The business “Heavenly Heart Pet Cremation” wants to build a facility at lots 3523-3525 on Route 9W. It would reportedly serve pet owners and vets, but it’s got Lloyd residents fired up, because the location is less than 200 feet from Highland Primary School.
Meghan Quinn has a first grader there. For the past few months, she and other parents have been protesting the crematorium at Planning Board meetings, Zoning Board meetings, and now, the Town Board.
“The fact that not a single person on these boards ever stopped to say, ‘This is a problem,’ until a group of moms and a retired lawyer decided, ‘Wait a minute, that doesn’t seem right,’ that’s insane," she tells WAMC. "I cannot believe that they wouldn’t think of the fact that they’re putting it next to an elementary school. I feel like we just have to watch them all the time.”
Justin Bogdanffy, who owns Heavenly Heart, told the Planning Board in February that the crematorium would operate as a small business, with no other locations so far, and that it would comply with state environmental regulations. Still, opponents say a crematorium would emit toxic “fine particulate matter,” or PM2.5, into the air. PM2.5 can enter the bloodstream and create or worsen health issues. While the EPA has caps on air pollution, groups like the National Resources Defense Council warn there is no truly “safe” level of exposure to PM2.5.
The issue is tangled up at Lloyd’s Zoning Board of Appeals. Currently, Lloyd’s zoning code does not mention crematoriums other than to say local funeral homes can’t operate them. When Bogdanffy submitted his application, the town’s building, planning and zoning director determined Heavenly Heart could be a “service business,” which would allow it to operate near the school. Opponents have challenged that idea at the Zoning Board of Appeals, which has yet to make a final determination on how the site can be used.
The Town Board has stepped in, and on Wednesday it heard public comments on a trio of resolutions that would set a zoning designation for crematoriums — not by the school, but in the town’s “light industrial” districts. Republican Town Supervisor Dave Plavchak says he doesn’t want to see a crematorium by Highland Primary, and setting a designation elsewhere would supersede the debate at the ZBA.
“The risk if we don’t do this, is it can go through the ZBA, and the ZBA can determine that the determination was correct. And then it moves forward to the Planning Board," he warns.
But opponents say this would open up Lloyd to the broader crematorium industry, both for pets and humans. They say cremating humans is potentially more polluting than cremating pets, as you’re dealing with bodies that may have gone through radiation or chemotherapy treatment, and that may have dental fillings or implants.
Multiple residents said Wednesday the “light industrial zone” is still too close to Lloyd’s neighborhoods and nature trails. They urged the Town Board to reject it all — the resolutions and the pet crematorium — outright.
“Have you ever had an issue in front of you — ever, in your history, that is unanimous public support on one side? In this day and age, we've found an issue where everyone in town agrees!" announced one resident, drawing laughs from the crowd. "And it seems like that might not be enough.”
“The other side may not have come in. We may not have heard from them yet," said Plavchak. "I don't think it's unanimous. There’s 11,000 people in the Town of Lloyd.”
Realtor Ashley Minard told the Board a lot of her clients are moving to Highland to escape air pollution near New York City. Melissa Leonard says she recently made that move from Long Island.
“I moved up here for clean air and clean water," she adds. "If I wanted to breathe in toxins I would have just stayed on Long Island.”
After over an hour of back-and-forth with residents, the Town Board unanimously voted to table the resolutions.
Speaking after the meeting, Republican Councilmember Lenny Auchmoody says the Board appreciated the feedback, adding it’s all part of the legislative process.
“Dave’s feeling in the beginning was, the Zoning Board and the Planning Board are all volunteers. [You don’t] want the townspeople out in front of their houses with pitchforks and fire bottles. So he said, ‘Let’s do something else and take them out of it.’ So that’s kind of where we’re at at the moment," Auchmoody explains. "And we have to listen to what everybody has to say, and hopefully make a determination next month or whenever.”
Plavchak acknowledges the town could end up in litigation over Heavenly Heart no matter what, either with Bogdanffy or with opponents to the crematorium. Quinn says the crematorium should have never been allowed to get this far.
“They made a mistake. They should admit their mistake. They have insurance to cover them if they get sued," she says. "But we’re gonna pay the price by having human and pet crematoriums in our town, just because someone made a mistake and they won’t admit it.”
