Monterey may finally take action on a revamped Waterfront Master Plan.

The plan that has pitted supporters of open space against business interests looking to protect parking spaces will finally be addressed by the Monterey City Council. The council is set to take action on the much fought-over Waterfront Master Plan on Jan. 27, says Principal Planner Elizabeth Caraker.

During the six years of the plan’s development, progress was often stymied as many Fisherman’s Wharf merchants opposed calls for the removal of parking space. Three planning commissioners, two of whom were outspoken critics of city officials, were also sacked by the City Council over the summer.

An earlier draft of the Waterfront Master Plan projected the number of parking spots that would be removed to expand the promenade in front of the Custom House Plaza all the way to Wharf II. The current recommended draft is less divisive, calling for future parking surveys, says Caraker. The promenade expansion would be dependent on the construction of a raised pedestrian walkway from Tyler Street that would connect existing city parking garages to the wharf, providing offsite parking.

“Ever since the last election, this plan has come to a screeching halt,” Luis Osorio, one of the planning commissioners removed over the summer, said at the Dec. 1 City Council meeting. “This is starting to smell like something sketchy is going on.”

Those fears might be moot as the city is now moving on the plan’s approval, albeit at a pace slower than some would like.

“We’ve had a very crowded council agenda,” Caraker says. “We really want the council to have all the information they need.”