WATERVILLE — The Planning Board on Monday voted to approve a plan for low-income senior housing on Elm Street, making way for the demolition of St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church.

Corpus Christi Parish plans to demolish the church, rectory and hall and start building 40 housing units this year, with occupancy expected next year.

As part of a second phase, 18 more one-bedroom units would be built by 2018, according to officials.

Four planners — Paul Mitchell, Justin DeMott, Michael Owens and Alicia Barnes — voted to approve the proposal; Chairman David Geller, who represents an abutter in a separate issue, abstained; and two planners, Dana Hernandez and Jackie Dupont, were absent.

Several people opposed the plan to demolish the 137-year-old church at the corner of Winter and Elm streets, saying it was a historic structure that symbolizes the French-Canadian migration to the Waterville area. Charlie Giguere and his sister, Claire Ocando, gathered more than 300 signatures on a petition urging church officials to preserve the church.

But board members, including Mitchell, noted that the plan met the requirements of the city’s ordinances and therefore had to be approved.

“Legally, we could not say, ‘No, you can’t do it,'” Mitchell said Tuesday. “When they come to us, we can’t say no unless they’re not meeting the zoning requirements. They did everything right; they met the requirements.”

Meanwhile, Sue Bernard, communications director for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, said Tuesday that the Diocese has not received Giguere and Ocando’s petition, but Diocese officials will discuss internally the issues raised Monday by those who oppose the church’s demolition.

The church has gone through a lot to get to this point, having held meetings with parishioners over five years to discuss the church’s future, Bernard said. Ninety percent of about 175 active parishioners attended a meeting where 90 percent voted to build needed senior housing on the site, Bernard said.

She said the meetings were widely published in parish bulletins.

The parish tried for four years to sell the church and spends between $40,000 and $50,000 to maintain the building, according to church officials. The parish plans to raze the church, sell the property to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland’s Bureau of Housing and get funding for the project through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. St. Francis Apartments Inc. would become a separate corporation run by the local parish.

The housing is open to everyone — not just those who are Catholic — because it is federally funded.

Ben Walter of CWS Architects, of Portland, said at Monday’s meeting that officials looked at preserving and re-purposing the church for housing, but the structure is too narrow to make that work. The windows are tall and narrow and more windows would have to be installed between them, which would change the building’s facade and historic nature, Walter said. Another floor would also have to be built in the church, he said.

“Unfortunately in this situation, we could only get 10 units per floor,” he said.

A new wing would have to be constructed to increase the number of units, he said. The building would require insulation, an elevator and roof replacement, and the facility would be very costly to heat, according to Walter.

He said that the stained glass windows, some pews, doors, ornate interior trim and statue of St. Francis de Sales would be incorporated into the new building. The lower base of the steeple would be turned into a gazebo.

Some people at Monday’s meeting voiced concern that the project would increase traffic in the area of Elm and Winter streets, as well as Spring Street Extension.

Pat Carroll of Carroll Associates Landscape Architects said a traffic study concluded the project would not generate a significant amount of traffic during the busiest times of the day. He said 15 trips were expected during one peak hour.

But Robert Doyon said he drives in that area routinely and entering Elm Street from the area where the housing would be built is difficult.

“I don’t know what kind of traffic study they did, but I’ll tell you, it’s terrible right now,” he said.

City Planner Ann Beverage said Tuesday that planners took their 9:30 p.m. vote on the church plan after about 2 1/2 hours of discussion.

Amy Calder — 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com