CLEVELAND, Ohio -- An imminent decision by the city of Cleveland could seal the fate of the long-empty Fifth Church of Christ Scientist, a landmark building that has stirred up community activists for more than two decades.

Three teams submitted plans last month to redevelop the city-owned Fifth Church property, at Lake Avenue and West 117th Street. A city spokeswoman says officials haven't picked a developer. But all indications are that the city will choose one of two residential proposals - both of which call for dismantling the church and constructing townhouses along Lake.

A third pitch, from a Tremont couple hoping to remake the church as a rock-climbing gym, captured the imaginations of hundreds of people and garnered support online. But site complications, an adjacent grocery-store plan and fierce opposition from leaders of a local homeowners' group make it clear that the rock-climbing obstacles are just too high to overcome.

Fifth Church's future has divided residents for more than 20 years. The recent debate has been heated and unpleasant, with warring factions and threats of lawsuits. Against that backdrop, the city is considering the future of a key gateway site just east of the Lakewood border - a site that, if it continues to languish, will further hamper struggling businesses and impede potential development nearby.

"It's a significant block," Matt Zone, the local councilman, said of land bounded by Lake, Clifton Boulevard, 117th and West 116th Street. "What I've heard, overwhelmingly - not even by a close margin - is that people want high-quality commercial development on Clifton and high-quality residential housing on Lake.

"I've heard from a number of people, at all costs, that the church must be saved," he added. "Given the challenges to re-purposing the church, it would be nearly impossible to prevent litigation, and other people, from preventing a commercial activity in that church."

Neighbors banded together to protect Fifth Church in the early 1990s, when Riser Foods Inc. considered razing it for a supermarket. In 2002, the city protectively took possession of the octagonal building, which was constructed in the 1920s and abandoned by its congregation 60 years later. Since then, developers have talked about turning the church into anything from a bookstore to residences.

Talk never translated to action.

A site plan shows the proposed redevelopment plan for a key city block at the Cleveland-Lakewood border. The strip of property along Lake Avenue, which the city would own after a land swap, could be a potential site for townhouses. The plans hinge on demolition of the vacant Fifth Church of Christ Scientist, on the northwest corner of the block.

Now a neighboring property's owner's plans for a new retail project, anchored by a Giant Eagle Market District Express store, are putting pressure on the city to clean up the church site. Affiliates of the Carnegie Cos., a Solon developer, own the surrounding block.

Last year, after demolishing an old retail strip along Clifton, the company released plans that show a 30,000-square-foot market and other retailers along that street, with parking to the north.

Those plans hinge on a land-swap with the city, which would give up part of the church site in exchange for a strip of property along Lake. Carnegie would gain more space for parking. The city would end up with a linear site that could lend itself to a small residential project.

In February, Cleveland's community-development department asked for proposals from developers interested in Fifth Church and the land along Lake. Rock-climbing duo Chick Holtkamp and Niki Zmij had cropped up with an 11th-hour proposal to convert the dilapidated building into a wellness center. But the city's request for proposals made clear that officials were looking for something residential, not recreational.

In late March, three developers responded. Brickhaus Partners, a group led by Andrew Brickman, proffered 11 townhouses that would incorporate pieces of the church into their facades and landscaping. Working with Dimit Architects, Brickman also proposed a park, anchored by the church's entry arch, at Lake and West 117th.

"I can't stand the [proposal] process in general, but we thought it was an opportunity to demonstrate not only to Northeast Ohio but to all the cities that have excess religious buildings a way to repurpose something that either is damaged beyond repair or that won't find another life as a church," Brickman said.

The Orlean Co., another local developer, worked with City Architecture on a plan for 10 townhouses and public green space, which would incorporate parts of the deconstructed church. Like the other proposers, Orlean found that restoring the church and filling it with apartments or condominiums didn't make economic sense.

"The city's tried to save that church for the last 15-plus years, and every year that it sits vacant, it suffers more deterioration," said Ken Lurie, an Orlean principal. "It's just not worth it financially for us. We would never have bid on it if we didn't think the church would come down."

The last proposal, from Zmij and Holtkamp, reimagined the church as a sanctuary for climbing, yoga and other activities. The duo explored creating a park or building townhouses along the remaining stretch of Lake, with concealed parking. If that plan doesn't fly, the developers hope to take their concept somewhere else - to other Cleveland neighborhoods and, potentially, other neglected churches.

"People have this sense that maybe we feel like we've wasted time and might have resentment," said Holtkamp, a longtime rock climber and developer who has tackled historic-preservation projects in Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood. "We don't. We just feel like we did the right thing for the church, to show that there is an option. And in doing that, it broadens our ability to present. We've had to answer a lot of tough questions from people."

A two-story Giant Eagle Market District Express store would rise at Clifton Boulevard and West 116th Street, under plans being floated by Carnegie Cos., the property owner. A smaller retail building, for a handful of tenants, would sit at West 117th Street and Clifton.

As of last week, none of the teams had received a verdict from the city, which originally expected to choose a winner in early April.

"We are finalizing our evaluation of the merits of each proposal and will make a recommendation to Mayor Jackson in the near future for review and approval," Maureen Harper, a city spokeswoman, wrote in an email late Friday. "After receiving his approval, we can proceed with necessary steps to seek City Council approval and to negotiate the details of the project."

Zone wouldn't go so far as to say that city officials disqualified the rock-climbing plan. But he talked about "two spectacular proposals" and described the recreational concept as a long shot.

"It's a really cool concept, and it could be spectacular in that building if that building wasn't located in a dense residential neighborhood," he added.

In emails to residents and activists, the councilman has alluded to the threat of litigation from the Edgewater Homeowners' Association, which represents people who own single-family homes on four nearby streets. Linda Meglin, president of the group's board, said the association is opposed to any commercial uses on Lake, where the church sits in a residential zoning district. It's too early to talk about litigation, she said, but the association has gotten involved in zoning court cases.

"We've been consistent," Meglin added. "We weren't against the rock climbing. We're just not for any commercial development. The whole idea of it going back to residential, that goes back to the historic nature of the neighborhood."

As of last year, Edgewater Homeowners represented roughly 140 member households. Its leadership has run up against opposition from an upstart group called Neighbors in Action, led by an outspoken activist and artist named Jeon Francis.

Even after the city's request for proposals indicated that a commercial project would be a hard sell, Francis has continued to push for Holtkamp and Zmij's idea. A Neighbors in Action online petition, supporting reuse of the church and the rock-climbing concept, has garnered more than 660 signatures. Some of those supporters live in the neighborhood. Others reside in different cities or states.

"We are being presented with an opportunity that goes beyond saving one of our historic buildings, by providing us with the potential to reinvent, readapt and re-attract," Francis said. "Saving Fifth Church is almost like the icing on the cake, because the concept itself has the potential to allow the neighborhood to rebrand, possibly, as the recreational and healthy-living neighborhood. There are state-of-the-art facilities in other states that people specifically travel to."

Other neighbors feel caught in the middle. The Edgewater Homeowners' board doesn't necessarily represent the voices of all of its members, some of whom said they feel steamrollered and frustrated by their leadership's single-minded focus on residential development. But even residents who have been fighting for the church for decades acknowledge that the building might be beyond saving.

And all the finger-pointing - at neighborhood groups, at past investors who walked away, at the city and at the forces behind the recent development-killing recession - distracts from the broader context. As Zone tells it, the city has to act soon. If not, officials could lose more than the church. They might risk losing Carnegie's retail development, if further delays cause tenants including Giant Eagle to look elsewhere. Peter Meisel, a Carnegie principal, declined to comment.

"The best outcome would have been if somebody could have repurposed the church for residential," Zone said. Now, though, "we have a commercial development that's ready to go forward with an anchor tenant. And if this thing lags on much longer, it might implode that whole idea of commercial development on Clifton. ... Some people are so singularly focused on one issue that it has the opportunity to erode the overall integrity of that whole neighborhood."