WATERVILLE $ City councilors on Tuesday will consider taking a second vote on a zone change that would allow 33 affordable apartments to be built inside Gilman Street School.

The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in the council chambers at The Center downtown.

The current zone allows for 28 apartments. Developers Collaborative of Portland wants to build 33 apartments, using historic tax credits to restore the building to historic standards.

A zone amendment requires three votes by councilors, who could take two votes tonight but likely will not, according to Council Chairman Dana W. Sennett, D-Ward 4.

"The mayor had commented that, due to the seriousness of the issue, that we would only take one vote at a time," Sennett said Monday. "I'm going to listen and see what progress was made with the focus group and go with whatever was suggested."

Residents who live near the school and others requested a study be done to assess how the neighborhood would be impacted by the apartment development.

Neighbors are concerned about issues such as increased population density, noise, traffic, and how housing values would be affected.

The Neighborhood Committee was formed to discuss what information should be sought from an impact study.

The committee, which includes residents, city officials, councilors, the developer, the prospective apartment managing agency and meeting facilitators, met 3:30 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. Wednesday.

They discussed questions they wanted to have answered, such as how much it would cost to demolish the building and what the effects of other permitted uses on the site would be.

The minutes of the meeting state that the committee discussed the effect of the development on the city's current housing stock.

"What is the current vacancy rate?" the minutes state. "How will 33 additional units affect landlords? Will people move from substandard units to this project? Will this help with the subsequent improvement of such properties? In addition, committee members questioned property management issues at length and all agreed that this subject is of critical importance."

The minutes also state that members agreed to request councilors withhold taking a final vote on the zone change until Oct. 21.

"The hope is that the impact study will be completed by Oct. 7 and that this could be reviewed by the council (and committee) in a workshop setting on Oct. 14."

The committee meets again at 5 p.m. today.

In other matters Tuesday, councilors will consider:

n Buying a four-wheel-drive, half-ton pickup truck for use by the superintendent of operations and maintenance, from O'Connor Motors, Inc., of Augusta.

n Awarding a $183,150 contract for winter road salt to International Salt Co., LLC, of Clarks Summit, Pa.

n Issuing a liquor license to Lopes Restaurant Management Group LLC, doing business as Cacciatores Restaurant, at 150 JFK Plaza.

n Issuing a food license to Judith A. Violette, doing business as "Off the Beaten Path" at 72 Armory Road.

n Issuing a food license to Matt T LLC, doing business as KFC/Taco Bell, 450 Kennedy Memorial Drive.

n Taking final votes on whether to use $5,000 from $20,000 previously approved for operation and maintenance of a cross country ski trail at Quarry Road recreation area to buy adjoining property and that the remaining $15,000 be used as a match for private funding for trail construction.

n Eliminating in-person absentee voting on Nov. 3.

Amy Calder $ 861-9247
acalder@centralmaine.com