WINDHAM – Windham Councilor Peter Busque’s quarry at the corner of Nash Road and Route 302, originally approved in 2008 as a May-through-October enterprise, has received Windham Planning Board approval to operate year-round.

The seven-member board, which is the final arbiter in matters of mineral extraction in town, last week approved the year-round operation as well as several other items that Busque had requested. Also granted were removal of about 7,000 feet of perimeter fencing as well as the adoption of less stringent vibration standards.

Busque is content with the changes, saying he’s been granted nothing unusual or out of line with town ordinances or state statutes governing quarry operation.

However, the Windham Preservation Committee, made up of quarry neighbors, is frustrated by the Planning Board’s recent approvals and by what they feel are Busque’s efforts to chip away at the conditions that were originally put on the quarry by the Town Council in September 2008 after years of legal wrangling and even a voter referendum on the subject.

Speaking for the neighbors’ group last week, Margaret Pinchbeck said, “Slowly, one by one, they are taking off all the conditions placed by the Town Council when they approved the quarry.”

Busque responded saying the original conditions were “politically motivated” and that every request he is now making to the Planning Board falls in line with Windham’s ordinances and state statues.

While Busque has already received three approvals regarding fencing, vibrations standards and months of operation, there are several other requests that the Planning Board has yet to address, namely the entrance to the quarry, excavating below the water table, and expansion of the quarry’s overall footprint. A Planning Board meeting on Monday, Oct. 26 could provide final approval to these remaining requests.

Long history

Much to the chagrin of some of the neighbors, Busque is seeking to maximize his multi-million-dollar investment as the owner of Busque Construction Co. Inc., one of the area’s largest rock extraction companies. The Lakes Region, he says, is prime ground for sand and gravel, and as a result many companies such as R.J. Grondin, Shaw Brothers and C.R. Tandberg have all flourished in the local rock extraction business. In addition to the Nash Road quarry, Busque owns a pit off Route 35 in Standish.

Busque, however, has had a tough time with the Nash Road operation, which he purchased five years ago and has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees trying to open. He said Town Council restrictions placed on his quarry were politically motivated since he had made enemies with several former councilors, and that all he is trying to do now is revert to Windham ordinances or state laws which will allow him to extract more rock more efficiently. And the biggest restriction, the May-through October operation schedule approved by the council in 2008, was the biggest barrier, he said.

“I originally had it opening May 1, but the construction season starts in April. I’d be the only pit not operating. Nobody has a time restriction. I’d be the only one,” Busque said, adding that he won’t operate from mid-December to February anyway due to snow cover and cold weather.

Planning Board Chairman David Nadeau echoed Busque’s promise that the quarry won’t operate in the dead of winter.

“The quarry won’t be open when snow is on the ground because there’s no need for the product,” Nadeau said.

While a definite coup for Busque, the change to year-round operation is a devastating blow to the neighbors, who already feel betrayed by town leaders who OK’d a massive quarry in their backyard.

“They said this (quarry) was an allowed use in a farm zone, but to me it’s always seemed more of an industrial enterprise,” Pinchbeck said. “So, from the beginning we had problems. But, you know, when the council finally approved it in 2008, we all thought, well, if we hadn’t have fought it, it would have been a year-round operation. … That was our only little consolation. Now, that’s gone too.”

Pinchbeck is also concerned about the new vibration standard, set by the council this summer and incorporated last week by the Planning Board to apply to Busque quarry.

The quarry was originally approved with the stipulation that vibrations from blasts could only reach 2.0 inches of travel at the property line. While this is a technical measurement, based on an average of wavelengths as sound travels through the ground, the council incorporated a new, less stringent vibration standard of 2.0 inches at the nearest structure.

The bottom line, Pinchbeck said, is that with the change, vibrations reaching quarry-abutting structures will be greater than before.

Busque, however, defends the new standard, saying the council ruling, from which he recused himself, is in line with state Department of Environmental Protection vibration requirements.

“The council changed it a couple months ago to update it in line with the state standards. That’s all that was,” Busque said.

Pinchbeck, however, said she has a neighbor whose basement wall has cracked as the result of one of Busque’s blasts and she’s worried easing off on the blasting standard will result in further noise and destruction.

Next steps

While receiving approval on several items so far, Busque has several more items he’d like to see changed, namely tree cutting at the entrance to his quarry, drilling below the water table and expanding the overall size of the quarry.

While vibrations and the year-round operation are of great concern to neighbors, so are these further proposed changes that the Planning Board could approve next.

At its Monday, Oct. 25 meeting, the Planning Board will likely resume debate on whether 35 feet of trees should be cut at the Nash Road entrance to the quarry. Busque says he has proposed to cut the trees to improve sight distance for cars attempting to enter Route 302.

Pinchbeck’s group would prefer Busque use the 2008 Town Council-approved entrance on Route 302, which Busque started to clear and which can be seen leading up to the hilltop quarry site across from Roosevelt Trail Nursery. Busque, however, has beautified the Nash Road entrance and would prefer to use that entrance rather than having to pay to reconfigure Route 302 to include a turning lane.

“(The Nash Road entrance) was deemed safe, the (2008) Planning Board had approved it, but the (2008) Town Council denied it. A judge sided with the Planning Board and said it meets all the standards,” Busque said.

Pinchbeck, however, would like to see a turning lane, arguing that safety is being compromised since Busque’s trucks are slow to get up to travel speed when entering Route 302. Now, she says his trucks must accelerate in the breakdown lane while cars pass dangerously close by.

Concerning expansion of the quarry, Busque is trying to increase the total operation from 53 acres to 73 acres of actual quarry, although Nadeau said that Busque wouldn’t be able to “have more than 10 acres open at a time.”

“He hasn’t really even started quarry yet and he’s already wanting to expand? What’s that all about?” asked Pinchbeck. She said the net effect on abutters would mean more noise, dust and vibration since only 100 feet will now separate neighbors and a 4- to 6-foot berm that will surround the perimeter of the quarry.

Busque, however, said the larger footprint meets all Windham ordinances, which only require him to have 100-foot setbacks from neighbors’ lot lines.

“I’ve met the ordinance,” Busque said.

Busque’s last request regards excavating below the perched water table. According to Chairman Nadeau, the Planning Board, however, will have to wait to hear from the Department of Environmental Protection, which has yet to weigh in on Busque’s request to dig up to 180 feet below the perched water table. (The perched water table is the level at which trapped, standing water is found, not the groundwater table, which is the level at which drinking water is found.)

Pinchbeck is also averse to this request saying the material being excavated has the potential to harm underground water.

“There are environmental issues, especially with Colley Wright Brook which eventually drains into the Presumpscot. Blasting below the water table could have a dramatic effect,” she said.