Planning Commission approves natural burial cemetery site plan after vote postponed

Ceoli Jacoby, The Frederick News-Post, Md.
Updated ·4 min read

The Frederick County Planning Commission on Wednesday approved a site plan for a “natural burial” cemetery, where remains could be interred without the use of embalming chemicals, concrete vaults or, in many cases, caskets.

The commissioners postponed a scheduled vote on the plan last month, directing developer Morris Orchard LLC to provide supplemental information about natural burial cemeteries and urging the developer to meet with concerned neighbors.

The Planning Commission voted 3-1 on Wednesday to approve the site plan.

Commissioners Craig Hicks, Mark Long and Tim Davis were in favor. Commissioner Sam Tressler III was opposed.

Commissioner Carole Sepe abstained from the vote. Commissioners Robert White and Joel Rensberger were absent.

Morris Orchard Natural Burial would be the first exclusively “green” cemetery in Frederick County. The Green Burial Council of Maryland recognizes Mount Olivet as a “hybrid” cemetery, where both natural and traditional burials are permitted.

In a statement to The Frederick News-Post following the Planning Commission’s vote on Wednesday, Jane Dennison and Michael Judd of Morris Orchard LLC wrote:

“We want to thank all our neighbors and community members for their participation in this process. We are committed to continuing that dialogue and engaging with our neighbors — and the broader community — to ensure we are operating in a way that is respectful of all who are proud to call this community home.”

During two separate hearings on the plan, several neighbors near the 33-acre site at the intersection of Opossumtown Pike and Pear Lane argued that it was not well suited for a natural burial cemetery.

Neighbors expressed fears that the existence of a cemetery on the site could generate traffic on the narrow Pear Lane and could cause contaminants to leach into well water and nearby creeks.

Helen Dawson of Geosyntec Consultants, which the developer hired to complete a technical report for the site, told the Planning Commission on Wednesday that existing septic tanks and agricultural fields in the area posted a greater risk of contamination than does the proposed cemetery.

“The loading from agriculture and/or septic systems far exceeds by factors of 100 to a thousand the potential loading from the cemetery,” Dawson said.

Some who spoke during hearings on the plan also argued that standing water has been observed on and around the site of the proposed cemetery after heavy rainfall.

Fred Nefflen, who lives on Opossumtown Pike, said on Wednesday that he is the son of the previous owners of the site and knows the land well.

“That field where you’re going to put that cemetery, you get about one and a half inches of water that lays on that soil,” Nefflen said. “Sometimes it lays there for at least five days — five days of draining down into the body.”

Despite questions from the public about impacts to groundwater, drinking water and nearby waterways, county attorneys advised the Planning Commission that these issues were outside their purview and are instead overseen by the county Health Department and the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE).

The Frederick County Health Department independently reviewed the site plan and recommended it for approval.

Barry Glotfelty, the director of environmental health for the county health department, testified at the Planning Commission’s April hearing that MDE did not weigh in on the proposed cemetery.

“I do hope that there is some sort of appeal process for the health department that this community can go to,” Sepe said on Wednesday, adding that she could not in good conscience vote in favor of the plan.

Tressler said he recognizes the growing demand for eco-friendly burials, but he felt “a little uneasy about the groundwater situation,” prompting him to vote against the plan.

The site plan approval for the Morris Orchard cemetery will be valid for three years and includes a list of conditions proposed by the planning staff, including the removal of three parking spaces and the approval of a Forest Conservation Plan.

In a proffer letter submitted to the Planning Commission, the developer agreed to limit parking on Pear Lane, provide for a parking attendant during funerals, plant a landscape buffer and close the cemetery between dusk and dawn.

The developer also agreed to limit the number of burials to 600 per year, to omit any references to a cemetery on the site’s signage, to refrain from putting up headstones and to prohibit the use of amplified sound in the cemetery.