Largo : Hearings set for proposed crematorium

Hearings set for proposed crematorium
By DAVE SHELTON

LARGO – The city planning board will meet Sept. 7 to consider whether a crematorium should be built in the Serenity Gardens Memorial Park on Wilcox Road.

When the park’s owners notified the city of its proposal last year, hundreds signed petitions asking the city to reject the plan. They contend emissions and traffic will endanger their health and reduce area property values.

With consultant’s reports in hand that indicate the proposal meets all federal, state and local codes, the city’s Community Development Director Mike Staffopoulos has approved the plans submitted by Moss-Feaster Funeral Homes. But, noting the opposition, he has turned the issue over to the city planners with final consideration expected by the city commission at its Sept. 19 meeting.

The proposal was first submitted to the city more than 14 months ago. Moss-Feaster has planned to raise a building on vacant land adjacent to its cemetery and mausoleum. A new building containing three crematorium ovens for reducing bodies to ashes was planned, with a new parking lot and driveway opening on Wilcox Road.

Opposition was immediate and loud. Opponents marched on Indian Rocks Road with placards and circulated petitions. A legal fund was established to take the issue to court if needed.

Since a crematorium has been established as permissible within a cemetery, city approval would lie solely with Staffopoulos. If he approved the plans, which he has, the opponents could appeal to the city planning board and commission.

Staffopoulos, noting the public outcry, automatically referred his decision to the planning board.

Residents claim that, while federal tests have shown no hazardous materials are emitted by crematoriums, there are no reports on the long-term affects of the known emissions of elements such as mercury from tooth fillings.

The residents have also complained that the crematorium would have to be used to capacity to be financially successful and that this would increase the levels of emissions and traffic on the residential Wilcox Road.

All of this, they contend, would reduce their property values according to area real estate experts.