In a partial about-face, the city of St. Paul now plans to close its downtown skyways at 7 p.m., five hours earlier than usual.

On April 1, the St. Paul City Council asked the Department of Safety and Inspections to take a firm stand with building owners and keep skyway bridge connections between downtown buildings open from 6 a.m. to midnight.

They said at the time that the 7,000 downtown residents who live in skyway-connected properties need access to the Walgreens pharmacy within Treasure Island Center and other retail options, as well as the opportunity for exercise without congregating with others outside.

The council’s stance at the time came in reaction to reports that several property owners had taken the initiative to close their skyway connections, without going through the city’s requisite approval process.

Since then, meetings with property owners, the St. Paul Police Department, the Greater St. Paul Building Owners and Managers Association, a downtown skyway governance advisory committee and others made DSI officials reconsider.

Property owners said — and police agreed — that with fewer individuals in the skyways, there’s fewer people to report vandalism. With commercial tenants shuttered, the funds that supported private security guards have pretty much evaporated.

“We had heard from at least a dozen different building owners or representatives,” said Department of Safety and Inspections Director Ricardo Cervantes. “We had heard a theme … many of the offices and businesses … are now vacant.”

Council President Amy Brendmoen called the 7 p.m. closures a “happy medium.”

“I want to stay that I support this recommendation,” said Council Member Rebecca Noecker, who had spoken firmly in favor of keeping the skyways open a week earlier.

“I also recognize that we are in unprecedented times,” Noecker said. “The reason our skyways have gotten less safe in the past couple of weeks is because we don’t have as many people going through them.”

Council Member Nelsie Yang said in discussing the issue with constituents by email, she received pictures of human feces and people sleeping on the ground.

“For me the pictures are really disturbing … but something even more disturbing to me, even when we are in a pandemic here, we still have not yet found an answer to find safe shelter for people in our city,” Yang said.

Bill Hanley, president of the downtown skyway governance advisory committee, said he was comfortable with the compromise, given that Walgreens closes around 7 p.m. on weekdays. He said his committee was insistent, however, that early closures should be lifted when the pandemic subsides.

“It seemed like a reasonable request,” said Hanley, a downtown resident who now wears a mask as he travels the virtually-empty skyway connections.