane could reach the top of the building, and city workers were testing the stability of the walls. Even as the department was doing that work a section of the broken wall fell down, said Public Works Director Bob Dean.

Councilman David Dawson disagreed with the issue being taken out of the council’s hands and asked Mayor Gene Robinson on Tuesday to call a special meeting to vote on the fate of the building. That meeting will be Wednesday at 6 p.m.

City Manager Don Hoyt agreed to delay demolition until after the council members had their meeting.