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The City Council issued a 30-day deadline Tuesday for the city manager make a deal with the owner of prime Downtown property so it can build a cheaper — and potentially smaller — arena there.

A second 90-day deadline was set for the city staff to come back with plans and potential tenants for a new arena on 7 acres of land owned by Allan Norville near the Tucson Convention Center.

The new mandates mean plans for a 12,300-seat arena designed to resemble a desert tortoise are dead.

Council support for the tortoise arena, to be built along the Interstate 10 frontage road, evaporated after an updated financial analysis showed the cost had grown from the $130 million originally approved by the council to $196 million.

On Tuesday, the council unanimously reiterated its order that the cost of a new Downtown arena not exceed $130 million. It was unclear whether the $20 million to $30 million in infrastructure costs to build the arena are included in the $130 million spending cap.

City Manager Mike Hein presented the results of a study showing the tortoise design would bring about one of the most expensive arenas built in the nation in terms of space — $537 per square foot — with the highest of the other 12 arenas in the comparison at $333 per square foot.

"The bottom line clearly illustrates … a cost per square foot like that is unreasonable," Hein said.

He said an analysis may suggest that the city would do better building a smaller arena. He said the staff will return within the 90 days to answer the questions: "How big, where do you put it, and how do you afford it?"

Councilman Steve Leal said he was confident that the city could find a design that works financially while also being a success in drawing people Downtown.

"All of us would like a bigger arena, but we may not be able to get there," Leal said. "I'm optimistic we'll come up with something."

That point was disputed by Michael Crawford, a member of the Tucson Convention Center Commission, who said a study done three years ago called for a 12,500-seat arena.

Crawford also said the city should continue using Texas-based developer Garfield Traub on the arena project. The firm was selected three years ago to build the tortoise-inspired arena.

However, the council's action didn't address who would be the developer of the newly designed arena.

Garfield Traub officials said after the meeting that the answer is clear — they will develop the new arena plans.

"We were selected," said Ken Portnoy of Garfield Traub. "We were legally, fully, formally selected in a process three years ago. We won."

Portnoy said he didn't think it would be possible to select another development team to build the arena.

Hein, however, disagreed in comments after the meeting, contending that because the tortoise arena has been abandoned, "it's a different time, different place and a different project."

He said the city will sit down and talk with Garfield Traub officials and invite them to bid to be the potential arena developers. However, he added, "I don't think we want to limit ourselves."

To secure the location for a new arena, the city must first finalize an agreement with Norville to buy the 7 acres just west of the TCC for $17 million.

The two sides have a preliminary agreement, but they must find a site for Norville to host his annual gem-show exhibition every February.

Jaret Barr, an assistant to Hein, said the leading contender now to house the gem show would be a new space built on top of the Tucson Convention Center building. He said the city is conducting soil tests to determine whether the building could handle the extra weight on the roof.

Instead of building a new floor on the TCC, Barr said, the space would be more of an aircraft-hangar-type construction without block walls. It would be used for Norville's gem-show exhibition in February and by the TCC during the rest of the year.

Barr did not provide a cost estimate but said there is almost no other place in the area with 120,000 square feet of flat space to house Norville's show. Norville's representatives declined to comment.

In other business, the council:

● Was chastised by the police union and some members of the arts community at a public hearing on the budget for not spending enough money on hiring new officers, increasing salaries for existing cops and increasing funding for the arts.

More than 125 members of the Tucson Police Officers' Association showed up, with speakers saying City Hall is willfully ignoring a crisis in the Police Department.

Union members also criticized a recently released salary study by the City Manager's Office, contending that the report's numbers are wrong because it listed the benefits for more experienced police officers rather than for those in the middle of the salary range.

● Approved the construction of a bridge across the Santa Cruz River to connect Cushing Street to the West Side.

● Delayed approval until next week of a Downtown facade program to refurbish buildings more than 60 years old.