The Renton City Council on Monday approved the preliminary plans and budget of up to $10 million for the Renton Highlands Library project.

The vote was 5-1 with councilwoman Marcie Palmer voting against and councilwoman Terri Briere absent from the meeting.

The council received an update on the project during its Committee of The Whole meeting, including updates on the library and the Sunset Terrace redevelopment project of which it is an anchor.

The library project calls for a 15,000-square-foot library to be built at Sunset Avenue and Harrington Avenue Northeast. The project also features a one-story underground garage, located directly beneath the new building.

Voters approved the project in 2010 as part of annexation into the King County Library District.

Planning Director Chip Vincent called the library the “cornerstone” of the whole project, which includes housing and a park among other things. Vincent said the library will be a “third place” for residents to visit, as well as a meeting place for the community.

“This is one of the big dominoes that gets a lot of other dominoes to fall with it,” he said.

The project as presented was essentially the same one the council saw last year, with a few minor revisions, the main one being the parking garage. Originally designed as a two-story garage, the cost has prompted a revision.

Palmer was concerned about the size of the garage, compared to the size of the facility and questioned why there would be only 48 spaces when the library’s meeting room could hold at least 72.

“This seems very inadequate,” she said, adding that she has been to the Newcastle Library several times and has yet to be able to park in the garage there.

Jane Barker of THA Architecture in Portland, the firm designing the new building, said the building’s footprint and budget are what they are and they fit as many parking spaces as possible in the garage.

KCLS Facilities Director Greg Smith said there would also be on-street parking available and developers were working on agreements to possibly use space in an adjacent parking garage for the housing development co-located on the site, but said the location dictated the number of spaces available.

“That’s the site we have to work with,” he said.

The approval of the schematic design allows KCLS to go forward with final design work on the new building. Construction is scheduled to begin in June 2014 with a projected opening of the new building the following year.