On Monday, The Selma City Council set a public hearing date for renaming the entirety of Lapsley Street for the Boynton family. 

The hearing will be Saturday, May 17 at 10 a.m. The council didn’t pick a location for the hearing, but expressed support for hosting it R.B. Hudson Middle School — located on Lapsley Street.

During Monday’s administrative committee meeting, Corey Bowie said he chose to have the public hearing on a Saturday to allow a large number of Selma residents to attend.

“We want to give everyone an opportunity as far as with the public hearing,” Bowie said.

Bowie outlined several options for a way to honor the Boynton family, including: renaming Lapsley in its entirety; renaming it from L.L. Anderson to J.L. Chestnut; and renaming Lapsley and Summerfield Road to Highland Avenue.

The council also discussed abandoning the renaming and, instead, using the Songs of Selma Park, on Water Avenue to honor important Selma residents in history.

“Instead of renaming all of these streets, why don’t we just use the Songs of Selma Park,” councilman Cecil Williamson said. “We are trying to attract people to downtown  and that would be one way to do it.”