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 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 the apartments would rent for between $28,000 to $35,000. But the tax-increment financing proposal met resistance from neighbors Wednesday, who said the developers misrepresented 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.

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.

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