PORTSMOUTH — Helen Mathieu, who led the Portsmouth Redevelopment Agency for two years through the development of a controversial redevelopment plan, has failed to win reappointment to the panel from the Town Council.

Instead, the council’s four-member Democratic majority voted this week to appoint Guy Bottari, a Raytheon program manager, to replace Mathieu.

Bottari and Mathieu were the only applicants.

Two of the four council members who voted for Bottari said that differences of opinion between Mathieu and the council on the shape of the plan had nothing to do with their choosing Bottari.

Republicans Peter McIntyre and Hubert E. “Huck” Little, as well as Independent Karen Gleason, voted against the appointment.

Leonard B. Katzman said yesterday, “Helen provided very good leadership and vision for two years to bring this organization to the point where the draft plan was created.”

But the redevelopment agency will need a “different set of skills” as it moves forward, Katzman said.

The plan, which was released in draft form last October, has yet to be approved by the Town Council.

Town Council members say they hope the plan that is ultimately approved will position the town, through the redevelopment agency, to solicit and evaluate proposals from private developers for the revitalization of four tank farms where Navy destroyers once refueled.

Bottari is a Raytheon program manager who works with the Navy and is familiar with requests for proposals and their analysis, contract management and financial analysis, according to his application to serve on the redevelopment agency.

“We need more expertise in that area,” said the council’s vice president, James A. Seveney, who also voted for Bottari. Town Council president Dennis M. Canario and council member William West joined Seveney and Katzman. All are Democrats.

Like Bottari, Seveney works at Raytheon and says he counts Bottari as a friend. But he said friendship had nothing to do with Bottari’s appointment.

Seveney did say that Bottari expressed interest in serving the town and that he suggested Bottari apply to the redevelopment agency.

Bottari said yesterday, “Hopefully, I can help.”

He said he has been thinking for a long time about getting involved in town affairs.

The redevelopment agency has released a 15-page draft plan that has received preliminary endorsement from the Planning Board.

But since the plan was first aired in October, differences have emerged between Mathieu, on the one hand, and council members and the town’s planner on the other.

Mathieu has said the plan should remain brief and retain the flexibility it needs to address a variety of proposals that may be forthcoming from developers in the future.

But others, including Town Planner Robert Gilstein, said the plan does not have enough specificity to meet the legal requirements for a redevelopment plan.

Nor does the plan invite affordable housing, which the council has indicated it wants. Mathieu, however, has said the plan does not preclude affordable housing.

Eighty percent of construction in town goes for residential development, which costs more in municipal services than it generates in tax revenue, she has said.

Mathieu, a former state senator, said the tank farms afford an opportunity for nonresidential development that will result in a net gain in revenue.

Mathieu this month stepped aside while members of the redevelopment agency elected Frederick W. Faerber 3rd as chairman.

Faerber, in an interview, said his selection did not signal a departure from Mathieu’s view of the plan.

But a few days after the interview, Faerber met informally with Gilstein and assistant planner Gary Crosby and accepted their offer to expand on the plan, Gilstein confirmed yesterday.

“Nothing is official,” Gilstein said. Any formal changes to the plan would still have to be approved by the five-member redevelopment agency as a whole, he said.

gmacris@projo.com