Public Hearing on Cremations at Miller Funeral Home at Fridley City Council

Miller Funeral Home has asked the Fridley City Council to add a crematory as an accessory use in C-3 General Shopping zoning districts.

The council will hold a public hearing on the proposed text amendement to city's zoning code at its regular meeting on Monday, Dec. 3, 2012.

According to a staff report (see second PDF thumbnail):

The petitioner, Shannon Asmus, on behalf of the Miller Funeral Home, is seeking a text amendment to add language to the C‐ 3, General Shopping zoning district; that would allow a crematory as an accessory to the mortuary use at the subject property, which is located at 6210 Hwy 65.

The equipment to perform cremations is called a retort. The retort is proposed to be located in the detached accessory structure on the west side of the property. All activity associated with the cremation process will take place within the existing accessory structure. No portion of the process will be visible to a passive viewer.

The staff report includes this narrative from Miller Funeral Home:

Miller Funeral Home has been serving families in this area since 1929. Over the past 83 years, there have been many changes in funeral service. One such change has been the steady increase in demand by local families for cremation. Cremation is an optional method of preparation of a deceased body.

Currently, Miller Funeral Home staff must transport the deceased to an independent crematory, leave it with the crematory operator, and then return to pick up the cremated remains for transport back to the funeral home. This transferring of the deceased means that, for a time, the deceased is out of the funeral home staff’s immediate care. Miller Funeral Home wants to offer cremation as a direct service to our families.

The City of Fridley Planning Commission recommended approval of the zoning change unanimously, with no one from the public speaking at its Nov. 21, 2012 public hearing, according to the staff report. Other public notification and input: 

The petitioner went door to door to visit with the neighbors within 350 ft. of the subject property on November 3, 2012, with no negative comments from the people they were able to visit with. They also held an open house at Miller Funeral Home on November 10, 2012. No one attended that event.

City staff has received two letters in opposition, one from the property owners at 6264 Baker Avenue, who state in their letter that they feel that it is already difficult to sell homes on Baker Avenue and this will make it worse. The other letter is from the property owner at 6220 Baker Avenue. No reason was given for the opposition, just that she didn’t want the crematory.

The regular city council meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. Monday in the council's chambers at the Fridley Municipal Center (City Hall).

You can watch the council meeting live or on rebroadcasts on Cable Channel 17, or in archived streaming video online.

A pre-meeting is set for 7 p.m. in an adjacent conference room, with a special information meeting on two applicants regarding the vacancy on the Fridley Housing and Redevelopment Authority set for 6:30 p.m. All are open to the public. 

You can see an outline of the Dec. 3, 2012 Fridley City Council agenda at the City of Fridley website.