Even if aldermen approve a new land-use plan for Berwyn’s three train station regions, the sputtering economy may help dictate what ultimately is built in these zones.

The city’s railway corridor includes three train stations. These mark the Metra/Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway area, the Stanley Avenue region to the north of the train tracks, and the region encompassing Windsor Avenue to the south of the tracks.

For the past year, consultants and Berwyn Development Corporation staff have worked to produce a final draft of a land-use plan for these regions. On Tuesday night, residents had the chance to review the proposals, offer suggestions and ask questions.

And one of the big unknowns that yet remains is the economy.

“It also comes down to the market. If we say this is what we’d like to see, the market might not take it,” said Sara Bratcher, an urban planner with the Berwyn Development Corporation. “The market right now – it’s hard to get financing (for projects).”

Berwyn’s transit-oriented development study was funded by a $100,000 grant from the Regional Transportation Authority, Bratcher said.

The first meeting about creating a new land-use plan was hosted in September 2007, she said. The rest of 2007 was spent amassing data and conducting residential and commercial market assessments.

The study resulted in an outline, created by community members’ suggestions and requests, for mixed-use developments in these three pockets of the city. These developments could be comprised of retail, entertainment, office, residential and civic uses.

“I think that what I see is a good framework for a long-range vision,” said Jeromie Winsor, a resident and member of the Berwyn Historical Society.

But he is left with a number of questions, he said, including from where is all of the money needed for these projects going to come and who will ultimately pay for the projects.

The final draft of the 20-year land-use plan will go before the City Council in mid-October when aldermen meet as a Committee of the Whole. It then may move to the full City Council for a vote in November.