12/28/08

Possible Ohio City Crematory

Ohio City's Bodnar Funeral Home applied for a zoning variance on December 22nd to build a crematory at 3929 Lorain Avenue. Ward 14 Councilman Joe Santiago is in support of the building addition and expansion of the funeral home’s on-site services. An Ohio City resident told me representatives spoke with only one block club prior to the zoning appeal which occurred three days before Christmas.

I live 9 blocks east and 2 blocks south of this facility, but that's not close enough that I had to legally be notified about the zoning appeal. The crematory would be located within feet of homes and within blocks of many schools: St. Ignatius, Urban Community School, Orchard Elementary and Paul L. Dunbar Elementary.

In addition to homes and schools, the Gather ‘Round Farm is right next door. According to several reports, crematoria release toxic chemicals into the neighborhoods in which they are located and several health professionals oppose locating them in residential areas. I can’t imagine they would recommend growing vegetables and eating eggs from within feet of those toxic emissions. See below for links to reports.

According to the Board of Zoning Appeal’s applicant guide, the board will take into account “whether the essential character of the neighborhood would be substantially altered or adjoining properties would suffer a substantial detriment as a result of the variance”. I think a crematory operating on a main street in one of Cleveland’s few thriving neighborhoods, could be detrimental to the essential character of the neighborhood.

I am not sure if the appeal was approved, but if it was, I believe the community has 30 days to protest an approved zoning variance. I will check into this and post an update.

According to the All Ohio Cremation and Burial Society which curiously shares the same Lorain Avenue address as the Bodnar Funeral Home:

. . . we do not currently own the crematory facility, we are in the process of planning and obtaining the necessary permits and authorizations for a bran new state of the art facility.


So, it seems as if they are sure enough of zoning approval that they have already started advertising their crematory.

As far as I can tell, most urban funeral homes outsource their cremations. Cremation Service Inc. is a crematory that operates in the Flats at 1612 Leonard Street in a mostly industrial area. Does anyone in the blogosphere know if this facility produces any odors?

Crematory Links
Dr. Perry Kendall, B.C.'s chief medical health officer, says the provincial government should consider regulating emissions from crematoriums because of possible health risks.
Vancouver Sun
Crematoria may put babies at risk

Mercury Emissions from Crematoria

By coincidence, a positive application of crematoria emissions found its way into my news aggregator.

4 comments:

Joan said...

The company that I work for owns two buildings directly across the street from the funeral home. We received no notifications. In a panic this morning, we dug up as much information as we could.

We called OCNW, and were told that the decision was delayed until the January 26th meeting. During this period Bodner's is supposed to host a community meeting.

Lustfelt 4 My Rustbelt said...

I'll keep an eye out for a meeting and post information here if I find out any details.

Christine Borne said...

Jenita,
Are you on the Ohio City yahoo listserv? If not, you should consider subscribing. Although it can sometimes devolve into shouting matches, it's a really good source of insider information.

Here's an email from Patrick Mahoney (the funeral director there) from the list (last week, I think):

Dear Neighbors,

The posts regarding the BOZA meeting yesterday are true. Block club
members did ask for the variance meeting to be rescheduled so that
they could gather more information regarding environmental impacts on
the neighborhood. While this is a disappointment and setback to our
renovation and expansion plans moving forward, I understand the
concerns and due to all of the misinformation posted I willingly comply.

I will host a community forum at the Bodnar-Mahoney Funeral Home &
Cremation Service facility located at 3929 Lorain Ave. after the 1st
of the year. The date will be announced on this thread so please read
the messages posted by me.

I also would like to ask that any of you with questions please call or
email me directly at urnseller AT gmail. com in order to avoid the
incorrect and downright nasty threads that have occurred regarding
this project.

Please also submit questions directly to me that you would like
answered during this meeting. It seems that when unsubstantiated
claims are made, nobody knows what the truth is.

The facts are clear and can be explained in plain English to those
that would like the honest answers. A HUMAN CREMATORY WILL NOT
POLLUTE THIS NEIGHBORHOOD OR HARM ANY OF ITS RESIDENTS.

I thank all of you that have shown your support in this thread, by
sending letters to BOZA or contacting me directly. You are to be
applauded for taking the right steps and I respectfully ask for your
continued support.

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays
Patrick E. Mahoney
Licensed Funeral Director

Christine Borne said...

Oh, ps, here is the link to the yahoo group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ohiocity/