As Pike Industries heads into what could be the final meeting before the Zoning Board decides what its property rights are, the company has ramped up its public relations effort yet again with bus tours of its operations in both Westbrook and Poland.

Nearly 90 people signed up for the three bus tours this week, and according to Dennis Bailey, who handles the company’s public relations, the question most frequently asked by those on the tour was: “Why are people against you?”

“We don’t have a good answer,” he said.

The tours began at Pike’s maintenance facility, across the road from its Spring Street quarry – the site that’s been under question since Idexx Laboratories and other neighboring businesses came forward to oppose Pike’s plan to add rock-crushing, asphalt and concrete plants to the property.

A Zoning Board meeting May 6 should be the final in a series of hearings regarding Pike’s property rights. Both Pike and Westbrook Works, the group of businesses and residents opposed to Pike’s expansion, appealed a decision by Code Enforcement Rick Gouzie, who determined that Pike could continue operating on Spring Street, but could not expand.

At the same time, Pike has filed a lawsuit against the city for its attempt to rezone the land surrounding the Spring Street quarry from industrial to light manufacturing – a move supported by Idexx, which claimed that the city sold the company on a high-tech vision for the area’s future when it decided to locate there.

That vision, Bailey said, is the only way Pike has been able to explain to people on the tours why its expansion plan has garnered so much opposition.

Jon Koris. environmental manager for Pike, led the first tour Friday, with help from Ron Usher, chairman of Citizens for Balanced Growth in Westbrook, a group that formed in support of Pike.

As the bus made its way through the Five Star industrial Park, home to many of the businesses in Westbrook Works, Usher pointed out how several companies in the park don’t fit the city’s high-tech vision, like Calpine, one of New England’s leading producers of power.

“I would categorize that as heavy industry,” Koris said.

The bus drove through the Spring Street quarry and Usher pointed to the direction of the other businesses.

“Notice to your right, you can’t see any of the industrial park,” he said, “and they can’t see us either.”

From Westbrook, the tour headed to Poland for a look at Pike’s quarry and asphalt plant there, in an attempt to quell fears of the impact a similar operation would have on Westbrook.

Koris prefaced the second half of the tour with a plea for support from the passengers.

“We’re in a major battle,” Koris said, asking them to send letters to their city councilors, if they liked what they saw.

Usher encouraged passengers to attend the meeting Wednesday.

“If there’s a good showing of Pike supporters,” he said, “I think that’s very helpful.”

In Poland, the tour followed through the quarry and stopped at the rock crusher. Koris pointed to the piles of asphalt that the company recycles. He showed the berm that Pike built to block the view of the quarry from a nearby neighborhood.

“They all have my card. They all have my number,” Koris said about the homeowners. He said Pike makes calls to anyone who wants to be notified when blasts are going to occur, and he rarely gets complaints. He explained the technology involved in extracting rock.

“It’s not Fred Flintstone on the top of his dinosaur anymore,” he said.

The bus stopped at the asphalt plant, too, which was just firing up, as trucks got in line to be filled with the material.

Koris explained how the plant worked. The aggregate gets dumped into bins, heated to 300 degrees, transported up an elevator, mixed with black liquid, weighed twice, separated twice and put back together before dumping into the trucks.

“It’s a lot of high technology,” he said.

Over a complimentary box lunch before heading back to Westbrook, the tour passengers talked about why they came and what they thought of Pike’s operations.

Rob Fernald said he came on the tour because, as a Westbrook taxpayer, he’s concerned about the financial effect the whole city would feel if Pike can’t continue operating.

“I’m really nervous about the tax base,” said Fernald, who believes Pike has been a good community member.

“Every facet of their operations benefits local people,” he said. “You see Pike’s logo on the sport teams’ hats.”

Marion Anderson said she already supported Pike before coming on the tour, but she didn’t know the company had a quarry in Poland and was intrigued.

“I’m really impressed,” she said about the Poland operations. “I think they’re getting a raw deal.”

A member of Westbrook Works who took the tour Saturday said he, too, was impressed – mostly by the fairness of the company’s pitch.

“I thought it was a really well-handled, balanced tour,” said Tim Bachelder, who lives next to the Spring Street quarry.

Bachelder said he’s not about to start working for the other team. He still has concerns about the blasting, the truck traffic and the potential of driving other businesses away from the area, if Pike is able to expand. However, he said, after the tour, he better understands what the company does and is trying to do in Westbrook, which he hopes will help him minimize the impact on his home, should the expansion occur.

“I’m still trying to keep an open mind,” he said.

Marion Anderson takes a picture of a rock crusher at Pike IndustriesThis asphalt plant at Pike

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