A proposed affordable rental tower for seniors on city land in Chinatown won a key approval from the City Council Budget Committee on Wednesday.

Resolution 16-70 gives the Caldwell administration authority to enter into a development agreement with Michaels Development Co. under which the city would lease its half-acre River Street property for 65 years in exchange for development of the 151-unit Halewaiolu tower, which would also include a community center.

The Council will need to approve the ground lease for the project, likely within a year, before it could proceed to development.

Mayor Kirk Caldwell had criticized Council Chairman Ernie Martin for holding up deliberations on the development agreement that had been forwarded to the Council on Nov. 9. Michaels officials have warned that delays could jeopardize their ability to make the project work out economically.

Martin, during Wednesday’s meeting, reiterated that community concerns needed to be worked out before the project could proceed. Officials with Borthwick Mortuary, next to the proposed tower, told him they had not been contacted about the project until recently.

Representatives from Lum Sai Ho Tong, the social organization whose clubhouse is next to the project, and the Chinatown Community Center Association voiced concerns that the new tower could affect wind patterns in such a way that smoke coming from Borthwick Mortuary’s crematorium could waft into the new project as well as other nearby high-rise residential buildings.

But Monika Mordasini Rossen, Michaels vice president of development, said an environmental assessment needs to be done before the project returns for a lease approval. Any health concerns would be noted and addressed in that document, she said, adding that Borthwick officials have insisted their emissions do not pose a health threat.

The resolution now goes to the full Council on April 20.

Officials from Chinatown organizations, including the Downtown Neighborhood Board and the Chinatown Business and Community Association, said they support the project.

Other Council members voiced concerns similar to Martin’s, calling on the administration to do a better job communicating with area neighbors and with them.

Also Wednesday the committee voted to advance Resolution 16-69, which would allow for commercialization at Aloha Stadium. When the city transferred the land to the state in the 1960s, it included covenants in the deed barring the land from being used commercially. This resolution now goes to the full Council on April 20.

Lifting the covenant would clear the way for the Aloha Stadium Authority to partner with private developers to either renovate the stadium or build a new one.

The deed restriction has allowed concerts, the Pro Bowl, the swap meet and other events considered “recreational” to take place, authority officials said, but prohibits commercial development.

“We’re too early in the process to say how we’re going to build it,” said Irwin Raij, a consultant for the authority’s redevelopment effort and an attorney with New York-based law firm Foley and Lardner LLP.

A decision has been made to keep the stadium on the Halawa site, Raij said. Not only is the property in a central location, but the city’s plan to put a transit station there also is a big draw, he said.