Despite objections from the Public Library and key business owners, the Wilmette Plan Commission forwarded a downtown master plan to the Village Board with a positive recommendation.

The master plan – the culmination of nearly a year of public meetings – will be considered in January as an amendment to the village’s comprehensive plan. It calls for increased building height and density, a parking garage and other goals for future developers to follow in the Village Center business district.

A portion of a previously discussed plan was amended after Wilmette Library District officials complained that it reduced parking and made spaces less convenient for patrons – moving a significant portion of library parking spaces to a potential parking garage on the southwest corner of Green Bay Road and Central Avenue.

After meeting with library officials, project consultant Lakota Group increased the number of library spaces to 52. Other revisions were made pending input from Wilmette Village Engineer Brigitte Mayerhofer.

“There still is a concern that the 52 spaces aren’t enough (for library patrons), and they’re not conveniently located enough,” said John Adler, the village’s community development director.

Library Board President Cinda Axley reiterated her board’s concerns at the Plan Commission’s Dec. 21 meeting, and said the updated plan isn’t adequate.

“We are still unable to support the part of the plan that would directly impact our patrons’ ability to park directly adjacent to our building,” she said.

Axley said the library averages 1,000 patrons per day — many of them senior citizens, or young parents with strollers — making a parking garage difficult to access.

Michael Banks, owner of West End Antiques, which is within the master plan’s boundaries, said he opposed any action that may force him from the property.

“This is my property. I’ve been in business for 37 years and change,” Banks said. “Nobody’s pushing me out of my property. I’m staying there until the moon flies and turns green.”

Plan Commissioner Bob Spriggs said he empathized with Banks, but tried to allay his fears.

“This is not the precursor of an action of eminent domain or taking anything from anyone,” Spriggs said.

The plan ’s purpose, he said, is to have something in place when the time comes for action.

“You don’t just wake up the next morning willy-nilly and say, ‘What the hell do we do with this?’” Spriggs said.

Commissioner Scott Goldstein said a parking garage will address the library’s parking concerns.

“My personal view is the garage will solve the parking problem,” Goldstein said. “I walked it – it’s not that far.”

In the proposed plan, diagonal parking spaces would be created inside a U-shaped one-way street that would serve the library, Post Office and retail stores on the property bounded by Central Avenue, Wilmette Avenue and Green Bay Road. The green space created in the center of the block would serve as a public gathering area, planners said. A 425-space, three-story parking garage would also support those uses, as well as Metra commuters.

The maximum downtown building height in certain areas would be increased to five stories, and zoning amendments are recommended to increase density to attract more transit-oriented development.

One major component of the plan, the Chase Bank property at 1200 Central Ave., would be torn down and replaced with a mixed-use structure that includes retail and residential, along with a new bank.

It also calls for updated landscaping outside Village Hall, 1200 Wilmette Ave., in the triangular-shaped park in front – moving the fountain closer to the corner of Wilmette and Central and updating a memorial wall.

Since Lakota’s study recommends significant changes to many privately owned parcels and buildings, village officials have said incentives – potentially creating a tax-increment financing district – may be necessary to encourage property owners.

Plan Commissioners voted 5-0 to recommend the master plan’s inclusion into the village’s comprehensive plan. The issue will be discussed at the Jan. 11 Village Board meeting.