Lehi may raise -- not raze -- three historic downtown buildings to expand its municipal campus.

Officials had put out a request for proposals for three contiguous Main Street properties starting with Porter's Place, a restaurant at 24 W. Main St., and two properties immediately east. In a recent work session, Council members said they got three proposals, one of which stood out.

"The suggestion was raising the buildings," which would allow the city to build a new ground floor and place the existing buildings on top of that. This would allow new space for city offices such as planning and zoning, said Doug Meldrum, director of economic development. "They were the only ones to really address what we want to accomplish."

Council members instructed Meldrum to get back to the company making the proposal to get information about a potential time frame and costs.

Mayor Howard Johnson told council members he would like to see the city purchase even more buildings on Main Street and raze them in order to widen the road.

Council members acknowledged that any proposal to raze historic buildings comes with some political risk.

"There are some people out there who want every brick saved," said Councilman Johnny Barnes. "We need to preserve the heritage, the look. Make sure we don't forget that."

No matter what is done, "parking will be an issue," said Councilman Stephen Holbrook.

In an interview with Mayor Howard Johnson before the proposals came in, Johnson said he believes the city should sit on the properties until decisions about the entire historic downtown are made.

The Main Street properties are part of about a dozen residential and commercial properties purchased more than a year ago in a bid to expand the municipal campus and to try to take over sections of a stagnating downtown in order to redevelop the street in large pieces. The city paid an average of $180,000 for each property, and the city has razed at least four homes to expand parking, according to elected officials.

Since then, however, residents have cried foul and the city has stopped purchasing Main Street properties. In addition, Porter's Place has continued operating while leasing from the city, having canceled plans to move to a new location. In recent meetings city officials have said they are not interested in becoming long-term landlords, and the restaurant cannot continue to operate in the location beyond 2008 unless code violations in the building are addressed.

Before any decisions about the properties are made, "Lehi needs to decide what they want with Main Street and how they want it done, and then take care of those properties," Johnson said. "I think we need to answer these other questions first."

Congestion on Lehi's "horribly overloaded" Main Street is hurting businesses, and now FrontRunner commuter rail threatens to further clog the highway with express trains, Johnson said.

In addition, the city did not buy enough property, he said.

"Personally, there were four or five other pieces of property that had come available and I wish Lehi had bought them because we need to do something with downtown."

At their work session to discuss the proposals, council members agreed they would like to purchase more property, but said properties west of Porter's Place have been renovated and would be expensive to buy.

If the city purchased an entire block of historic downtown, then the city could act as developer and be in charge of razing or renovating the entire block, council members said.

Johnson also stressed that input from residents is needed. He said the city should hold open houses to present possibilities for Main Street, including lowering the speed limit, making it into an expressway, or widening the road, among other choices, to see what residents want done.

"The problem is vision," he said. "You decide what you need to do and then you work at it, but it is hard to go after funding without the vision."