Commissioners Deny Crematorium Request

Cherokee County will have to live without a crematorium, for the time being.

That's because the Cherokee Board of Commissioners, save the absent Chairman Buzz Ahrens, unanimously voted down a rezoning request brought forth by Milton resident James Bartley Williams that would have seen a crematorium constructed at 10685 E. Cherokee Drive in the Macedonia community.

The commissioners who spoke about their feelings on the matter cited safety concerns as a prime reason why they rejected the rezoning application. The site is only 1,500 feet away from Macedonia Elementary School and is also close to many homes.

“I didn’t want something to happen 20 years from now and I was a part of it,” Commissioner Raymond Gunnin told the Cherokee Tribune after the vote.

Safety was also on the mind of the Georgia State Board of Funeral Service, who told Commissioner Harry Johnston, the man who represents the area the crematorium would have been built in, that they did not intend to issue Williams a permit to operate the facility because the site within 1,000 feet of private residences.

Despite the safety concerns, which sent a flood of letters, calls, and e-mails from citizens to their representatives in the wake of Williams' rezoning request, the commissioners said that the main reason that they voted against the proposal was a desire to avoid having multiple zoning classifications on the same site.

Johnston said during the meeting that the site could be used as it is and still provide an economic benefit to the county. 

"It’s not suffering from lack of economic use…and not entitled to a rezoning,” he said.

According to the Tribune, Commissioner Jason A. Nelms said the zoning issue was the primary reason he voted against the crematorium, feeling that the county needed to manage its resources effectively.

For his part, Williams told the Tribune that he was disappointed that his plans for a crematorium were rejected. He maintains that the county does not have enough capacity to match its population growth, and still wants to be the owner of the county's first crematorium. He said he is considering all his options.

Patch Local Editor Kristal Dixon contributed to this report.