If City Council needs more time to mull Part II of the FC Cincinnati stadium deal, the politicians should disregard any pressure from the team and delay Wednesday’s zoning and land-deal votes.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with taking more time to work out this complex process, which involves taxpayer money, taxpayer-owned land and arts institutions that were here long before soccer came along.

The team says pushing back the vote might delay the stadium opening. Workers supposedly have to start pouring the foundation next month in order for FC Cincinnati to begin the 2021 season in the new West End stadium and avoid a pricey penalty from Major League Soccer. That still leaves a few weeks to work things out.

Presidents' Day Sale: Get three months for just $1

It is not on City Council to bail out FC Cincinnati on issues the club should’ve addressed months ago. Council is not beholden to a timeline set forth by FC Cincinnati and MLS, both private organizations.

It’s FC Cincinnati’s problem. The club chose to engage City Council again, and FC Cincinnati has to live with its poor planning and last-minute deal-making.

City Council's job is to do right by the taxpayers and residents. If that means pushing this back a few weeks or a month (or more) to get this right, then so be it. A week or two delay isn't going to cause a major construction hold up.

PX column: Sittenfeld takes 'responsibility' amid stadium quandary

The more I've thought about this – and heard about all the frantic closed-door meetings since the weekend – the more obvious it is this process has become quintessential Cincinnati.

Fighting. Arm-twisting. Backroom meetings. Last-minute deal-making. It wouldn't be a big project around here without all that, would it? (By the way, how's that outdoor riverfront music venue coming along?)

Sadly, the stadium deal has become eerily reminiscent of the process leading up to building the streetcar. But at least the stadium is being built mostly with private money – and, well, people will use it.

“This is a mess,” Councilman Chris Seelbach said this week about the stadium, according to the Business Courier’s Chris Wetterich. “There’s no real thought-out plan to make this entire stadium work.”

Seelbach would have more credibility if he had also said that about the streetcar, but nonetheless he's right about the stadium.

None of the shenanigans of the past few weeks should’ve happened. FC Cincinnati and the city reached a $34 million deal nearly 10 months ago for a stadium to be built in the West End. Why wasn’t the sale of the police station parking lot addressed then, or at least in the ensuing few months?

Same goes for the Cincinnati Ballet’s parking worries and Music Hall’s noise concerns. No one should be upset with the ballet or Music Hall for raising concerns.

These organizations aren’t anti-FC Cincinnati, and they're not trying to stop the stadium from being built. They simply have legitimate concerns that could affect their businesses. These are respected organizations that deserve to be heard and given time to work through their concerns.

Frankly, all this could've been worked out nearly 1½ years ago, but FC Cincinnati spent too much time playing footsie with three prospective stadium sites and backed itself into a corner.

In the end, FC Cincinnati will get its stadium. It just might not be on its schedule.

Listen to Jason's That's So Cincinnati podcast on iTunes. Twitter: @jwilliamscincy. Email: jwilliams@enquirer.com