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YAKIMA -- The Yakima City Council took an important step today toward the creation of a pedestrian plaza in front of the Capitol Theatre.

Meeting this morning on the stage of the historic theater, the council agreed 7-0 to begin the process of closing downtown South Third Street in front of the Capitol.

The decision does not mean the council has agreed to close the street, only to begin the process.

City Manager Dick Zais told the council the application process to vacate a public street could take about six weeks and requires at least one public hearing.

A final decision must be approved by the council. The closure would affect a one-block portion of Third Street between Yakima and Chestnut avenues.

A pedestrian plaza is the final phase of a $14 million expansion plan designed to remake the theater as the new heart and soul of the city, which has struggled to recover from the closure of the downtown Yakima Mall in 2003.

The theater board has already bought a parking lot behind the Capitol for a modern staging facility that will connect with the back of the theater.

In addition, the theater plans to demolish the adjacent Wilson Building, built in 1902 at the corner of Yakima Avenue and Third Street, and replace it with a new pavilion.