Following the defeat of his quarry proposal before the town council last month, businessman Peter Busque announced this week that he is considering building a housing subdivision on the spot where the quarry would have gone.

Having already purchased the land at the intersection of Route 302 and Nash Road, Busque is left with an empty lot and a big hole in his pocket.

“I still have to pay back the bank,” he said Tuesday.

With the amount of money spent on lawyers and engineers and the state of the current housing market, Busque said he does not expect to make a profit with the subdivision, but will minimize his financial loss.

The rejection of the quarry application combined with the amount of time he devoted to the process instead of his business caused him to lay off eight of his 12 employees last month, according to Busque.

Busque said he has submitted a “concept plan,” which is not an application, to the town and the Windham Preservation Committee to see if there’s opposition to the plan.

The Windham Preservation Committee is a group of neighboring Windham residents who rallied against his quarry application.

Busque said he hopes to get the new idea “blessed” by the Windham Preservation Committee, who he referred to as “an extremely powerful group.”

Nash road resident Margaret Pinchbeck, who is a member of the Windham Preservation Committee, said she would rather see the land left undeveloped, but if the subdivision meets the town ordinance requirements it would have to be approved.

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