Walking over the site of his proposed quarry in Windham, Peter Busque is having a little more trouble than he’d like.

“I cut this four years ago, and it’s grown up,” he said, the thick, tall grass impeding the way to the top of a small hill.

Busque first proposal was approved by the Windham Planning Board in 2006 before being rejected by the Town Council the following year. His plan reaches another crossroads Aug. 12.

On that night, the council plans to conduct, time permitting, its final review of Busque’s application, hear testimony from Busque, his experts, and residents, then decide if the plan meets the criteria laid out by the town’s mineral extraction ordinance. The application, like the one before it, was approved by the Planning Board before it was handed to the council.

When Busque cleared the land in 2004, he hoped the quarry operation would be up and running by now. Instead, the project is in limbo, caught in a review process that started four years ago.

During the current review, the second go-round Busque has had with the council, questions have been raised about the logic of having both the Planning Board and the Town Council conduct hearings.

Busque, who scaled back the operation in the latest application, said he has done everything that has been asked of him, from integrating a noise mitigation plan to paying for studies on vibration, water quality and traffic impacts. The quarry would take up around 55 acres of the 160-acre property, and be mined in phases.

But the neighbors who have formed a group, the Windham Preservation Committee, to oppose the quarry continue to say Busque’s plan will intrude on their day-to-day lives, and may present a hazard to their health.

“The noise, the dust, the traffic. Basically, quality of life issues,” said Margaret Pinchbeck as she looks out her back porch, down a hill toward Route 302, on the other side of which sits the western boundary of Busque’s land.

As the hearings have worn on, taking an hour or more of most every council meeting since late April, both councilors and Busque have grown weary of the process.

Councilors Blaine Davis and Kaile Warren have said during hearings that the town has not been fair to Busque. On Tuesday night, Busque brought designs related to a proposal to alter the entryway to the quarry, he was told that the plans would first have to go to the Planning Board, a 6-8 week process. Busque said he was led to believe at a prior meeting that the plans could go directly to the Council.

Whatever the case, Davis said, the confusion was emblematic of the process.

“It just seems like it’s one thing after another with these hearings,” Davis said.

Pinchbeck said the protracted hearings have been tiring and at times frustrating. But it is worth it for the town to get it right.

“The council is definitely doing a more thorough job than the Planning Board,” she said.

Planning Board member David Nadeau said he and his fellow board members took great pains to be fair during reviews of both of Busque’s application. The Planning Board is bound by the ordinances, and its only job is to dispassionately and without prejudice judge the application against the ordinances and state statute.

“In Mr. Busque’s case, everything met or exceeded the ordinance,” said Nadeau.

In deciding whether the application met stipulations regarding such things as traffic, noise and vibration, Nadeau said the Planning Board followed the guidance of third party experts hired for to give their expertise.

“As a judge, when my expert tells me that it meets the ordinance, who am I to say that person who specializes in that that it doesn’t,” he said.

Busque, who originally bought the land for $1.75 million, appealed the first Town Council decision to the Cumberland County Superior Court, which upheld the council’s right to review.

Council Chairwoman Carol Waig said she could not comment specifically on the Busque application. But she did say the ordinance that mandates review by both the Planning Board and the Town Council needs to be changed. The Planning Board has the experience, knowledge and duty to review an application and decide if it fits the ordinance, she said.

“The Town Council needs to be taken out of the process, and it needs to end with the Planning Board,” said Waig.

While walking his property last week, Busque said he also felt the review process had taken too long. He is frustrated that he has to make his case to two separate entities, and that the criteria does not always seem to stay constant.

“It’s a guessing game for me,” Busque said.

Peter Busque says the terrain of his proposed Windham quarry has grown back as he waits for a decision by the Windham Town Council on his plan. The council is scheduled to meet Aug. 12 to decide whether to approve his second proposal.