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Bethel Planning Commission denies permit for crematrium proposed for Clarke Business Park

The Bethel Planning and Zoning Commission has denied an application from Mono-Crete seeking to build a crematorium in Clarke Business Park. 

 

The Commission also repealed a regulation approved last year that would have allowed crematorium facilities to be built with a special permit.  That effectively bans such facilities from Bethel as of October 1st. 

 

In their 4-3 ruling on the application from Shawn McLoughlin, the Commission said that he did not demonstrate that there wouldn't be harmful health effects and that it would not decrease property values.  They also said there would have been excessive excavation making the proposed location an ill-fit.

 

McLoughlin has filed a civil suit against the Commission and Connecticut Coining, based  out of Clarke Business Park.  McLoughlin is seeking to have the Court order the Bethel Planning and Zoning Commission to deny an amendment and a moratorium application before them.  Those two applications stem from McLoughlin's proposal to build a crematorium on a parcel of land he owns in the industrial park. 

 

The complaint was filed in May.  A conference on the matter is scheduled in Danbury Superior Court for October 5th. 

 

In 2014, the Planning and Zoning Commission decided that the amendment requested by McLoughlin was appropriate and that he should proceed with an application.  The Commission approved the application in July with an effective date of August 15th.  McLoughlin then submitted a site plan and special permit application in on February 25, 2015.  

 

The day before, Connecticut Coining submitted an application to delete the adopted section of the ordinance which would have allowed the crematorium.  The application also called for a one year moratorium on accepting applications for crematories.  The Commission approved both the amendment and moratorium applications in May. 

 

McLoughlin's complaint says that the Commission's decision on the amendment and moratorium applications are illegal, arbitrary and capricious.  He says they constitutes an abuse of its discretion for a variety of reasons.

 

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Dave Rinelli

Local Headlines