By Gerry Doyle

Officials on Monday night sought to reassure residents around Daley Bicentennial Plaza that a plan to move the Chicago Children's Museum there would benefit their community?not disrupt it.

"No project would we support that wouldn't be an asset to Grant Park and to the community," Bob O'Neill of the Grant Park Conservancy told a roomful of people at the Daley Bicentennial Fieldhouse. "Neighborhoods can change for the positive with dialogue."

The proposal would rebuild and expand the fieldhouse, whose subterranean roof is crumbling, and create a three-story underground museum fed by a parking garage and Lower Randolph Street bus turnoff. Its roof would be planted with greenery and would not extend above street level along Randolph, said Ewa Weir of Jones Lang LaSalle, the project manager.

Many residents spoke in favor of the proposal, and several pointed out that the park was there for the use of all Chicagoans, not just those who lived nearby.

But others were concerned not just about views, but quality of life. Placing a museum in a spot where adults now exercise and children play would?no matter what its intentions?undermine the neighborhood's character, they said.

There would be an area for drop-offs and taxis at street level, Weir said, but most of the comings and goings would take place underground and out of sight. She and others noted that Millennium Park, a block west on Randolph, was directly over an immense parking garage but drew little additional street-level traffic.

Residents living in high-rises just north of Grant Park have gathered 300 signatures of people opposed to the museum's move. They also worry about the removal of an ice-skating rink in Bicentennial Plaza and temporary displacement of fieldhouse programs during construction. The museum has promised to rebuild the rink elsewhere in the plaza.

Much of the meeting's presentations focused on logistical issues that the 100,000-square-foot museum might create. Traffic consultant Robert DuBoe said that there would be about 100 cars arriving on a typical day during the museum's peak hours, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. On a peak day, more than 400 cars could be expected during those hours, he said.

Most visitors would arrive by bus or public transportation, he said. Deliveries would be made three stories below the street. The site was ideal for a museum because of the confluence of transportation options, DuBoe said.

Peter England, president and chief executive officer of the museum, said that although he thinks the site is perfect, the museum will not trample on residents' wishes. He also pointed out that no architect had been hired and that Monday night's discussion was just that: an exchange of ideas.

O'Neill said that the meeting was the third of many gathering public comment. The next will be later this month, he said.