BY DAN HILDEBRAN
By a 3-2 vote, Union County Commissioners rejected a special exception to its zoning code that would have allowed J.R. Davis Acquisitions, LLC. to build a crematory on Little Springs Road in Worthington Springs.
Commissioners approved a rezoning for the nine-acre parcel in April and considered the special exception in July. However, Commissioner Melissa McNeal requested additional time to research the matter, and her colleagues delayed the vote until their August 4 meeting.
Mac Johns, Donna Jackson and McNeal voted to reject the special exception, while Chair Channing Dobbs and Willie Croft voted against Johns’s motion to turn the project away.
Dobbs was the most vocal supporter of the special exception. He told residents of the surrounding area, who opposed the project, that scientific data did not support their claims that the crematory raised health concerns.
“The health concerns that have been brought up numerous times,” Dobbs said, “unfortunately, I’m just concerned there aren’t enough legitimate sources saying that this is a concern. If this was as dangerous as they say it is, we adjoin Alachua County, which is one of the most liberal counties in the state. Why are not every one of (the crematories) over there outlawed?
Archer-Milton Funeral Home owner Garrett Milton spent his time arguing for the project, attempting to refute what he said were false claims made by crematory opponents during the July meeting.
Milton said claims that he would be required to post a sign by the facility were false, and that he has no contract with the Department of Corrections for cremating inmates, as project opponents claimed.
“It was said last week that I own a pet crematory, or my associates own a pet crematory,” he added. “That is false. There is a pet crematory that just opened in Starke, but we have nothing to do with it.”
Milton also denied the claim that he tried to get a crematory approved within the City of Lake Butler and was denied.
“I’ve never tried to get a crematory approved anywhere,” he said. “This is my first time ever. So, I don’t know where that came from.”
Milton also tried to refute the claim that his project would suppress property values in the area by citing an example of a Starke residence near that town’s crematory that recently sold for $199,500.
“The estimated value of a home in Starke goes for $135 a square foot,” he added. “That house…sold for $163 a square foot, a lot higher than the median average square foot of a home in Bradford County.”
Project opponent Michael Thornton told commissioners that property values drop 12% in areas near a crematory. He also disputed Milton’s case in Starke, claiming that the crematory was built before the home.
“Those people chose to live there,” he said. “We are not choosing this.”
Thornton said the City of Ocala recently denied an application for a crematory because of the potential for fire. He said 161 fire calls in Marion County originated from crematories.
“I got a firefighter buddy of mine in Jacksonville, been called to one,” Thornton added, “had flames shooting out, because if you burn a body over 300 pounds, it’s a grease fire for the first hour. They burn faster and hotter, and 42% of Union County is obese. We are third in the state for (an) obese county.”
McNeal, who requested the vote delay, said her decision to oppose the project came down to the condition of Little Springs Road and the impact the crematory would have on the dirt grade.
“I will be completely transparent in saying that if there is a new road and that concern is addressed, then I may feel differently,” she said.
