Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Crematory meeting likely to be a big draw

The city expects a large crowd because many of the cemetery's neighbors oppose the proposal.

By LORRI HELFAND
Published September 5, 2006

LARGO - A controversial plan to build a crematory at Serenity Gardens Memorial Park will come before the city's planning board Thursday.

The board will then forward its recommendation to the City Commission, which is scheduled to make a decision on the plan Oct. 3.

The site plan calls for a 13,177-square-foot, one-story crematory. City staffers have said that the plan complies with development rules.

City officials are bracing for a packed hall. Previous neighborhood compatibility meetings have drawn at least 150 people.

Many residents who live near the cemetery oppose the proposed facility, which has three furnaces and would be about 120 feet from the nearest homes.

They worry about how the crematory would affect traffic and their health.

The site, on the north side of Wilcox Road, is classified as institutional and allows a cemetery with crematories.

"The rules are wrong, and now it's time to change the rules," resident Stanley Gams said. "It's an industrial in the middle of a residential area."

But Moss Feaster Serenity Gardens general manager Richard Chesler said the cemetery would abide by state and county guidelines, which limit crematory emissions.

The city initially said the decision about the crematory was up to city staffers. But City Manager Steve Stanton recommended that the plan come before the City Commission because city code allows for a public hearing in cases in which a staff review alone wouldn't protect the public interest.

Meanwhile, the city has asked the Florida Commission on Ethics whether it would be a conflict of interest for Vice Mayor Harriet Crozier, who retired as Serenity Gardens office manager Saturday, to vote on the plan.

Crozier has 401(k) benefits, which she plans to roll over into a retirement account within a few weeks of her retirement, but the conversion may not occur until after the commission meeting.

In an informal analysis, Virlindia Doss, senior attorney for the ethics commission, said she did not have sufficient facts to give a definitive answer.

It appeared, Doss wrote in an Aug. 28 response, that any benefit to Crozier seemed "remote and speculative" because she was no longer an employee and would not stand to gain unless the vote affected the value of her stock.

Crozier said she feels uneasy and hasn't decided whether she will vote.

"I want to do the right thing," Crozier said.

IF YOU GO

A planning board meeting to discuss a proposed crematory at Serenity Gardens Memorial Park will be at 6 p.m. Thursday at Largo City Hall, 201 Highland Ave.

[Last modified September 4, 2006, 21:46:02]