New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has withdrawn his request to use FEMA money to relocate New Orleans City Hall. The move  represents a backtrack for the mayor, who in recent months stood up against opposition from the City Council and the public to push for the municipal headquarters to move to an office complex that formerly housed Chevron.

The city sent a notice to the federal agency today. “Yes, they withdrew the request to relocate City Hall,” said Gail Lazaras, a histroic preservation official with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The move comes less than a week before FEMA was scheduled to hold a public hearing on the effects of this proposed undertaking and one day before the council was expected to approve an amendement that would bar the administration from spending on City Hall.