WOODSTOCK, Ga. — A funeral home moved in next to a Woodstock subdivision, and now a crematory installation is in the works. Homeowners are fighting to stop it.
Jan Granum, who lives in the Villas at Lake Claremore, believes the perception of the funeral home and its proposed crematory could have a devastating effect on property values.
"We don't need anything else that's going to reduce the home prices even further or reduce the pool of people that would be interested in looking at our houses," Granum said.
Channel 2 Action News looked into the issue after Granum sent an email. She said that she expected shops and restaurants to be built on the commercial land at the entrance of her subdivision.
Instead, the Lakeside Funeral Home moved onto the property. Now, they're applying for a special use permit to install a crematory on the site.
"We don't want it there," said Granum. "It's not in our front yard, not our back yard."
Some homeowners said they are concerned about mercury pollution. However, a study by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Cremation Association of North America said that crematories only put out a small fraction of the pollutants that diesel truck engines produce each year.
"The emission level is so low it doesn't even register," said Lakeside Funeral Home owner Kyle Standridge.
The Woodstock City Council is holding off on making a decision until an April meeting.
Standridge said no amount of opposition will make him reconsider installing the crematory.
"It's a necessary part of the business," Standridge said. "We'll be a good neighbor. We'll be considerate. We'll be quiet and clean."
A petition is going around and there is plenty of opposition, but not every neighbor is against it.
"They've got to go somewhere and it's a part of life," said homeowner Rob Stone. "We just have to accept that. If it's going to be close, then we just have to work together."
Opponents said they will take up the issue again at the next city council meeting.
They said there is not a section for public comment, but they will present the petition against the crematory.
"I think a little more warning should have been given to the citizens and my hope now is that word will get out [about] what they're trying to do," said Granum.