CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland Landmarks Commission granted final approval Thursday for a $32 million planned overhaul of downtown's Public Square, after a potential turf war over the square's southeast quadrant ended in a truce.

The unanimous vote moves the project, which would remake the heart of downtown, one step closer to reality. The nonprofit Group Plan Commission still hopes to start construction this year and to finish the makeover before the Republican National Convention hits Cleveland in mid-2016.

Last week, long-simmering tensions over the square's southeast corner threatened to boil over and disrupt that schedule. Advocates for the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, an 1894 landmark that commemorates Cuyahoga County's Civil War veterans, have been worried for months about aspects of the proposed design.

On Thursday, though, leaders of the 12-member monument commission said they're comfortable with the project, based on a series of compromises reached this week. "We took a vote last night to support this, based on conditions," said Richard "Ted" Prasse, an attorney and the monument commission's president.

The city controls three-quarters of Public Square, while the county asserts ownership of the southeast quadrant. The debate over the Soldiers and Sailors Monument largely centers on the challenge of integrating the historic structure into the revamped square, while leaving enough breathing room for the stone-and-bronze column to remain a place for contemplation.

During the last six months, a team from James Corner Field Operations in New York has made concessions to satisfy the monument commission. Their landscaping plans for the square, which will become a more unified park, leave space at the monument's base. The designers cut the size of a proposed water feature by 25 percent to give the monument a wider buffer. And recent sketches show larger and more plentiful beds of plants.

In a letter provided to the Landmarks Commission on Thursday, Jeremy Paris of the Group Plan Commission laid out additional commitments to the monument group. The lower esplanade -- a promenade of sorts -- around the monument will be at least 10 feet deep. The architects will expand the planting beds even more and will make sure trees don't block views of the monument.

Members of the monument commission will have the final say over several landscaping and design elements, including trees in the square's southeast quadrant and the location of flower medallions on the property. And though the Group Plan Commission is lining up private sponsors for portions of the square, the nonprofit will not offer naming-rights opportunities for sponsors or financial backers on land around the monument.

"I am particularly pleased that our efforts over the last week have been able to define existing issues and show a path for resolution of them to our mutual satisfaction, so that we may move forward with this transformative plan for Cleveland ...," Paris, the Group Plan Commission's executive director, wrote in his letter, which was addressed to Prasse.

The parties still need to hammer out details of various agreements, covering land use, maintenance and operations. The monument, which has an interior memorial room and does not charge admission, will stay open during Public Square construction.

The Landmarks Commission has jurisdiction over the monument, which is a city landmark. That designation gives buildings, other structures and historic districts added protection and more layers of scrutiny when changes are proposed.

Overall plans for Public Square call for closing Ontario Street in order to expand plazas and green space north and south of Superior Avenue, which would remain open to buses and, possibly, to cars at certain times of day. The Public Square overhaul is part of a series of downtown projects meant to make the center city greener, more inviting and more navigable for pedestrians.