WATERVILLE -- Councilors on Wednesday voted 6-1 to approve a tax plan for an affordable-housing project on Gilman Street.

But the decision did not come before residents and councilors had a lengthy debate about what low-income versus workforce housing means -- and people's perceptions about the type of renters that would inhabit Gilman Place.

Councilors last year approved the plan by Developers Collaborative to turn the old Gilman Street School into 35 affordable apartments and renovate the building to historic standards.

The council on Tuesday was being asked to approve a tax plan that would make operating and maintaining the building's gymnasium more affordable to the developer.

Developers said previously that the apartments would rent for between about $28,000 to about $35,000. But the so-called TIF (tax-increment financing) proposal met resistance from neighbors Wednesday, who said the developers misrepresented to them the type of housing that the project would offer.

Councilor Mary-Anne Beal, D-Ward 2, who lives in the neighborhood, said residents were previously told it would be workforce housing, not low-income housing.

Beal said the term "workforce housing" was meaningless.

"It's a pretty term to dress up 'low-income housing,'" she said.

But Councilor John O'Donnell, D-Ward 5, was not moved by Beal's argument. He said an impact study done on the housing plan had the same information about income that was being presented Wednesday.

"Are you saying if someone qualifies for this housing project, we wouldn't want them there because they wouldn't have enough money?" he asked Beal.

Beal said people were led to believe that the apartment complex would attract young professionals, such as teachers and nurses. She said she was uncomfortable dealing with developers who did not accurately represent the type of renters who actually would come.

Resident Lawrence Bloom agreed with Beal, saying lies and deception should not be rewarded and the council can not permit people to make a profit at the expense of others.

"It is wrong," he said. "In fact, to reward lies is even more egregious than the lying, because the developers' motive is profit."

Other neighbors followed suit, saying they worried the quality of life in the neighborhood would deteriorate.

But Fred Craigie, who said he lives a couple hundred feet from Gilman Place, supported the TIF, and said the developers have shown nothing but integrity and have been forthcoming and willing to work with residents.

Craigie said there is a legitimate social purpose in making affordable housing available, and tenants would be carefully screened. As a psychologist, Craigie works with many of the people whose incomes would be represented by renters, and they are people just trying to live their lives, he said.

"If the residents of Gilman Place are willing to behave responsibly and be good neighbors, then I welcome them to the neighborhood," he said.

He said that if current residents are good neighbors to them, they will be good neighbors to the residents.

Monica Kelly said she hopes to be a tenant, and the only way she can retire is to find adequate housing. She said she would not tolerate tenants who behaved badly.

"I think it's a privilege to live in a beautiful historical building that is going to be renovated to rigorous standards," she said.

Beal urged the council to take only the second and not a third and final vote, but O'Donnell disagreed, saying information about the project had been clear all along and the developers did not misrepresent any information.

"Personally, I think these fellas ought to get along with their business," he said.

Beal was the lone dissenter in the two votes councilors took to approve the TIF.

Meanwhile, developer Kevin Bunker came to the meeting with a letter from William Glover, manager of lending for the Maine State Housing Authority, that said the terms "low income," "workforce," and "affordable" are often used interchangeably to describe a particular type of housing.

"Gilman Place is a family project, so we would consider any of those three terms appropriate," Glover's letter says.

Amy Calder -- 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com