The final days of St. Petersburg's iconic, inverted pyramid-shaped Pier are upon us.  The structure, which was built in 1973, will close its doors for good this Friday, May 31 with a demolition scheduled for sometime this summer, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Following months of deliberation between the City of St. Petersburg and opinionated residents working under the collective title of Concerned Citizens of St. Petersburg, the demise of the current Pier has not been without controversy.

Following the city's announcement of their plans to demolish and replace the current inverted pyramid Pier structure with a new futuristic design called "The Lens", Concerned Citizens of St. Petersburg collected 17,000 signatures opposing the new, taxpayer-funded plan for a new Pier.

But, the petition came at a time when it was too little, too late for the City Council as they'd already spent about $5.5 million on the project, paying the architecture firm that designed "The Lens", Michael Maltzan Architecture and spending on other costs for the new Pier.

But, news came this past Friday which might provide some reprieve for citizens concerned with the costs and other efforts it would take to build the new Pier.  St. Petersburg mayor Bill Foster released a memo stating that he'd like the City Council to consider passing an ordinance that would include three possible nonbinding straw-poll questions for citizens to consider on what would replace the inverted pyramid after its demolition, the Times reports.

The questions include whether to...

1.)  Adhere to the current plan and privatize what is now a public municipal Pier through a 99-year long-term lease.

2.) Build a replacement municipal pier and honor the 100-year-old tradition of having a publicly funded pier for the public.

3.) Build a flat wooden fishing pier with bare bones, basic amenities.

The St. Petersburg City Council will initially discuss this new proposal this Thursday, May 30 with a first reading of it on June 6 and public hearing on June 20. The proposal must be submitted by June 28 and, if approved, all three, none, or some of these three questions will be included on the August 27 primary ballot for the public to vote on.

We'll keep you posted as more news arises regarding the future of the new St. Pete Pier.