The information came directly from a bank (not sure what the role of the banker was).I'm very skeptical, given the prominent use of "primary residence" all over the rules I've seen--though I can imagine some smaller banks that don't sell off their loans might be willing to allow it.Does anyone have any solid experience/evidence on one side or the other?

I would like to check in with Maryland real estate investors to see if anyone had success with local banks in the area.

However, since this is an investment property of mine would any bank still give me a HELOC?

The small local bank has been great working with us. 

Know what needs to be done, know the bank will not be fixing it, and base your best offer on that.

The problem with the banks is they require two years worth of income on my taxes and as I mentioned, my previous years taxes weren't as high as this years and they average the income from real estate investments.

Second the bank lender likely will require you have some of your cash in the deal.

Keep in mind the financial resources do not have to be yours, they just have to be money you have access to; not just banks but also friends family, hard money lenders etc. 

we bought a bank owned house that we want to fix up and live in.

You WILL need cash...either yours or others such as friends, family, banks, HML...but you WILL need some.