The Bloomberg administration said yesterday that its proposal to radically reshape the far west side of Manhattan with high-rise office towers is vital if the city is to remain economically vigorous. But opponents questioned the plan’s size and its link to another proposal – an adjacent 75,000-seat stadium for the New York Jets.

The proposed cluster of commercial buildings would rise as tall as 60 stories and essentially extend the skyscrapers of Midtown Manhattan west to the Hudson River.

Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff told a City Council hearing that ongoing construction at the World Trade Center site, 4 miles south, should not be a deterrent to moving forward with the Hudson Yards project, which requires massive changes in zoning law.

“Every generation or so, New York City has taken bold leaps that have propelled our city forward,” said Mr. Doctoroff, who invoked the Brooklyn Bridge and the construction of the subway system. “Each of these plans attracted criticisms and complaints, doubters and detractors. The Hudson Yards plan is no different.”

The office buildings would serve as the financial underpinning for the proposal to build a $1.4 billion stadium for the Jets that could also be used if the city wins a bid for the 2012 Olympic Games. Mayor Bloomberg’s administration estimates the Hudson Yards redevelopment would generate $60 billion during the next 30 years.

Though debate about the stadium was deemed off-limits yesterday at the City Council hearing because the stadium is not part of the rezoning plan, the project did come up at times. The proposed stadium does not require rezoning.

Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, who opposes the rezoning and the stadium, said: “The stadium is the tail wagging this dog of a West Side plan. They can pretend otherwise, but we all know the truth.”

Senator Schumer, who testified in support of the rezoning, refused to take a position on the stadium.

“I have and will continue to be agnostic,” he said. “The stadium is very controversial, and I don’t want either my support or my opposition to the stadium to get in the way of my effort to focus on extending the no. 7 subway line and achieving rezoning and attracting development partners.”

Besides adding 28 million square feet of office space, the redevelopment plan calls for building 13,600 new units of housing and 700,000 square feet of retail space, extending the no.7 subway line from Times Square, and adding 20 acres of parks.

Among the main points of opposition to the rezoning yesterday was the relative dearth of affordable housing the plan would generate – 2,600 of the 13,600 units.

“You can do better than that,” Council Member Margarita Lopez said.

The redevelopment calls for 34 existing housing units to be condemned, and 93 businesses and 1,300 jobs to be relocated. More than 80 people would have to move out.

The City Council is expected to approve the rezoning plan within the next month. Last week, the state Legislature gave approval to expand the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, which would be connected to the stadium.