There was a meeting scheduled Thursday night at Lewiston City Hall that promised to be a doozy.

The city’s Historic Preservation Review Board was supposed to consider a proposal by Central Maine Healthcare to demolish the 159-year-old St. Joseph’s Church to make way for parking off Main Street.

Dozens of people were expected to speak out against the hospital’s plan, and to plead with the board to step in and preserve a piece of the city’s architectural heritage.

The meeting didn’t happen because, hours before it convened, CMHC withdrew its application for demolition.

So, rather than hearing angry voices, we heard songs of praise directed toward the hospital. Each note was well deserved.

Cheers to CMHC for hearing objections to its plan, and then responding to those voices.

Of course, just because the plan to raze the church and rectory is off the table now doesn’t mean it won’t come back.

CMHC spokesman Chuck Gill said hospital officials intend to conduct a second evaluation of the property, which it purchased in May for $125,000, and consider all “viable” options for the church.

“Viable” being the operative word.

That means the hospital group will try to identify a workable plan, that it considers practicable.

Given that the public seems so interested in that outcome, we suggest the hospital include residents in its review process.

Gill said he expected the CMHC evaluation and review to take several months to complete, before the hospital group returns to the Historic Preservation Review Board with its plan.

Perhaps before that evaluation gets rolling, the hospital might consider holding a public meeting to hear directly from historians and others who object to the church’s destruction.

Public sentiment is so strong about leveling St. Joe’s because so many of the city’s most recognizable buildings have been torn down in recent years, including the magnificent stonework of the Methodist church just down the street from St. Joe’s, which was leveled to create a parking lot.

In 1997, CMMC leveled Grace Lutheran Church, which had been empty since 1972 when its congregation built a larger building overlooking Lake Auburn.

And, the feeling that the public may have some sway in the demolition may come from local preservationists’ victory in 2010 when they convinced the city to put off plans to level Bates Mill No. 5. A community group has since formed to revitalize that mill, hoping to save the old saw-tooth structure from the wrecking ball.

The difference here, of course, is that — unlike the city-owned Bates Mill — the St. Joe’s property is owned by the hospital group, a private entity. And, as the owner, it can do what it wants with the property as long as it meets the requirements of the city’s Historic Preservation Review Board.

According to Gil Arsenault, director of planning and code enforcement for the city of Lewiston, a number of people have contacted him with some ideas about the property.

It certainly can’t hurt the hospital to hear what people have to say, to hear what they might have said had they been given the opportunity Thursday.

More importantly, it might hurt if the hospital doesn’t hear the community out.

Hospitals are about healing, after all.

A CMHC-hosted public meeting might just be the right medicine to make that happen.

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The opinions expressed in this column reflect the views of the ownership and the editorial board.