WESTBROOK – The developer of an affordable rental housing project proposed for two historic Westbrook buildings is planning to meet with neighbors to discuss the project next week.

Avesta Housing, based in Portland, is planning to renovate two buildings that once served as a school and a parish center and convent for St Hyacinth Church on Brown Street into complexes offering one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments to lower-income families.

At a workshop meeting of the Planning Board earlier this month, some neighbors expressed concerns about the project, citing a glut of affordable housing in the area.

Kevin Bunker of Developers Collaborative, which is running the project for Avesta, said he plans to hold a public meeting on Thursday, May 31, at 6 p.m. at the church’s meeting room on Brown Street.

The plan for the buildings calls for 37 units, which will be owned and operated by Avesta after they are completed. He said the plan calls for two efficiency units, 16 one-bedroom units, 11 two-bedroom units and eight three-bedroom units, to be spread out in the former school and convent/parish center buildings, as well as a third building that would be constructed on the 4.6-acre site.

The project would be funded through money raised from tax credits issued by the Maine State Housing Authority, as well as through money from historic building tax credits from the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Bunker said that the project has received approval to sell the tax credits from Maine Housing and they are beginning to line up investors.

“It’s a real, live deal,” he said.

Planning Board Vice Chairman Rene Daniel said at the workshop that he’d like to see if the project could be used for senior housing instead of the planned use.

Bunker said that a study by Maine Housing showed that there was a greater need in Westbrook for affordable housing rather than senior housing.

“We looked at senior housing and we looked at family housing,” Bunker said. “Maine Housing determines the amount of need in a market area and scores you accordingly. And family housing actually scored as having a higher need than senior housing. Because if senior housing was a higher need, then guess what, there’d be senior housing there, but Maine Housing determined that family housing was a higher need in Westbrook.”

Deborah Turcotte, the public information manager for Maine State Housing Authority, said that the authority issues a qualified allocation plan each year, which determines housing needs in communities, and that plan determines how tax credits are issued. The scores are based on a 1-5 scale, with 5 representing the greatest need. Turcotte said the plan showed that affordable housing scored a 5 in Westbrook while senior housing scored 3.

Bunker said he hopes the upcoming public meeting will help mitigate any concerns about the project.

“I think probably every real estate project I’ve done, and I’ve done a lot of really strong, community-based projects that are really popular, there’s always someone who doesn’t like something about it,” Bunker said. “A lot of that is allayed by giving people information. We’re trying to do something that can be done with existing zoning. We’re not asking anybody to do a lot of changes for us.”