BREWER – The blueprint for the city’s waterfront redevelopment effort passed another critical test Monday night.

Following a final review during their joint hearing with the City Council, members of the Planning Board unanimously endorsed the concepts set forth in an ambitious plan to overhaul the city’s neglected waterfront. Conscious of the project’s high price tag, however, members also asked for a more detailed cost-benefit analysis showing at what point local taxpayers can expect to start seeing economic returns for their investment, among other things.

The plan faces its final hurdle tonight, when it goes before the council for adoption. Once that occurs, the plan will move into the implementation and marketing phases.

At an estimated cost of between $35 million and $57 million in public and private investments to be spread out over at least 10 years, the waterfront effort represents the community’s largest development venture to date.

The waterfront plan is a result of recommendations made by residents and business people who helped hammer out Brewer’s comprehensive plan five years ago. Over the past year, the effort has been the subject of numerous meetings and work sessions by the community’s 16-member Waterfront Advisory Committee and city staff, as well as several public hearings.

“I’m very proud of the outcome,” said Councilor Donna Thornton, chairman of the advisory panel.

According to Thornton, Brewer’s riverfront revival project is designed to complement, not compete with, work planned for the Bangor side of the Penobscot River. She said the combined efforts will result in a regional asset that will benefit both communities as well as surrounding towns.

During a brief overview of plans for Penobscot Landing, as Brewer’s waterfront is now known, Richard Stoltz of MBIA Bartram & Cochran of Hartford, Conn., described the proposed placements for various waterfront attractions and features, as well as a timeline and cost estimates for the effort.

MBIA, which led the consortium of contractors who handled various aspects of the master plan, was hired by the city last month to take the plan into the implementation phase.

Plans call for such waterfront attractions as an entertainment district and public market, several facilities for boaters, a ferry shuttle facility, an upscale condominium complex, an outdoor amphitheater and recreational and interpretive trails, among other things. The fact that the city regularly received inquiries from potential developers, Stoltz said, is an indicator that it will succeed.

A cost breakdown showed that just over $7 million of the project’s total cost is likely to be borne by the city, while the rest would come from the state or federal governments, private developers and investors and sponsors, Stoltz said. Brewer’s $7 million share includes approximately $3 million in tax-increment financing, leaving about $4 million to be raised in local dollars.

According to Stoltz, the plan is a realistic one for the community, “one which will stretch Brewer but not snap it.”

In other business Monday, board members voted to recommend that the city grant Central Maine Auto Auction permission to develop a 41,800-square-foot paved vehicle storage lot across the street from its main place of business on Sparks Avenue, with the stipulation that the property owners comply with site plan changes recommended by City Planner Tom Kurth.

They also heard proposals for two projects on busy outer Wilson Street but tabled both items, largely because traffic safety was at stake and because they did not receive the bulk of the information they needed until their meeting Monday night.

One of the requests pertained to a curb cut needed for an access road that would serve both the city and Eastern Maine Healthcare. The Bangor-based medical organization last month announced its plan to develop a health care park on land the city acquired over the summer for development.

Though the agenda and public hearing notice indicated that the developer of the other Wilson Street project just up the street from the EMH project was requesting a curb cut, representatives at the meeting said they were seeking permission to begin excavation and fill work, preferably before the onset of winter. Planning board members agreed to hold a special meeting within the two weeks or so to accommodate the timeline.