Study fatigue. Foot-dragging. Lack of vision.

Started down the road.

These phrases were embedded in discussion Thursday as members of Roanoke City Council debated whether to streamline a process intended to create a design, or designs, for renovation of the Roanoke City Market Building downtown.

Ultimately, streamlining won.

Council voted 6-1 to direct an architectural and engineering firm to accelerate past another round of public input and conceptual pondering about the building's future. Members cited two studies already completed in recent years, as well as a host of accompanying opportunities for public input.

As a result, the city will direct Cunningham Quill Architects, a Washington, D.C., architectural and engineering firm, to move forward to develop a design, or designs, for the building's renovation and reuse.

At least three council members acknowledged fielding comments from city residents upset about the prospect of another study.

The city-owned and city-managed market building, considered a downtown icon, has been deteriorating. And prolonged debate about its future and the future of food court vendors and other tenants has frequently elicited strong emotions.

Pressing the pedal closer to the metal also promises to cut study costs from $160,000 to $120,000, according to the related ordinance approved by council.

Councilman Court Rosen cast the no vote.

Rosen said he believed contracting with a consultant for design work should not occur until the council develops a specific vision for what the building could and would be for the next couple of decades.

He worried also about the potential cost of renovations during tough economic times when schools face funding cuts.

But other council members said they believe a preliminary vision for the building already exists or will be refined during meetings with Cunningham Quill.

Councilwoman Anita Price said it's time to move forward.

"We have studied it to the nth degree," she said. "We're all tired [of] foot-dragging."

She said the existing vision of the building's future anticipates it will continue to host a food court.

Anita Wilson, a co-owner of Burger in the Square and a longtime advocate for other food court vendors inside the market building, said she supports the council's decision to move forward. She also said she trusts that vendors and retailers in the building will be able to participate in discussions involving design decisions.

Wilson said she is not concerned about skipping yet another round of public input.

"I don't think they are, in any way, disregarding what the public might think," Wilson said. "They've had tons of public input so far."

Previous studies have included one completed by Miami-based Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co., which provided several opportunities for public comment. More recently, a group calling itself the Coalition for the Roanoke City Market contracted with the prestigious Project for Public Spaces to develop plans for the building's future.

"There are good things in both of those plans," Wilson said.

But she said she believes there would be widespread opposition to any plans that would exclude a food court.

Wilson said she has been communicating with council members and said several have visited her at the market building and listened to ideas about its future uses and observations about its space limitations.

Meanwhile, the prolonged debate about how to proceed, related uncertainty and month-to-month leases for vendors and lingering stigma from health code violations discovered in September led longtime food seller David "Chico" Estrada to decide to close his stall when his lease expires.

In other action Thursday, the council went on record as saying it hopes to award the city school system an additional $500,000 over what it will receive this year under an allocation formula. The extra money was proposed by former Mayor Nelson Harris, but had been considered in jeopardy because of decreases in city revenue.