WATERVILLE $ The public on Monday night will have another chance to comment and ask questions about a proposal to turn the old Gilman Street School into 33 affordable apartments.

The Planning Board is scheduled to consider the project at 7 p.m. in the council chambers at The Center downtown.

The board will consider the approximate $10 million plan by Developers Collaborative, of Portland, under the city's site plan review ordinance.

Planners will look at any issues of interest, including those related to sewer, water and fire access, according to Board Chairman David Geller.

"Traffic issues are always something that could be brought up, just as with the Rite Aid project," Geller said Friday. "Landscaping issues, noise issues $ anything that is related to the way the project is going to be carried out or any effect that it might have."

Developers Collaborative partners Kevin Bunker, Jim Hatch and Richard Berman hope to use historic tax credits to renovate the 41,000-square-foot building to historic standards. Currently, the zoning at the site allows for 28 apartments, but the partners want to increase that number to 33.

Planners recently recommended that the City Council rezone the property as such and councilors voted 7-0 to approve the change. They must take two more votes on that zoning issue.

Geller noted that the issue before planners Monday night is not whether the project should go forward $ that is a decision councilors will make as it takes final votes on the zone change.

The council is scheduled to take at least a second vote at its meeting Tuesday night.

"We're just analyzing it as though it were a project to be done," Geller said of the Planning Board's task Monday.

The board could make a decision Monday on the site plan and grant approval with conditions. Geller said he is not certain a decision will come Monday.

"The size of the project is larger than most other projects," he said. "I'd be willing to stay there and get through all the information that needs to be discussed...I definitely see a letter from the Fire Department that raises some issues, so we're going to want to make sure the developer has adequately addressed all those issues."

Neighbors of the school have raised a variety of concerns about the project, including that it would increase population density and noise in a quiet neighborhood and decrease property values.

They are working with the city and developers to identify questions to be answered in an impact study designed to determine how the project would impact the neighborhood.

Geller said the public may comment at Monday's meeting. Speakers should state their names and addresses, be polite and let others speak.

"I, as the chairman, would always want to give people the opportunity to raise any concerns that they may have," he said. "It's a public forum."

The developers are targeting renters who earn between $20,000 and $36,000 a year. Rental costs would be between $450 and $750.

Bunker said the building, located on 2.5 acres between Morrill Avenue and Gilman Street and Burleigh and West streets, now is worth about $318,000 and would be valued at about $1.5 when the project is complete.

Built in 1913 as Waterville High School, the building actually is three separate buildings, separate but connected. The west wing was build it 1936; the east section, which includes the gymnasium, in 1939. The gymnasium would be renovated as part of the project and the plan is to lease it to the city at an affordable rate.

Brunswick businessman Peter Arena owns the structure and the developers are under contract to purchase it. They hope to close on the deal next year.

Amy Calder $ 861-9247
acalder@centralmaine.com