Funeral home in Jackson may add crematory

The Jackson Planning and Zoning Commission tonight will hear about plans by McCombs Funeral Home to add a crematorium to the services it offers on-site at its Independence Street location.

The plan is far from being a certain addition to the four-acre funeral home site, said Bruce Dockins, owner of the 102-year-old business. The request he is making tonight is for a special-use permit to allow the crematorium. He must obtain that permit, a permit from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and a building permit for the design of the facility before breaking ground.

And tonight's meeting, at 7:30 in the city council chambers, is just the first step in the zoning process, said Janet Sanders, building and planning superintendent for the city. If the commission wants to move ahead with considering the application, adjacent landowners will receive notification of the application and public hearings to discuss it, she said.

Commission members "have the option to hold a public hearing and whether or not they hold a public hearing, it goes to the board of aldermen and they have to hold a public hearing on it," Sanders said.

The proposal is so preliminary, Dockins said, that he hasn't settled on the exact location on his property for the crematorium.

Cremation is a growing part of the funeral business, Dockins said. A mobile population means people often live far from ancestral homes but wish to return to their roots for burial. Cremation makes transportation to far-flung locations more feasible, he said.

Dockins said he wants people living nearby to understand that the crematorium is a logical expansion of his business. Modern cremation ovens don't generate any smells or emissions that are noticeable beyond the property line, he said.

"As a matter of fact, it has been proven and shown statistically that it is so insignificant you can hardly count it," he said.

The McCombs property is across Independence Street, also known as Route D, from Jackson City Park. Dockins said he is acting now in part to have the crematorium in place before significant residential or commercial developments are built on adjacent privately owned properties.

"When you drive by the facility you will see it is well maintained," Dockins said. "That is the way we would continue to keep it."

The commission will also consider selecting a consulting firm to update Jackson's comprehensive plan. The list of three proposals that commissioners will consider have been culled from 13 firms that originally offered their services, she said. The updated plan will have a 10- to 20-year outlook for the city's growth, Sanders said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126

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