Bishop's Falls council feeling heat over crematorium

"Not in my backyard"hastakenon a new meaning in Bishop's Falls, as residents fight a proposed expansionby a local funeral home.

Hoskins Funeral Homes wants to build acrematorium on to its existing building in the town. The funeral home is surrounded by residential homes, but the property itself is registered as commercial.

Last April the funeral home applied to the town for a building permit, which the town gave, without going to a public meeting.

When residents saw construction begin this August, some objected.

They're worried for themselves, they're worried for their children and they're worried for the town.- Clayton Forsey

Clayton Forsey, a former MHA and a member of thegroup of concerned residents, saidthe town should have consulted the public to see if there were objections to the crematorium.

"There's a lot of different toxins that come out of that, dioxins and mercury," said Forsey.

"It's a major concern for the people here.They're worried for themselves, they're worried for their children and they're worried for the town."

Some residents brought the issue to an appeals board at the Department ofMunicipal Affairs, which issueda stop-order on the crematorium. Rather than go through the appealprocess, the town decided to pull the funeral home's building permit.

Now there'll be a public forum where people can voice their concerns.The town says there's a lot of misinformation and this meeting should clear the air.

"Some of the information I've heardI don't think is realistic," said Bishop's Falls MayorBob Hobbs.

Crematoriums relatively safe, says association

The Cremation Association of North America has researched the possible emissions from cremations.

Mark Matthews, the group'senvironmental advisor, saidmercury from dental fillings is the biggest concern when it comes to crematoriums, but it wouldn't affect the neighbours.

"It volatizes, goes up in the atmosphere and goes down long distances," said Matthews. "But from a pure, environmental [perspective], is pollution going to be a problemthere just aren't enough cremations going on [in Bishop's Falls] for it to be an issue."

Matthews saidthe only reason a funeral director would be putting in a crematorium would be because people are asking for it.

"Most every funeral director would rather have a full,traditional burial than a cremation becausefrankly, there's more revenue tied to a full,traditional burialso this is driven by consumers."

Public meetingMonday

The town is holding a public forum on Monday to discuss the crematorium. After that, town council will vote again on the building permit.

However, HoskinsFuneral Homes has already done a lot workon the crematorium. The town doesn't know if it'll be liable to cover the costof the partial construction, if the funeral homeis told it can't continue.

"We'll wait to see exactly if that is whathappens," said Hobbs. "We haven't even looked that far ahead."

The CBC did request an interview withHoskinsFuneral Homes, but hasn't heard back.