Now the company, a division of the St. Clair Shores-based Great Lakes Mortuary Services LLC, has applied to locate its crematorium on 15 Mile west of Harper, an area zoned for heavy industry. The township board of supervisors last month unanimously approved an ordinance mandating that crematoriums be placed at least 300 feet from a residential area and prohibiting them from keeping corpses on site for more than five days.
Supervisor Bob Cannon says the Great Lakes crematorium would help boost the city's struggling industrial base. "We wanted to help the industrial area where we have vacancies," Cannon says. "It's a viable business. As long as they're a good business in our community and pay their taxes, we welcome them."
The crematorium was blocked in Fraser after residents protested its proposed location in an area zoned for light industry, near a residential area. After the city's building inspector approved the project, the city's zoning board of appeals, responding to residents' complaints, overturned the decision. The company sued the city, but last month the Macomb County Circuit Court ruled for Fraser.
"Had I been a resident in Fraser and it was going to be in my front yard, I wouldn't have wanted it," Cannon says. "And if I was on the Fraser board, I would have done exactly as they did."
Carlos Santia, the township's director of planning, says it is unclear whether the crematorium would kick up similar controversy here. The chief issue in Fraser, he says, was the proposed site's proximity to homes. "Our ordinance tries to address that" by prohibiting crematoriums from locating close to residential zones, he adds.
The township already has two crematoriums, each located at a cemetery, and the township has received no complaints about those, Cannon notes. No one has complained to the township about the Great Lakes proposal, he adds.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
