The Windham Town Council voted 6 to 1 on Tuesday against a six-month moratorium on quarry permits, which would have delayed an application quarry developer Peter Busque submitted last month.

Community Development Director Roger Timmons said the last moratorium was passed in the 1980s.

State law allows a moratorium, which would keep new applications from being filed for 180 days and would expire if not renewed every 60 days, in the case of an emergency to public health.

“This is definitely not an emergency,” Councilor David Tobin said.

The issue is mired by an appeal Busque filed concerning the council’s denials of a previous quarry application. Tobin said if the lawsuit passes or fails, neither outcome shows that the town allowed a dangerous quarry that would hurt public health.

Town attorney Ken Cole said the emergency proceedings for the moratorium would allow it to be passed considerably faster than normal and said the case for Busque’s lawsuit may be strengthened if the moratorium was passed in a month’s time from now and blocked his quarry that was filed in February.

Councilor Bob Muir, who made the lone vote for the moratorium, said it would allow the town to fix its poorly-written mineral extraction ordinance without new quarry applications being processed at the same time.

Planning Board member David Nadeau spoke critically of the moratorium at the meeting and said the mineral extraction ordinance is one of many ordinances that needs to be rewritten.

“You should be developing a blasting ordinance for the entire town. You’re missing the boat,” he said.

He said the moratorium was illogical and its justifications would

support a blanket moratorium on all applications, not just rock quarries.

Councilors Liz Wisecup and Michael Shaughnessy said they were both torn over the moratorium and could see both sides of the issue. They both ended up voting against the moratorium.

The moratorium wasn’t the only thing Wisecup decided was not an emergency. She revealed that she had received a 2 a.m. phone call from Busque on Friday morning about the moratorium issue. She said it was inconsiderate and rude of him to call so late for something that was not an emergency. She said if he calls her again between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m. she will charge him with phone harassment.