Aldermen voted Monday to begin negotiations with Smylie Brothers Brewing Company to move into the property of a former recycling center, despite residents’ objections due to the building’s proximity to a school and park.

The City Council approved the measure with an 8-1 vote, allowing the restaurant and brewery, which opened in Evanston at a different location one year ago, to discuss moving into the space at 2222 Oakton St. with the city manager. Although members of the public expressed concern with the brewery’s adjacency to Dawes Elementary School and James Park, the majority of aldermen saw the proposal as in the city’s best interest.

“It’s a false fear — they are not a threat to the community,” Ald. Ann Rainey (8th) said. “It is a very family-friendly organization.”

John Berkley, a board member of the youth soccer club Team Evanston, expressed to the aldermen his and his colleagues’ concern with the presence of an establishment selling alcohol near James Park soccer fields.

“Evanston AYSO is concerned with the traffic, safety and risks associated with an alcohol-based establishment adjacent to a public park where children would be on fields,” Berkley said on behalf of the youth soccer organization. “We are concerned that fields could be compromised because of the actions by careless and intoxicated patrons of the establishment.”

Ald. Brian Miller (9th) — the only dissenting vote — said the brewery was not the ideal use for the property considering its closeness to one of the city’s most frequented parks. Ald. Donald Wilson (4th) countered that parents of soccer players could benefit from a nearby restaurant to visit after games.

The 13,000 square-foot building housed Evanston’s recycling center until 2010, when the city started its curbside recycling program and began storing equipment in the building. The city started seeking applications for development of the building in April, clarifying its intention to turn the facility into a dining or entertainment destination.

The city received three applications by the May 15 deadline, including the brewery, a real estate agency and an athletic center.

Miller also said he thought the process of screening the applications for the property was one-sided in that it only provided information touting Smylie Brother’s application and no justification for why the other applications were rejected.

“I feel like this was paid a very short shrift in the actual process, which put forth only the merits of the one proposal.” Miller said.

However, Rainey said the brewery would be a boon for both employment and the city’s environmental goals, noting that Smylie Brothers voiced their intention to install an energy-generating windmill and a plan to compost. After years of a vacant building eating up city money, Evanston would be lucky to pass the space off to a business that has already seen success in the city, Rainey said.

“The city is going to benefit by millions of dollars for unloading this building,” she said. “For that reason we need to be grateful and not make another mistake.”

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