Love it or hate it, the Alpena Municipal Council on Monday may have made one of its most consequential decisions in generations, one that could reshape Alpena’s very skyline and shoreline and change the quality of life for residents and visitors for years to come.

The council voted Monday night to rezone from industrial to waterfront the property where the former Decorative Panels International plant has sat vacant since its February closure.

The decision allows new kinds of development at the site along the shores of Thunder Bay on Alpena’s north side where the factory has sat for decades.

Residential. Retail. Mixed-use. Some light industrial.

Some city leaders already have envisioned what that property could look like in the future, and they envision a new and very different Alpena shoreline that could help ease the housing shortage in our area and provide new draws for tourists and new places for residents to spend their time — and their money.

Much must happen before that could become a reality, and much might happen to derail those visions.

Someone would have to buy the property and develop it, and numerous other big Alpena-area developments have fallen short in recent years as the cost of building has climbed.

Plus, DPI — which plans to auction off the property next month, with a $1 million starting bid — threatened to sue the city if the council rezoned the property, saying that decision would hinder the company’s ability to sell the property. The outcome of that lawsuit could scuttle the whole endeavor, and the uncertainty caused by a lawsuit could at the very least delay anything from happening at the site.

Still, the city council saw an opportunity to create a new Alpena — for better or worse — and took that chance Monday night.

What happens next is anybody’s guess.