Possible Crematory in Ohio City

This is a re-post from my blog [1]: Ohio City's Bodnar Funeral Home [2] applied for a zoning variance [3] 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 [4] 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 [5], 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 [6] 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 brand new state of the art facility.

So, it seems as if they are sure enough of zoning approval that they have already started advertising [7] 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 [8]

Crematoria may put babies at risk [9] [10]

Mercury Emissions from Crematoria [10]

By coincidence, a positive application [11] of crematoria emissions found its way into my news aggregator.

[10]