Alamo Plaza long has been associated with many things in San Antonio, but not the words “wait times.”

For much of its 300-year history, the plaza has been wide open to the public — a crossroads, a marketplace, a center of commerce and attractions and a gathering place for all manner of celebrations.

Now, a plan to make over the plaza will change the unrestricted way that San Antonians have enjoyed the famous public space.

That becomes clear in a lease that would transfer control — and maybe even ownership one day — of the plaza from the city to the state government.

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Once fences, barriers and gates are added to the perimeter of the plaza, the public would, most of the time, have one way in and out during daytime business hours, the lease states.

The prospect that people would have to wait in lines just to walk through the plaza prompted Mayor Ron Nirenberg to ask for a specific addition to the lease to address access.

One of the much debated aspects of the plan has been maintaining the public’s access while converting it into an outdoor museum-like space. Details of how to do both have been elusive.

Two Alamo Plaza meetings Wednesday: The City Council will hear a presentation on the plan at a 2 p.m. workshop in the Municipal Plaza Building on Main Plaza. Also Wednesday: the Planning Commission will consider the lease agreement in a joint meeting on the plan with the Historic and Design Review Commission at 5:30 p.m. in the Development and Business Services Board Room, 1901 S. Alamo St.

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Nirenberg said one of his goals — that the plaza remain the center of civic life — requires there be “24-hour free, unhindered access” as part of the plan.

One section added to the proposed lease spells out an elaborate system for regulating the possibility of long waits and logjams, particularly if crowds get larger with the opening of a new museum and visitors center. The Alamo consistently draws about 1.6 million people a year.

On Wednesday, the lease will come up for discussion at the City Council and will be voted on later by two city boards.

The Texas General Land Office would restrict access through one west side entry point during museum hours, about 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.

If wait times consistently exceed 10 minutes, two auxiliary entry points could be opened on the north and south ends, under the long-term agreement for the Land Office to lease and manage the plaza.

“The concept of wait times puts more definition around the opening of the other two portals,” rather than leaving it completely to the discretion of the Land Office, Nirenberg said.

On most days, it should take less than a minute to enter Alamo Plaza through the one access point, according to Alamo CEO Douglass McDonald.

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Visitors and San Antonians eventually could be subject to bag searches or metal detectors when entering during the day, he said. Since the plaza makeover is set for completion in 2024, McDonald was reluctant to speculate what security measures would be in place.

He envisions people streaming through an entry up to 40 feet wide, in up to 12 lines.

“We don’t know what the entry system is going to be,” he said. “It could be simply walking past an attendant. It could be that you’re doing a simple bag check for people who have bags with them. It could be that you’re going through a metal detector.”

The lease sets a target wait time of less than five minutes. If waits exceed 10 minutes, for longer than 30 minutes per day, the Land Office and city “will meet and discuss actions to achieve these targets.”

The plaza would be more open, accessible through six open gates, after museum hours.

Access to the plaza is one of three areas of concern the San Antonio Conservation Society raised in its petition “to save Alamo Plaza.” The group plans to submit the petition with about 7,500 signatures when the City Council considers the plan, possibly on Oct. 18.

Gary Foreman, a filmmaker and historical re-enactor who created a design for Alamo Plaza in 2006, said the plan has to balance security with interpretation of the plaza, which was at the center of the battleground of March 6, 1836.

“How we deal with pedestrian traffic there is a new frontier, because we’ve never done that before,” he said.

Foreman’s design envisioned replication of the Alamo’s west and south walls, with open access to the north and south, and “gaps” where people could enter the plaza.

“Depending on crowds, I don’t want to see people have to wait for anything, if they can just walk in,” he said.

But he said the state will be responsible for security and may have to use airport-type measures, such as metal detection that are common at many historic sites elsewhere in the country. Foreman generally supports the plan to add a museum and interpret the plaza as a battlefield.

“I encourage everyone to have the integrity and courage to move this forward,” he said. “People will be blown away by how immense and global this story is.”