Portsmouth’s Planning Board unanimously adopted a new policy that caps the number of delays and continuances a developer can request at two.

The move appears tied to frustration with The Kane Company and the three months in a row the firm’s project team asked the board to postpone taking up its proposed three-building, 274-unit apartment complex near the city’s border with Newington.

If a development can’t get approval before it uses up its two continuances, the board will vote to deny the project without prejudice, the policy states, meaning it can be resubmitted at a later date.

Board Chairman Rick Chellman told the Portsmouth Herald the new rule “requires applicants to be ready when they request a slot on the agenda.”