WINDHAM – News that Peter Busque has been selling rock out of his quarry on Nash Road came as a surprise Monday to Renee Carter, Windham’s code enforcement officer.

According to Carter, Busque isn’t allowed to sell rock mined at the quarry until he meets all 16 conditions of approval set on the quarry by the Planning Board. Doing so is a violation of rules put in place by the board and Town Council, she said.

Busque, who is also a Windham town councilor and was inspired to run out of frustrations with trying to open the quarry and bring jobs to town, is close to fulfilling the list of requirements – ranging from fencing the property to installing a detention pond to filter run-off. But until he has fulfilled all 16 requirements, no sales can take place.

“He’s allowed to use the product himself to build what he needs to on the site, but he can’t sell the rock,” Carter said. “I did not know he was doing that, so I will be talking to Mr. Busque. The town will be in touch.”

While Carter said she wasn’t aware Busque was selling product – something Busque admitted to in an interview with the Lakes Region Weekly last week – it’s not for lack of neighbors trying to tell her.

Margaret Pinchbeck – a neighbor of the quarry who sued Busque in hopes of stopping the quarry, which is in a rural residential neighborhood just south of the Windham rotary – told Carter months ago that Busque has been selling rock to customers who come to the quarry. But, Pinchbeck said, her protests have fell on deaf ears.

“I don’t know if it’s because Renee is so busy or what, she certainly doesn’t answer her phone messages,” Pinchbeck said. “But we were told there would be a construction phase and then he would be able to operate. He’s not supposed to be selling during the construction phase, which he’s still in.”

Pinchbeck added, “Whenever I tell Renee that Peter’s been selling stuff out of there, she doesn’t believe me. I wonder, where he’s on the Town Council, if people are afraid to cross him.”

Carter maintained in an interview Monday that she didn’t know Busque was selling directly out of the quarry and says it’s a violation. “He can’t operate the quarry until the road is in, the gate is up and the detention pond is built. It’s that simple,” she said.

Busque readily admits he’s selling rock, but says he thought he was allowed to do so. He said he is using most of the rock to build a huge detention pond, which will filter run-off before exiting the site.

“I’m grinding up stuff in my construction phase and I’m selling that, yes, just like any other excess,” Busque said.

Asked how his current operation, which includes blasting and selling rock, would differ from a fully operational quarry, Busque said, “Not much.”

According to Assistant Town Planner Ben Smith, Busque has fulfilled most of the 16 conditions of approval set by the Planning Board, but still has to pave a 350-foot driveway at the quarry entrance (namely to cut down on dust and pebbles getting into Route 302), erect a safety gate about 300 feet up the driveway and build the detention pond. Those three conditions were supposed to have been met by July 31. According to Smith, the last remaining requirement, which has a deadline of Oct. 15, includes reclaiming with grass and pine trees what was once going to be an entrance to the quarry off Route 302.

The July 31 and Oct. 15 deadlines are arbitrary, Windham officials said, since there are no penalties if Busque misses them. According to Planning Board Chairman David Nadeau, the only penalty is Busque’s continued inability to sell the rock he mines.

And according to Nadeau, Busque should be aware of the requirements since he came up with the list of requirements and proposed the deadlines as part of an amendment application for his existing quarry. The Planning Board signed off on the application in January allowing Busque to build a bigger and deeper quarry on the condition that he meet the new set of requirements. Nadeau said once the Planning Board signed off on the list of conditions, “It’s out of our hands. We have no way of shutting him down. If he’s operating illegally, it’s up to code enforcement to make sure what we requested is done.”

But with Busque admitting that he’s selling rock, Nadeau concludes, “If he’s operating without the conditions of approval being met, he’s out of compliance.”

Pinchbeck, who attends most public meetings having to do with the quarry, said the lack of enforcement on the town points to a larger precedent-setting problem.

“Peter had a deadline and he didn’t meet it,” Pinchbeck said. “I think that sets a precedent for the town that if you get a deadline from the Planning Board it doesn’t matter. For years the neighbors have been saying this was going to hinge on the town enforcing the rules the Planning Board and Town Council have placed on this quarry. The neighbors just want the town to enforce the rules, and apparently they’re not.”

When asked about Pinchbeck’s concerns, Carter said the town has been strapped since the longtime code enforcement director, Roger Timmons, retired last year. A new director, Heather McNally, who previously led the town of Poland’s code department, started Monday and should help to broaden the ability of the department to oversee the many code issues in town, Carter said.

“We just finally got our new director,” Carter said. “And I know I’ve been strung right out and sometimes I have to pick between life and death issues and what Peter Busque might be doing. But I promise we will look into this and get it figured out.”