There’s unrest in the town of Windham among neighbors along Nash Road and the rock, sand and gravel industry.
A proposed long-term quarry operation on the corner of Nash Road and Route 302 has split wide the debate over development in Windham and the battle between developer and homeowner rights.
Nash Road neighbors worry about health concerns, constant noise from blasting at the potential quarry site and its proximity to nearby homes and schools. They argue their right as homeowners to live in peace is at risk if the town allows a quarry in the farm zone where they live.
These same neighbors are now petitioning for a stricter ordinance to guard against the effects of quarries and gravel pits in Windham. But local gravel pit and quarry owners believe the ordinance, written by a lawyer representing the neighbors, is too restrictive and that the neighbors’ fight to hold the quarry proposal at bay now encroaches on their rights as business owners.
And it seems party lines are now being drawn across town.
This week, the Sebago Lake Chamber of Commerce issued a letter to Town Manager Anthony Plante voicing their support of Peter Busque, real estate developer and gravel pit owner who is behind the proposed quarry.
Chamber Director Barbara Clark is disappointed that the town’s planning board has held up Busque’s quarry even though he’s followed town rules and regulations.
“If a business follows the letter of the law and the town board holds up a project, that is detrimental to economic development in Windham,” Clark said.
She said that, if the neighbors were to succeed with getting this ordinance enacted, it would set a “dangerous precedent” that could harm the business climate in Windham.
After the group of neighbors voiced their concerns, the Windham Planning Board requested a “peer review” of all traffic, noise, air quality and water studies submitted by Busque to the board. Three out of the four peer reviews have been completed thus far.
Peter Busque continues to pay for these studies in hopes to appease the neighbors and the board.
A busy man with many projects going on at once, Busque said he hasn’t slept much thinking that he could lose a $1.8 million investment if the neighbors succeed in stopping the quarry proposal.
“I’ve done everything by the law,” he said. “It’s my right, it’s my land and I paid for it.”
The quarry would encompass about 75 acres on Nash Road, just beyond the corner of Route 302. In the first phase of this 30-year quarry operation, Busque plans to blast into a hill of ledge to produce rock for stone foundations and concrete.
The blasting would take place 30 to 90 times a year, he said, averaging once a week. To prevent noise from escaping his operation, he has plans to dig into the hill and leave an earth barrier on either side to absorb the sound. The rock crushers on site would also be surrounded by quarried material to deaden the noise.
But among the neighbors, there is still resentment for the lack of foreknowledge about the quarry plan. Busque’s engineering firm, Sebago Technics, claims it sent out notification to all abutters via certified mail, but many neighbors said they have received no such notification.
Many neighbors only found out about the quarry the week before its final approval at the Windham Planning Board. Word spread and Margaret Pinchbeck, head of the group now called the Windham Preservation Committee, organized the first meeting of the concerned neighbors.
“Our goal isn’t to shut anyone down,” Pinchbeck said. “Our goal is that the residents and the environment have a little more protection from development.”
Now, after speaking their concerns at many public meetings, the neighbors are gathering signatures to force the town to adopt a new mineral extraction ordinance that would restrict all new gravel pits, quarries and loam operations to protect the rights of nearby neighbors.
The ordinance includes a 1,000-foot buffer from a quarry or gravel pit to any nearby home and a mandatory reapplication after five years. Pinchbeck said, with the restriction in place, there’s nothing to stop a pit owner and a homeowner from agreeing upon a shorter buffer.
890 petition signatures have been verified so far, which leaves about 300 left to gather before the petition is complete.
Once submitted to the town, the Windham Town Council then has the option to adopt the ordinance or send it out to public vote.
Code Enforcement Officer and planning director Roger Timmons has many concerns and questions about the ordinance however, especially when it comes to existing gravel pits or quarries.
The worry is that gravel pit or quarry owners will have to re-apply through the planning board if they want to expand their business.
“It isn’t clear on how the ordinance affects existing pits,” Timmons said. “The people who have gravel pits in town are nervous.”
Timmons updated the ordinance himself back in 1995 when the town of Windham added language to make it mandatory for pit owners to reshape and seed the land once a pit has run its course.
Tim Tandberg, who runs Tandberg Construction with his mother Sue, believes the new ordinance would affect every pit and quarry in town if enacted.
He is also perturbed that neither the neighbors nor their lawyer, Scott Anderson of Verrill Dana in Portland, consulted local businesses that rely on mineral extraction for their livelihood.
“You can’t just grab things and make an ordinance without knowing the history and the people affected by it,” Tandberg said. “You have to give common courtesy to everyone involved.”
Anderson however contends that the ordinance will only have an effect on existing quarries and pits if they expand more than five acres.
“This is not going to ban anybody from operating these pits,” Anderson said. “It just makes it more compatible with protecting the rights of the abutters.”
From Busque’s point of view, the ordinance would put a stop to his quarry and make the venture worthless because of the restrictions. He also believes the homeowners are infringing upon his rights as a developer and that it is unfair to change the rules after he’s followed the process thus far.
“If you buy a piece a land and follow all the rules, you should be able to do what you can do with it,” Busque said.
Conversely, Carl Russell, owner of Avant Garde Pet Care on Route 302 and the closest abutter to the quarry site, doesn’t understand why Busque should be allowed to build a quarry that could force his kennel out of business if consistent blasting were to disturb the animals in his care.
There is a broader issue here, he said, and that is why the neighbors are pursuing the ordinance change.
“This becoming less and less about the quarry and more and more about development in Windham that goes unchecked,” Russell said.
A group of neighbors opposed to a proposed rock quarry on the corner of Nash Road stand outside Margaret Pinchbeckpits in town.Send questions/comments to the editors.
