Tyrone Township digs deeper on proposed 'green burial' cemetery over drinking water concerns

Susan Bromley | Livingston Daily

The Tyrone Township Board wants to dig a little deeper into a proposed cemetery.

The Board of Trustees voted 5-2 Tuesday night to request an environmental impact study of green burials at the proposed cemetery site on Denton Hill Road near Germany Road.

“It is a green burial cemetery, which is traditional in some parts of the world, but not so much in the U.S.,” said Tyrone Township Supervisor Mike Cunningham. “There is a lot of concern from our residents regarding the safety of drinking water and we approved the environmental impact study to make sure our community is safe."

Cunningham estimates there were about 50 residents at the meeting, with one woman voicing support and the rest of the audience members “concerned” regarding aquifer and well water safety and possible contamination.

The concerns stem from plans by applicant Hasan Siddiqui of Fenton-based Yasin LLC to have “green burials” on about 1.3 acres of a 10-acre parcel in northern Livingston County.

In a “green burial,” bodies are interred without embalming fluid, a vault or conventional casket. Bodies may be wrapped in shrouds or simple pine boxes and placed in the ground.

According to the nonprofit Green Burial Council, “Green, or natural burial, is a way of caring for the dead with minimal environmental impact that aids in the conservation of natural resources, reduction of carbon emissions, protection of worker health, and the restoration and/or preservation of habitat. Green burial necessitates the use of non-toxic and biodegradable materials, such as caskets, shrouds, and urns.”

But neighbors of the proposed cemetery are worried about the environmental impact – specifically, contamination of their drinking water.

“We are very upset, our house is directly across the street,” said Carol Roeder, who lives on Denton Hill Road. “If they ruin the water table, not one of us could get a red dime out of our homes. The value of our home would be in the toilet… I don’t think it is too much to ask these people to bury their people in a vault like everyone else in the state of Michigan. Our main complaint is they put them in the ground without containing them.”

Siddiqui did not return a call for comment.

His proposal is “just a cemetery, and all residents of Tyrone Township would be welcome to be buried there if they so choose,” he told Tyrone Township Planning Commission members last fall. He added that he “greatly values the strength and togetherness of the community and hoped that he and his family can continue to peacefully coexist will all residents of the Township.”

The township Planning Commission recommended the township board approve the Yasin LLC cemetery site plan and special land use permit application during their April 10 meeting.

According to the Funeral and Memorial Information Council, interest is growing in green funeral options – with a 2015 survey finding 64% of adults over 40 saying they would be interested in options that included biodegradable caskets and fewer chemicals used to prepare bodies for burial. In 2010, 43% of respondents to a similar survey expressed an interest in green burials.

In a letter to the township board dated April 23, Planning Commission Chair Mark Meisel noted that the cemetery will be limited to 1,589 plots. Yasin LLC had satisfied all township requirements, and the planning commission had also consulted with the Livingston County Health Department, which had determined the site had adequate soil conditions to protect ground water.

“The Planning Commission did not come to this decision easily, but the data supplied by our agency experts addresses the concerns of the residents as best as can be reasonably determined,” the letter read.

Matt Bolang, Livingston County director of environmental health, said health department officials conducted soil evaluations in December that included five borings, four of which were within the proposed burial plot location. The results found that the soils were “suitable for this proposed cemetery if care is given during the backfill and settling issues are addressed during the course of site maintenance.”

In a letter to the planning commission chairman, Bolang wrote, “Keep in mind, that the average human body will release about 12 gallons of liquid over the course of several months during the decomposition process. The soils on site will be able to achieve treatment of this organic waste and protect the water resources.”

By comparison, he noted that wastewater derived from a typical single family home in their septic system is about 200 gallons per day.

“We look at the site based on its own merits and find this site to be suitable for a cemetery,” Bolang said on Wednesday. “I have no concerns of contaminations. We are trying to put people’s fears to rest. I think it is fear of the unknown – they have not lived next to a cemetery before.”

Bolang also noted that the distance from the nearest drinking well to the burial plot is about 700 feet, well over the minimum requirement of 75 feet.

He added that he doesn’t expect an environmental study to find anything more than what the health department did in its evaluation, but Bolang said there was discussion at the township meetings regarding whether the current health department guidelines regarding cemeteries, in place since 2001, are appropriate. The staff is currently reviewing them.

“A lot of cemeteries are old, they’ve been around for hundreds of years,” Bolang said. “There hasn’t been big push for new cemeteries, but that is changing now with an aging population. We want to polish our (guidelines) up. We don’t reference green burials in our guidelines, so we will look at those considerations.”

Tyrone Township has four cemeteries. The three owned by the township – Clough Hill, Colwell and Gardner, were established in 1834. The fourth, Tyrone Memory Gardens, is privately owned.

The Funeral Information Society lists six cemeteries with designated "green burial" sections in Michigan, including The Preserve at All Saints Cemetery in Waterford, Marble Park Cemetery in Milan, and Mount Carmel Cemetery in Wyandotte.

Jerry Sanders, a Tyrone Township resident who lives on Alcoy near where the proposed cemetery will be, said the township board exhibited good forethought by requesting an environmental study, which will be paid for by Yasin LLC.

“I don’t buy that a green burial is more environmentally friendly,” he said. “Just because you call something green doesn’t mean it is a particularly good idea. It may be perfectly safe or a really bad idea, but a study needs to be done first to determine the conditions of the area and if additional levels of security need to be applied to protect local water sources.”

Contact Susan Bromley at sbromley@livingstondaily.com Follow on Twitter @SusanBromley10